I intended we'd chase fish in the Middle Saluda River, upstream from the ranger's station. But there was a school group occupying a good chunk of real estate there, and there were at least two dozen pairs of wellies (rubber boots) and various sampling equipment lined up along the shore, so it was immediately obvious our plans were in for a little change. I introduced myself to the ranger at the station, just to let him know a highly-skilled team of collectors armed with buckets and a dipnet would be fishing around. I had my fishing license and newly acquired State of SC issued Scientific Collection Permit on hand. The ranger said we are always welcome to sample, but to keep anything we'd need a special permit issued specifically through the state park system, and that he'd never seen a scientific collection permit before. Otherwise, to fish I'd need a license, and apparently, no credentials at all just to sample with the dipnet. But no collecting without yet another permit. Welcome to the world of trying to be legal!
It was no big deal, though, as we had no intentions of keeping anything anyway, and the ranger was very polite about the whole thing.We decided to hit the river right next to where we had parked, and work up or downstream. The whole shebang was a success before we even got wet; a playful chipmunk and more tiger swallowtail butterflies than I have ever seen before, dozens of them, greeted us on our way back to parking lot. After admiring them, we finally hit the water. Despite our intentions of covering a good chunk of water, we spent our entire time within 100 feet of where we entered! Not that we had much success in the fish department, but we had a ton of fun. The highlights are below.
These are just a few of the tiger swallowtails. Don't know what they were feeding on, but they sure were enthusiastic about it!
Some pretty flowers we only found growing right next to the river.
My beautiful and capable crick stompin' assistant! The water was surprisingly warm. We spent the next three hours after these photos getting rather wet, without getting cold.
We turned up a couple larval salamanders. This guy was interesting in that he seemed to have adapted just fine to only having three legs!
I found these aquatic nymphs fascinating. I'm guessing they represent two different species of stonefly. I think the two light colored ones are different instars (or whatever stoneflies have) of the same species, and that wild marbled one is a different one. They were taken in riffles. There was no shortage of aquatic nymphs of various sizes. Fish food! And how about their size, relative to the salamander?!
I had been hoping for darters, or cold-water shiners, but this is who we found...
Not that I'm complaining. Blueheads are neat. And until I saw these pictures I'd never realized just how big their mouths are, or how interesting the structure of their nostril "flaps" are, or how complex the coloration of their eyes.
These following two pictures are horrible, but the best I could do on this guy. My daughter netted it in a shallow slackwater area. I'm wondering if that dorsal spine is diagnostic of anything, even in so young a fish.
Any guesses?
And lastly, this bad boy. He was pulled out of the plunge area immediately behind a large boulder. The water was very swift and tumultuous in that spot. I'm guessing he's a third type of stonefly.
Shortly after this picture was taken a good ol' mountain thunderstorm rolled in, so we wisely rolled out. Not much in the line of fish, but I enjoyed what there was. The nymphs were really interesting, and beautiful in their own way. Maybe sometime soon I can hit the mountains again with a couple Palmetto-ers who actually know what they're doing. (Dustin, Tigerfan?) I'd love to turn up something other than Nocomis leptocephalus!
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