As I climbed down the bank to the stream it was obvious there had been heavy water flow into it recently. Mini landslides were evident here and there. A couple parts of the stream were different- silt where there hadn't been any, silt gone where it had been previously, logs moved around. All the usual post-deluge stuff. But the water was mostly clear and down to the perfect level, so I was hopeful as I started working the dipnet. The first swipe hit pay dirt, and things just got better as I went downstream. I saw the usual suspects, found some friends who had been missing, and added new species to my fishy life list. I'm going to need some help on some of these id's though...
My first stop is always the pool under the bridge you cross to get to the best parking spot in the area. I've always been surprised that all that has turned up there is crayfish and salamanders. Until today. Got the first bluehead chub, Nocomis leptocephalus I had seen in a couple months in this water. They still weren't present in the numbers they had been, but at least they were there! Got my first pseudo-mystery fish, too. I was very excited to pull up a large madtom. Was even more excited when I realized it was a bullhead! Here's the problem though, I've poured over the pictures and my guides (Fritz's book and Peterson's) and I've settled on snail bullhead, Ameiurus brunneus, based on caudal fin shape, coloration, mottling, and black splotch at the base of the dorsal. That said, depending on lighting, it did look an olive-yellow at times, and the barbels are just as consistent in coloration for a yellow bullhead as they are a young snailey. Given the coloration on the dorsal, caudal, and anal fins, I'd say this specimen is mature.
Paydirt! Chubs, and bullheads, and darters, oh my!
I also netted what is becoming the most captured fish in this stream, a tessellated darter, Etheostoma olmstedi.
I had never turned up sunfish in this creek before, but a pool just a short distance down from the bridge produced three. I'm looking for a little help with these id's, too. I've settled on green sunfish, Lepomis cyanellus, for all of them. Only the size of the mouths, which seem smaller than described, trouble me. Never having seen a green sunfish, I don't have any experience on which to judge. The juvenile was taken from below an undercut bank, the adults from a log laying in the stream. As for the scary looking insect, I'm guessing it's a damselfly nymph. I apologize for the quality of these pictures. The really blurry sunfish picture is included only because it's the only one that comes close to capturing the color of these fish. The "damselfly" and the camera never did make friends...
Further downstream there were more tessellateds, and creek chubs, Semotilus atromaculatus, started to show up as well.
The next surprise was this darter. It just doesn't seem like a tessie. I'm leaning toward Carolina darter, Etheostoma collis. The black at the front of the first dorsal is my strongest clue. The lateral line and pattern on the caudal seems good, too.
Also making an appearance were greenhead shiners, Notropis chlorocephalus. (No pictures worth posting...) The final surprise downstream was another bullhead. For all the reasons I thought the first bullhead was a snaily, I think this one is a yellow bullhead, Ameiurus natalis. But for the same reasons I was unsure of the snail bullhead id, I'm unsure of this one.
.So there was my happy little trip for today. Any comments, hints, or suggestions on id-ing those bullheads, sunnies, and that darter are welcome!
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