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2014 NANFA Convention Microfishing Reports

Started by Guest_BenCantrell_* , Jun 10 2014 08:56 AM

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#1 Guest_BenCantrell_*

Guests

Posted 10 June 2014 - 08:56 AM

Day 1 (Wed) - Kentucky

Thanks to Josh Blaylock and Brian Zimmerman for helping out with some spots in Kentucky! We stopped at two locations on the Green River. At the first spot we saw massive spotted darters, greenside darters, banded darters, and possibly a few others, but the only fish we were able to catch were juvenile longear sunfish. Fortunately the second spot was more microfishing friendly.

Orangefin Darter - new lifer!
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Orangefin Darter - female
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Rainbow Darter
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Fantail Darter
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Northern Studfish
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Scarlet Shiner - new lifer!
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Spotfin Shiner - I'm not used to seeing white pelvic and anal fins
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Bluntnose Minnow
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Longear Sunfish
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Green Sunfish
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#2 Guest_BenCantrell_*

Guests

Posted 10 June 2014 - 09:14 AM

Day 1 (Wed) - Kentucky

Next we stopped at Fishing Creek. Clearer water and a more quiet setting made the fishing much more enjoyable. We only saw a couple darters, but weren't able to catch them. There were also some redhorse (black perhaps?) in one of the pools.

Whitetail Shiner - male
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Whitetail Shiner - female or not colored up male
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Northern Studfish - super male!
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Striped Shiner
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Tennessee Shiner
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Scarlet Shiner
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#3 Guest_BenCantrell_*

Guests

Posted 10 June 2014 - 09:21 AM

Day 2 (Thurs) - French Broad drainage

After stopping by the electrofishing site for a while, Greenwood and I continued east towards Crossnore and stopped at a few spots along the way. I was hoping for a few cool darters on hook & line, but we had to settle for cyprinids instead.

River Chub - new lifer!
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Warpaint Shiner - a small one, but a new lifer!
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Tennessee Shiner
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Chub nest

Nibbling shiners - isn't this illegal in some states?

#4 Guest_BenCantrell_*

Guests

Posted 10 June 2014 - 09:26 AM

Day 3 (Fri) - New drainage

Friday was an exciting day in the New drainage. Our first stop was the South Fork New River, where I was really hoping for a bigmouth chub. After catching a few juvenile chubs, which could have been either bigmouth or bluehead, I managed to get a stunning example of each.

Bigmouth Chub - new lifer!
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Bluehead Chub
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Boring Chub - didn't bother trying to ID the chubs without tubercles
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Northern Hogsucker
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#5 Guest_BenCantrell_*

Guests

Posted 10 June 2014 - 09:31 AM

Day 3 (Fri) - New drainage

Next we headed up near the VA border to fish Brush Creek. We found the Kanawha darters, but couldn't get them to bite. We got plenty of other neat fish though!

"Tennessee / New River" Fantail Darter
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Redlip Shiner - new lifer!
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Redlip Shiner - female
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Mountain Redbelly Dace
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Juvenile Chub (probably bluehead)
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#6 Guest_BenCantrell_*

Guests

Posted 10 June 2014 - 09:37 AM

Day 3 (Fri) - New drainage

Our second location for the day was Big Laurel Creek. I'm really glad we fished this spot!

New River Shiner - new lifer!
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Kanawha Rosyface Shiner - new lifer!
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Tonguetied Minnow - new lifer!
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Rosyside Dace
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Back at the Linville River, we picked up a few more micros as the sun was setting.

Warpaint Shiner
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Redbreast Sunfish - possible hybrid with Green Sunfish?
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Rock Bass

#7 Guest_BenCantrell_*

Guests

Posted 10 June 2014 - 09:41 AM

Day 4 (Sat) - Catawba drainage

On our final day we fished the Catawba drainage, starting at the Johns River. This was a really neat looking site, but finding fish was tough for some reason. It took a few hours to come up with these next few.

Carolina Fantail Darter - new lifer!
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Sandbar Shiner - new lifer!
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Spottail Shiner - new lifer! (thanks for the ID Gerald)
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Crayfish #1
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Crayfish #2
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#8 Guest_BenCantrell_*

Guests

Posted 10 June 2014 - 09:47 AM

Day 4 (Sat) - Catawba drainage

Our second fishing spot of the trip was Jacob Fork. It did not disappoint - the fieryblack shiners and margined madtoms were a real treat!

Fieryblack Shiner - new lifer!
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Fieryblack Shiner - a less exciting version
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Margined Madtom - new lifer!
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Madtom habitat
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Crayfish

At the end of the day we stopped at one other spot, but I forget the name. I didn't fish long, only catching a few redbreast sunfish.

Redbreast Sunfish
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I hope you enjoyed the pictures! A huge thank you goes out to everyone who helped out with the convention. It was a real pleasure getting to know everyone, even though we didn't get to chat for long. Next time I expect a few more microfishers to join in on the fun!

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#9 Isaac Szabo

NANFA Member

Marble Falls, AR

Posted 10 June 2014 - 09:51 AM

Nice! It looks like you had a good trip. Love that fieryblack.

#10 Guest_jblaylock_*

Guests

Posted 10 June 2014 - 10:38 AM

Great trip report, and even better catches. Those fish are awesome, especially the Fieryblack!

I'm glad you enjoyed that spot on Fishing Creek, that is one of my favorite locations.

#11 Guest_Casper_*

Guests

Posted 10 June 2014 - 01:08 PM

I really like your photos!

#12 Guest_Mike_*

Guests

Posted 10 June 2014 - 02:43 PM

Nice photos, I wish I could have gone so many cool fish.

#13 mattknepley

NANFA Member

Smack-dab between the Savannah and the Saluda.

Posted 10 June 2014 - 06:16 PM

Great stuff, Ben! Glad you and Greenwood could tear 'em up! Fantastic pictures, too. Love all those tubercles. And that second northern stud, he could pass for a tropical marine wrasse in that pic.

Matt Knepley
"No thanks, a third of a gopher would merely arouse my appetite..."

#14 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 10 June 2014 - 07:43 PM

Spotfin Shiner - I'm not used to seeing white pelvic and anal fins

Those white lower fins and white tips to the tail are a common part of the breeding coloration for Cyprinella males (look at your fiery black photo too)

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#15 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 10 June 2014 - 07:45 PM

Nibbling shiners - isn't this illegal in some states?

Well in some places, its a spa treatment, you should have had to pay extra for that!

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#16 Guest_Kanus_*

Guests

Posted 10 June 2014 - 09:32 PM

Fantastic fish and photos Ben! It was great to meet you as well. I especially like the New River shiner photos, and that head shot of the fieryblack is awesome. They have some nasty hardware for sure!

I do believe that your "boring chub" from the south fork New is a female Bigmouth chub. It seems to have a longer snout a la river/bigmouth, rather than the short nose of a bluehead. Probably something you'd have to see a lot of side by side in the field to use to ID them, but I'm 95% sure it is a bigmouth.

#17 Guest_BenCantrell_*

Guests

Posted 10 June 2014 - 10:32 PM

Those white lower fins and white tips to the tail are a common part of the breeding coloration for Cyprinella males (look at your fiery black photo too)

Michael, I'm used to seeing yellow fins with white tips out here in IL / WI / MO.

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#18 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 11 June 2014 - 09:47 AM

Oh, sorry Ben, you meant that particular species. I get it now. But I thought almost all Cyprinella males get the opaque white fins when they really go into breeding colors.

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin