36 replies to this topic

[mattknepley]

Listen to mainstream country radio for more than 15 minutes this time of year and you will invariably hear a song holding forth about the glories of good ol' boys and trucks, country girls in bikini tops and daisy dukes, going to the river, and the the glories of a southern summer.

At the risk of sounding like D. A. Coe, the songs leave out two important considerations; namely these habitats are not the exclusive properties of the south, they are to be found all across North America, and also that such places are often native fish heaven!

Some DeLorme study and an educated guess had me headed towards the Mt. Carmel, SC area yesterday. I passed a couple fishy-lookin' spots, but kept driving into the heart of nowhere till I found some country boys and girls with their daisy dukes and trucks. Swimming hole paydirt! Even if I didn't find fish, I'd be able to cool off.

What a find this was. Turns out I had found the old mill pond at Calhoun Mill, just outside of Mt. Carmel. The mill is gone, but the dam, pond, and tailrace type area still survive. And boy howdy was it a fishy heaven! I was armed only with a dipnet but turned up more fish than I probably ever had.

The upper approach



Downstream to swimming hole



Upstream to the dam



Not too hot, not too cold



Long flowing weeds. Made two passes with the net, got one largemouth.



Christmas darter and small blackbanded darter heaven



These pics represent about 3 passes of the dipnet



Snailie or flathead? (I'm thinking snailie...)



Will add more later today; gotta wrangle girls for school and get to work!

[mattknepley]

I stayed between the tailrace area and the run upstream of swimming hole. The water was quite swift in the middle, and the bottom was strewn with big rocks. River depth never got more than waist deep. The slower areas to the side still had current, just less of it. There were more aquatic plants here than most places I've played around in. In addition to that neat, long flowing plant up top, this stuff was everywhere...





The bigger, swifter water produced a new crop of fish. There were still blackbandeds by the bucketful, but they were all much larger. Average size was about 3.5" to 4"; several came in just a shade over 4". These weren't the biggest, but settled in for photo shoot. Hadn't ever noticed a black wedge on one of their dorsals before.





This turquoise darter was a pleasant surprise.





Also taken were several cone shaped snails, a cyprinella I couldn't id before it jumped out of the bucket. There were a few others I didn't know as well, but the camera battery crapped out. Will go back and try again soon.

[mattknepley]

Now back to this monstrosity...

Normally I agree with the opinions regarding dams expressed by Bruce and Josh. The devastation to natural ecosystems, and human communities, created by dams is not lost on me. I get friggin' nauseous thinking about the damage done to what's left of nature in places like China when a monster dam goes in. I remember watching a whole town in PA have to decided where to move when the Army Corp told them they would be flooding their community in the name of flood control.

But... I can remember reading a book published by Trout Unlimited. They were all for blasting dams sky-high. As long as they were messing up trout and salmon. But if the dams provided habitat for cold water fish where they couldn't have existed before the dam's creation, they seemed quite pleased with them. I remember thinking that was pretty hypocritical. But I have a harder time throwing the stone, now. See, above the Calhoun Mill dam's pond, and below its outflow, the river is much slower. I have serious doubts that the fish that are thriving in the rapids/riffles of the outflow would exist in the numbers they do, or in such good health, without the dam. These are fat and sassy, super numerous darters. There were also faster-water liking bullheads, cyprinellas, suckers, basses, different snails, hellgramites, and likely much more enjoying a very good life there. They are also natives, except for the corbicula. I'm not sure how excited I would be about eliminating the dam and marginalizing their existences now just so I can say things are how they "used to was".

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying, with a more educated opinion, that I might not blast the sucker myself. And I certainly have nowhere near the qualifications Bruce and Josh have to judge the merits, or lack thereof, of altering nature's design. I'm just not so sure it's as easy a decision as I used to think it was.

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[mattknepley]

Dustin, I only got the one turquoise. Tried the same area a couple more times, but no dice. The Christmases were all in very close proximity to plants. Several came from this little chute; don't know if they were actually in the plants or just next to them.



Many others were along the shorelines or just away from it. If they weren't snugged up to a chute or shore, they were in shallow (1' or less in depth) water. They also had a definite preference for current, but slower current than in the swiftest riffly areas. (That was where the little blackbandeds were.) Definitely a plant connection. Whether emergents like the ones pictured above, or on rock-clingers like the one from early in the post, they were never far from vegetation.

