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Escambia River, FL.


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#1 Guest_CaptainCritter_*

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Posted 29 January 2013 - 07:24 PM

I'm going down to Pensacola in Feb. 24th to Mar. 2nd. All my fish guides say there is some good stuff down there, just wondering if it will be too cold ? Would really like to catch some Smooth Softshell turtles or Loggerhead Musks, even though those guys are not fish, but some Shadow Bass or Orange-spotted Sunfish would be awesome. Anybody know of any good collecting spots that are accessible by car ? Plan on using a dipnet. Kayaks, canoe, and boat cant be done as I will be constrained for time ( business trip ) and using the cheapest rental car possible.

#2 Guest_Mysteryman_*

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Posted 30 January 2013 - 10:38 PM

I had to run my air conditioner all day today. It's been unseasonably warm this season.

#3 Guest_CaptainCritter_*

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Posted 31 January 2013 - 07:32 PM

Nice. Maybe global warming / climate change / whatever they're calling it this week isnt a bad thing.

#4 Guest_zchallenger_*

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Posted 14 February 2013 - 09:09 AM

Dipnetting from shore anywhere in that area will be productive. Reach as far out as possible, and bring the net right up to the shore while maintaining contact with the bottom. As you reach the shore (or bank), stomp hard on the ground at water's edge to drive the fish back in to the net. You'll catch many pygmy sunfish this way, as well as small killies and anything else in there.

Good Luck!

Mike Z.

#5 Guest_Doug_Dame_*

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Posted 16 February 2013 - 01:29 AM

AFAIK, orange-spotted sunfish don't quite reach down into Florida. Can't help with turtles.

The NANFA sub-chapter of the Tampa/StPete-centric Suncoast Killifish Society has field-tripped to the Pensacola area several times. We usually head north on 29/95 towards Century (just south of the Alabama border), and starting about half-way up, jump out of the vehicles at every creek or culvert with water. Just south of Century, we head west on Highway 4, and do the same thing, stop at all water sightings. There's probably close to a dozen places to stop, and the fish are not all the same from place to place. (Having a Florida DeLorme Gazateer is a help.)

Pteronotropis hypselopterus & signipinnis are my favorites from this area. (sailfin and flagfin shiners.) They tend to school in the current, esp. around structure such as downed trees and logs.

Florida is not known for colorful & interesting darters, but this area has the best we have to offer ... Eth. colorosum (coastal), swaini (gulf), edwini (brown), negrofasciata (blackbanded, which is the most common one.) Petersons Field Guide v2 (Page & Burr) shows this area as also being edge of range for histio (harlequin) and stigmaeum (speckled), but we have not encountered either of those that I recall.

Fundulus: olivaceous (blackspotted), escambia (russetfin), and at least one location for blairae (western starhead). Leptolucania ommata range this far west, but the creeks I'm describing have some flow and are not good habitat for ommata, which like still, swampy water.

Various other notropis, lepomis, and livebearers. Elassoma zonatum in slow water.

The Escambia River here is pretty big. Not easy to work solo with a dipnet. And it's usually opaque brown mud-water, whereas the tributaries on the side are clear and good for sight-fishing.

We had a NANFAn on the forum a while ago who was in Penscola, but he may have moved. He had some sites closer to Pensacola proper, but I never got there to collect with him, so I'm not sure where they are. But anywhere in Florida that is wet is likely to have fish.

HTH, and have fun.

Edited by Doug_Dame, 16 February 2013 - 01:30 AM.


#6 Guest_fundulus_*

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Posted 16 February 2013 - 11:30 AM

Doug, I still have to go with you guys through that area. I doubt you have Fundulus blairae there, that's way to the east of the range. From working with Charlie Nunziata we've ID'd several forms of F. escambiae from DNA, and morphology (I'm working to publish this). The starheads can be more variable than they're given credit for.

#7 Guest_Doug_Dame_*

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Posted 17 February 2013 - 01:39 PM

Doug, I still have to go with you guys through that area. I doubt you have Fundulus blairae there, that's way to the east of the range. From working with Charlie Nunziata we've ID'd several forms of F. escambiae from DNA, and morphology (I'm working to publish this). The starheads can be more variable than they're given credit for.


Bruce, you could be right, but the same group of folks that sent you the odd F.escambaie have collected and looked at the "blairae" three or four times and seemed comfortable with that ID, based on current published descriptions. I don't know who originally made the ID on specimens from that location. The SKS' "Florida Collecting Guide" has two pictures of the blairae from the panhandle location, they're labeled as having been taken by Brian Skidmore, so I'm sure he has the high-def originals, and probably more.

Also if you look in the Peterson's Field Guide, the (current) range map for Blairae has a disjunct range, with a pocket in the extreme western Fla panhandle and SE Alabama. Again, I don't know the source of their location information.

Did we ever send you any Florida blairae to include in your aff. escambiae DNA work? I know if never occurred to me, until 3 minutes ago.

#8 Guest_fundulus_*

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Posted 17 February 2013 - 04:53 PM

People have rethought that blairae designation, on top of which the original alleged blairae population is likely extirpated in that small corner of FL. Brian was gung-ho about that in the 1990s, and much of what he thought was "blairae" is now part of what we're calling "telogia" as a distinct population within escambiae. The starheads are a tough group going back to the 1850s.



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