29 replies to this topic

[Sean Phillips]

So, after discussing local dive trips at my scuba club meeting the other night, it seems that we're going to be making many more and new trips this year to all different places, some of which I wouldn't consider local actually . My question for you guys is, do any of these locations have any nice species or just plain good collection spots that I could check out while there? I don't often travel farther from my home state (PA) more than western ohio or the equivalent distance in other directions, so this year I'll be going to many new places. I'll probably only have an hour, two or three at the most of time to collect after I factor in fishing time as well (and diving of course which will take up most of my time at these places) but if there's any good species whether fresh or saltwater, I'll definitely make time or take an extra day or two.

The locations that I'll have time to collect at and the body of water we'll be diving in

-Thunder Bay, Northern MI, not the upper peninsula (Lake Huron)
-Summersville, Central WV (Summersville Lake)
-Thousand Islands, Northern NY (St Lawrence River)
-Bonne Terre, Eastern MO (Bonne Terre Mine, the mine itself is fish-less sadly)
-Morehead City, Eastern (coast) NC (Atlantic Ocean)
-Florida Springs, Northern and Central FL (the springs)
-Key Largo, Southern FL (Atlantic Ocean)

I'll also be diving my local quarry and Lake Erie but I'm at those places up to a dozen times a summer so I know the local species and good ways to collect them pretty well.

[mattknepley]

You are one lucky kid! Your first three stops are drop dead gorgeous! Absolutely beautiful surroundings. To qualify, I haven't seen Thunder Bay proper, but if there's national lakeshore there, and it looks anything like the parts of Lake Huron I have seen, you're in for a treat.

Summersville Lake is the dammed up Gauley River. Again, gorgeous. I imagine they'll take you to some of the cliff walls that are submerged part of the year and exposed when they drop the lake. For my money, where the Gauley exits the dam is more interesting, though. Serious, Kick Butt whitewater during weekend water releases in the fall. The first rapid is actually your put in. It's a little tamer through there when releases aren't going on.

You just have to see the Thousand Islands to know the Thousand Islands.

All of those are big water stops, and other than the game fish that'd be there, I don't know what you'll see. You may just want to hook and line collect if time is an issue, and out of state license fees are not.

Take pictures, I would love to see what those places look like under the surface.

[Isaac Szabo]

Wow, that list has a lot of neat places. I bet you'll have a lot of fun diving them. I'm looking forward to hearing about your adventures.

The only locations I have experience with are the Florida ones. However, there are hundreds of springs in Florida covering a huge area. I would need to know some of the springs you'll be visiting to give you any specific information. Wherever you dive in Florida, it will likely be a great experience with some interesting species. You will see all kinds of crazy saltwater stuff in the keys.

[Sean Phillips]

You are one lucky kid! Your first three stops are drop dead gorgeous! Absolutely beautiful surroundings. To qualify, I haven't seen Thunder Bay proper, but if there's national lakeshore there, and it looks anything like the parts of Lake Huron I have seen, you're in for a treat.

Summersville Lake is the dammed up Gauley River. Again, gorgeous. I imagine they'll take you to some of the cliff walls that are submerged part of the year and exposed when they drop the lake. For my money, where the Gauley exits the dam is more interesting, though. Serious, Kick Butt whitewater during weekend water releases in the fall. The first rapid is actually your put in. It's a little tamer through there when releases aren't going on.

You just have to see the Thousand Islands to know the Thousand Islands.

All of those are big water stops, and other than the game fish that'd be there, I don't know what you'll see. You may just want to hook and line collect if time is an issue, and out of state license fees are not.

Take pictures, I would love to see what those places look like under the surface.

Thanks, yeah I'm feeling like this is going to be a good year what with all these new dive spots, some fishing upgrades for my boat in Erie, plus a new Fishroom and a huge tank or indoor pond.

Thunder Bay is right around Alpena and from the videos I've seen, it's beautiful both under and above water. I've actually been to Summersville on two occasions, sadly both were below average vis (1-30 feet as opposed to the usual 20-50) and I was able to dive some of the walls down to about 80 feet (gets dark as heck down there even on bright days!).

