I went out yesterday (March 31st) with some members of the Bowling Green State University Marine Research Lab and we did a little bit of cleaning on one of our local watersheds. We stopped at the Maumee River (one of the muddiest rivers I've ever seen) and there was no shortage of garbage to be picked up. We were well upstream of the instense Walleye fishing that's going on down closer to the mouth of the river. We went to Otsego Park on the river. We picked up a few large garbage bags full of old beer bottles, lots of fishing line, stryrofoam, and all sorts of things that wash up along the shoreline. I went wearing waders so that I could get the garbage that was out of reach of the shore-warriors. I brought my dipnet to assist me. When I was in the water, I couldn't help but check some rockpiles and undercut banks to see what was swimming around. Here's what I found...

• Orangespotted Sunfish
• Bluegill
• Green Sunfish
• Bluntnose Minnow
• Spotfin Shiner
• Mimic Shiner
• Emerald Shiner
• Yellow Bullhead
• Tadpole Madtom

I captured the Tadpole Madtom around and undercut bank with lots of tree roots, I lifted about 10 in 2 dipnet lifts in a row. This would be a great spot to get those from, and there were numerous small Orangespotted Sunfish along this shoreline too. I'll post pictures of the trip (mostly people with garbage) as soon as the become available. It was nice to get out and clean-up a little though.

Thanks for following up with them Nate. I'd like to help them out, but I'm totally overwhelmed right now.

BTW tadpole madtom are suprisingly abundant in that entire stretch of the Maumee. It's easiest to get them in big numbers during heavy flows where you KNOW THE BANK. Weir Rapids and Miltonville are good for this, as there's no drop. I wouldn't try it in many places at Otsego or Van Tassel.

Todd