There seemed to be a very clear line drawn between the Christmases and blackbandeds. With all that I caught in that same small riffle, I think I only got both species together once. Otherwise it was a net o' Etheostoma, or a net o' Percina...

You're right, we're going to have to make a trip happen this fall.

[mattknepley]

Stephen, that is the most northerly I have found them. That said, I have only ever found them in two other places; Stephens Creek outside of Modoc, and Beaverdam Creek outside of Edgefield. My explorations are hardly exhaustive, however. I think Dustin's proposed field trip sounds like a good idea. I'm curious just how far up they go, too.

I can be in Anderson in about an hour, depending where exactly in it I'm heading. It might make for an afternoon meet-up, too, if schedules align. Probably would be a little harder for Dustin to make it, though.

[Michael Wolfe]

Nice stuff Matt K. I see how you could love that spot... but I think the point that some others were making was that if there were no dam at all, then there would be more habitat up an down the stream... not just in the one spot?

I gotta agree with Dustin (not really a bad thing) on the white fins (that's what you should set up in your kiddie pool - thread mixing) and also on the turquoise... we could get them with a seine in the fast water and plenty of kicking. That spot kinda reminds me of the spot on the Apalachee where we carried the girls to keep 'em dry.

[mattknepley]

Nice stuff Matt K. I see how you could love that spot... but I think the point that some others were making was that if there were no dam at all, then there would be more habitat up an down the stream... not just in the one spot?

I gotta agree with Dustin (not really a bad thing) on the white fins (that's what you should set up in your kiddie pool - thread mixing) and also on the turquoise... we could get them with a seine in the fast water and plenty of kicking. That spot kinda reminds me of the spot on the Apalachee where we carried the girls to keep 'em dry.

They'd have a definite point if the dam did limit habitat. Thing is, I don't know if there would be. Looks pretty flat and slow above and below. I guess it boils down to how much shoal area they buried with the dam. I suppose if the constructors of the dam were looking for water power, they'd build near a respectable drop in elevation. Does anyone know if they tended to flood a lot of shoal, or build just upstream from them?

Any time you want to help me explore the area more, I'd love the company! It is similar in some ways to that stretch of the Apalachee, but the bottom is even less regular.

[mattknepley]

Headed back to these shoals to try to get some pictures and find a few more fish. Managed to do both...

Did a few pass throughs of the same area as before. Tons more blackbanded darters showed up, and plenty of Christmases, though not so many as a couple days ago. One was sporting a pretty massive dorsal hump.



Turned up more sunfish today. A couple greenies, a redbreast, and a small, ticked off lookin' fella I assume is a little green.







Got a picture of the cone shaped snails, and some ferocious lookin' water bug that is all over this place.





The snail likes the fast water and rocks with plants on them. Found a good sight for NA snails, will try to id it there if no one beats me to it.

Hit the faster water, and some channels of its side, and found these critters. Think I have them id-ed but, as always, appreciate the confirmation or rebuttal!

Noturus insignius, margined madtom? Hard to tell from my weak pics, but it appears to have an overhanging jaw.



Bluehead chub? Some other Nocomis?





Hybognathus regius, Eastern silvery minnow?





Had a blast for a couple hours. Life is good!

[mattknepley]

Thanks, Gerald. I didn't have a clue on those two long plants. Funny you called the one "seaweed-like"; it reminded me of kelp. The blackbandeds do have some lengthy beaks on 'em. Don't really know if it's typical. Michael and I got a couple sizeable ones in GA, but I don't think they were as big as these brutes, and I don't have any other experience to draw from. (Yet...) If you want some, they're here for the having. Can't swing a dead cat in that water and not get one... Don't know if they're subgrouped with longheads. Will look and see if I can find out.

Care to take a stab at these plants?







The Etheostoma hopkinsi seem to love that grassy plant from the bottom two pictures.

[mattknepley]

Your bug is a dragonfly. Quite predatory and not recommended to take home.

Your bug is a dragonfly. Quite predatory and not recommended to take home.

Thanks. I wondered about that. They are kinda ominous looking. Funny how many there are there. Seriously, they are some abundant creatures, yet I didn't see so much as a single adult dragonfly either day I was there.