In the hopes of sparking excitement for the upcoming NANFA Convention in SE Oklahoma. I figured I would start sharing a few pictures of fish I have encountered on my trips to the SE corner of my state. This post consists of fish from my trip this last November around the 10th. The only other trip I have made to the SE corner was early spring and I will share those photos at a later date in the near future. Most the fish shown were caught while micro fishing but a couple fish were netted and I will make sure to point out the ones which were netted. Probably the most abundant species of shiner/minnow that will be encountered in the SE corner are Bigeye Shiners.
Notropis boops (Bigeye Shiner) this shiner was caught from the upper Kiamichi River where highway 259 crosses the river just south of highway 63 and highway 259 intersection.
upper Kiamichi River at the highway 259 crossing. This location has easy and great access. There is a small dirt road that runs along side of the highway which provides plenty of parking for multiple cars. And you don't have to worry about trespassing because as soon as I parked a state trooper drove by and never even slowed down. I observed plenty of Topminnows near the shoreline, at least one juvenile darter species while flipping rocks in the shallows. And caught plenty of Bigeye Shiners and one Redfin Shiner.
Lythrurus umbratilis cyanocephalus Redfin Shiner, caught from the upper Kiamichi River shown above.
More Bigeye Shiners, these were caught from Little Eagle Creek, Little River system.
Erimyzon oblongus Creek Chubsucker, netted from a small run that flows into the Glover River (Jones Ranch Trail, Ouachita National Forest). The run is small enough to step across but has a few pools which also hold Highland Stonerollers and Longear Sunfish. The crawdad shown below was also netted from the same location.
Noturus nocturnus Freckled Madtom, caught from the Glover River where Jones Ranch Trail crosses the river. This location was loaded with madtoms. Nearly every rock that I flipped on the north side of the road had at least one or more madtoms under them. Catching them on hook and line proved very difficult due to the large number of Green Sunfish which also hide under most of the rocks and would find a chunk of worm before any madtom would.
Glover River on the north side of Jones Ranch Trail.
Another view of the same area where Jones Ranch Trail crosses the Glover River. When I visited this same spot last spring the water was at least 3 feet higher then it was in this photo. During the spring even though the water was high I still caught Bigeye Shiners, Bluntnose Minnows, Green Sunfish, Longear Sunfish, and Orangebelly Darters on hook and line. Oh and last spring I seen a family of River Otters (about 4 otters) cross the road enable to move upstream. When I load my photos from the spring I will also include a photo of the otters.
This is the access to the Glover River from highway 3. Very rough muddy road that leads straight to the rocky river bank. Unless you have 4 wheel drive and a high clearance vehicle, I would not attempt to drive down to the river. The good news is that there is a large paved parking area right before the dirt road begins that has plenty of room for multiple cars. In the spring I owned a 4wheel drive Geo Tracker and made it just fine to the banks of the river. But now I own a 2014 Mazda3 with after market rims and so I didn't even attempt to drive down to the river. Its not a very far walk down to the water from the paved parking area. This location had tones of juvenile Orangebelly Darters and Bigeye Shiners. I also caught a Spotted Bass. During the spring I seen a madtom, silversides and caught a few Highland Stonerollers. Below is a turtle I caught by hand from this location.
Elassoma zonatum Banded Pygmy Sunfish, caught from a creek in Broken Bow, OK. Believe it or not I caught 2 of them on hook and line. You can actually see the hook still in the one pygmy, which I left in for pictures as photo evidence I caught them hook and line. I caught them at night, I spotted a total of 3 in about a 2 foot span of shoreline. The third pygmy I left alone and just took a picture of it trying to hide just inches from dry land.
Can you see the pygmy sunfish?
Etheostoma spectabile pulchellum Orangethroat Darter, this one was caught from the same creek that the pygmy sunfish was caught.
Percina sciera Dusky Darter, netted from the Kiamichi River below Whitesboro, OK where N4580 crosses the river.
This crawdad was also netted from the Kiamichi River below Whitesboro, OK.
Etheostoma radiosum paludosum Male Orangebelly Darter, netted from the Kiamichi River below Whitesboro, OK. In Oklahoma there are 3 subspecies of Orangebelly Darters. The Ouachita and Little River systems have E. r. radiosum; the Kiamichi, Clear Boggy and Washita River systems have E. r. paludosum; and the Blue River has E. r. cyanorum.
Etheostoma radiosum paludosum Female Orangebelly Darter, netted from the Kiamichi River below Whitesboro, OK.
Etheostoma radiosum radiosum, male Orangebelly Darter caught from the Little Eagle Creek, Little River system.
Etheostoma radiosum radiosum, caught from Ramos Creek near highway 259 north of Broken Bow Lake. This same location had large numbers of silversides and Highland Stonerollers.
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