Let me also clarify though, I'm not saying I'd only collect in those bodies of water, I just mean that's where I'll be diving. I can definitely collect at any nearby creeks, rivers, or ponds that are shallow enough for me to seine and have fish small enough for the average person to keep. I just meant if there were any good collection spots or good fish in those areas.

[zooxanthellae]

So, after discussing local dive trips at my scuba club meeting the other night, it seems that we're going to be making many more and new trips this year to all different places, some of which I wouldn't consider local actually . My question for you guys is, do any of these locations have any nice species or just plain good collection spots that I could check out while there? I don't often travel farther from my home state (PA) more than western ohio or the equivalent distance in other directions, so this year I'll be going to many new places. I'll probably only have an hour, two or three at the most of time to collect after I factor in fishing time as well (and diving of course which will take up most of my time at these places) but if there's any good species whether fresh or saltwater, I'll definitely make time or take an extra day or two.

The locations that I'll have time to collect at and the body of water we'll be diving in

-Thunder Bay, Northern MI, not the upper peninsula (Lake Huron)
-Summersville, Central WV (Summersville Lake)
-Thousand Islands, Northern NY (St Lawrence River)
-Bonne Terre, Eastern MO (Bonne Terre Mine, the mine itself is fish-less sadly)
-Morehead City, Eastern (coast) NC (Atlantic Ocean)
-Florida Springs, Northern and Central FL (the springs)
-Key Largo, Southern FL (Atlantic Ocean)

I'll also be diving my local quarry and Lake Erie but I'm at those places up to a dozen times a summer so I know the local species and good ways to collect them pretty well.

There are a few of us in Morehead City, and we can definitely put you on some fish.

[Sean Phillips]

Wow, that list has a lot of neat places. I bet you'll have a lot of fun diving them. I'm looking forward to hearing about your adventures.

The only locations I have experience with are the Florida ones. However, there are hundreds of springs in Florida covering a huge area. I would need to know some of the springs you'll be visiting to give you any specific information. Wherever you dive in Florida, it will likely be a great experience with some interesting species. You will see all kinds of crazy saltwater stuff in the keys.

Thanks! I'll definitely be posting about them as I dive them, maybe make a thread to cover all the places I'll be going this year once dive season starts in May. We haven't yet discussed which springs we'd be visiting but since I'm going with a group of divers, probably ones that have at least one or two spots below 10 feet and are big enough to swim freely around, although I can always hit up some smaller, shallower ones in my free time if they're better for collection. Any idea what the general fish species are in the springs though? In addition to the springs, I might also visit some local creeks and ponds/drainage ditches in search of species so what could I expect to find in those places?

I'm very excited for key largo, I haven't dived saltwater ever yet, also excited for NC, I can entertain myself for hours (and have, in SC) sitting next to my baited rod in the water whilst exploring and photographing life in tidepools.

[Sean Phillips]

There are a few of us in Morehead City, and we can definitely put you on some fish.

Awesome! I might have to call you guys up when I'm down there, try to find that pond with the Green X P-Seeds in it . Maybe also try to find a sleeper goby.

[don212]

i have dove the thousand islands didn't see much fish wise except for an amazing number of invasive gobies, the scenery above water is beautiful, and there are many, many great wrecks , pretty strong currents, go in late summer, early fall, you,ll be surprised at how warm the water gets, i live in central fl now , our springs are amazing, my favorite thing here though is snorkeling for scallops in summer, while chasing dinner you see a lot of species.

[Isaac Szabo]

A few of the neat species you will have a good chance of seeing in the FL springs include bluefin killfish, lined/russetfin topminnow, Pteronotropis species, pygmy sunfish, least killish, sailfin molly, brown darter, hogchoker, pickerel, bowfin, gar, flier, FL bluegill, blackspotted sunfish, etc. You may see eels or bullheads if you dive the cave entrances. You can see some neat gobies, sleepers, and brackish species in some of the springs that are close to the ocean. In general, a lot of the smaller species will be hiding in the dense vegetation at the margins of the springs. There are a lot of other neat species in FL (flagfish, golden topminnow, pygmy killifish, bluespotted sunfish, etc), many of which are pretty easy to find with a dipnet. A copy of the FL collecting guide would be a helpful resource for sampling locations.

