I figured I would start a new thread and people can add their convention recaps here, as things I think are getting lost in the other thread.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sheepishly, I will admit to being an on-again-off-again NANFA member over the years, but when I heard it was going to be in Ohio I made sure my membership was paid up and planned on attending. I am glad I did. It was a great conference and I was able to meet some great people, and get out in the water with some friends. I will hash it out day by day.
Day 1. Electrofishing on the Muskingum River. Awesome! Oddly, I have never until that day been able to witness electrofishing. It was everything I dreamed it could be and more. They got up a ton of fish species, including many I have never seen before. Representatives were taken back to the lodge to live the next couple of days in a large display tank (1/2 a semi-truck trailor, on wheels) outside the lodge. Some of the species included Longnose Gar, Mooneye (lifer), Gizzard Shad, Smallmouth Buffalo, Silver Redhorse (lifer), River Redhorse (lifer), Blue Sucker (lifer, and best fish of the trip), Channel Catfish, Flathead Catfish (lifer), Spotted Bass and more. (Yes, I keep a fish life list.) Since I have helped Brian Zimmerman in the past with his small, benthic fishes in large river trawling I opted out of it so others could get a chance. I am sure that went well too. I also did some seining with a new friend Kristina and a guy named Scott, who for some reason I unfortunately never got to hang out with again at the conference. We seined up a few Slenderhead Darters (lifer) and many Orangespot Sunfish, which was high on everyone’s collecting list.
Day 2. Sessions. It was nice to pack the sessions into one day so the rest of the conference we could focus on being in the water. And the higher powers blessed us with chilly outside temperatures, so we didn’t feel like we were missing out that day either! Love it when things work out that way. Some of my favorite sessions were the freshwater mussels, crayfish and all the awesome work the Tennessee Aquarium (I am supposed to go there) is doing. Banquet was great and auction would have been better had I been smarter and brought cash down. Many, many, many “Fishes of…(insert state)” books.
Day 3. Canoe Trip. A little slow getting started, but my group of new found friends (and cabin mates), Nick Zarlinga, and his wife Linda, Mike, Jackie and Kristina hung out on the water to catch a number of great fish. My favorite was the Bowfin I nearly barehanded. A great day to be on the water, and I must give props to the Ohio Scenic Rivers Program crew for being patient and not rushing us when we got back 1-2 hours late! In fact the head of the Program was out of the canoe seining as much as we were. I think the only life fish I saw that day was the Mountain Madtom.
Day 4. Field trips and home. The group of people I ended up hanging out with (most of whom are professional peers of mine in NE Ohio, so this convention worked on a personal and professional level for me.) took same field trip, along with long-time NANFAnian Jeff Riebe. It was also good to catch up with Todd Crail, who joined us for a while. We sampled big rivers to small streams and saw another suite of great fish and life fish. Highlight species were: Streamside Chub, Bullhead Minnow (lifer), Mimic Shiner (weak lifer), Common Shiner (super-weak lifer), Dusky Darter (lifer), Bluebreast Darters, TONS of Brindled Madtoms and then at the dace stream literally saw hundreds of Redside, Southern Redbelly and Blacknose Daces, including hybrids between the two “red” species. WOW! This field trip went longer than planned, but we all wanted it to go longer. Luckily, our leader, Zimmerman, invited us over to see his fish tanks. All I can say it AMAZING! His display tanks are better than many professional zoos and aquariums. His breeding ponds for his fish business are done well and his holding tanks help fish that left us all drooling.
My first NANFA convention will prove to not be my last.
Andy
Edited by andyavram, 24 September 2012 - 08:21 PM.