[scottefontay]

That does sound like a wonderful dive season!  There are bluespotted sunfish in Jamesville Reservoir south of Syracuse by the county beach.  You would literally have to be dead to not catch a bunch.

 

One little snorkeling gem up our way that virtually no one know about is Clark Reservation State Park.  Would be great to SCUBA there as well.  The lake is a an old plunge-pool from a glacieral river, over 60 ft. deep meromictic lake fed only by groundwater.  Ice is sketch in the winter. Very hard fishing access so in addition to the many bobbers in the trees surrounding the lake, there are bagillions of golden shiners, fat chain pickerel, schools of pumpkinseeds that I'm sure are record sizes, some elusive mammoth walleye, catfish that will ram you from below during the spring and some large snapping turtles.  Quite a remarkable place.

 

I would encourage anyone to try this place out if you have the chance.

[MichiJim]

It has been a while since I dove in the Thunder Bay Preserve.  Like, before it was a preserve.  It is fairly shallow for shipwreck diving, most of the wrecks are in less than 100 feet of water.  You should see the standard Great Lakes inshore gang: burbot, yellow perch, suckers. whitefish.  I imagine the bottom will be covered with round gobies.  They are everywhere now, and if there are gobies there will be smallmouth bass.  While we are on invasives, you might see some roving herds of carp, some absolutely enormous specimens.  Maybe a ruff.  Around the shoreline you will see sticklebacks, ninespines and maybe a three spine, some shiners and the like.  Visibility should be excellent depending on the time of year and recent storms.  A night dive should produce some trout-perch along the bottom.

 

There are also some sink holes in the area, which is largely limestone.  These are cool if your captain can find them.  You will drop down and suddenly the water is very clear.  Its a anaerobic environment; we would see dead crayfish, fish and some odd looking fungus.  Kind of pretty in a macabre sort of way.

 

Be safe and have a good dive wherever you go.  And check the rules on fish collecting at michigan.gov/dnr

[Sean Phillips]

Anyone know what kind of smaller SW species I'd find inshore in NC? I cant seem to find that answer anywhere. I'd like to free up a 5.5G to make into a native nano SW tank with a tidepool theme, of course there's be anemones, scallops, an urchin, maybe a crab, and the like but I'd also like to add 1-3 small fish.

[littlen]

Skilletfish, Naked goby, Striped or Feather blennies.

[Sean Phillips]

The above fish are very cool, especially the blennys! I might have to free up a 15G instead so I can have a few fish . Would those species do alright at my room temp (66 in winter - 76 in summer)? Finally are there any mid or top water fishes that would be small enough for a 15G if I went that large that would get along with one or two of the above fish you listed?

[zooxanthellae]

 

 

Anyone know what kind of smaller SW species I'd find inshore in NC? I cant seem to find that answer anywhere. I'd like to free up a 5.5G to make into a native nano SW tank with a tidepool theme, of course there's be anemones, scallops, an urchin, maybe a crab, and the like but I'd also like to add 1-3 small fish.

 

I don't know much about keeping small tanks, but here are the species I have caught locally and kept in a larger tank.

 

In the MHC area, striped blennies and feather blennies can be found, but you are a thousand times more likely to come across crested blennies Hypleurochilus geminatus. They adapt regularly to aquariums, and stick around here throughout the winter, so I wouldn't worry about your room temps. 

 

Naked gobies are everywhere, but I've never tried keeping them. Freshwater gobies, green gobies, lyre gobies, and darter gobies are a little less common. Other very common fishes are pinfishes (spottail and common), various mojarras, seargents major, mummichog, striped killi, black cheek tonguefish,northern sennet, planehead filefish, sailfin mollies, atlantic spadefish, the list goes on. 

 

If you come towards the end of summer, you can find tropicals like butterflyfishes, mangrove snapper, mutton snapper inshore on the seagrass beds. And if you come during a wind from the SE, you will get lots of sargassum community fishes like sargassum fish, filefish, triggerfishes, etc.

 

 

 

[littlen]

Sean, you are really only limited by space at this point.  Even with all the good recommendations zooxanthellae made, even a 15g isn't going to hold too many fish.  Some of the blennies can be aggressive especially towards one another.  Pin fish, mojarras, and sergeant majors can have 'tudes also.  If you really want to experience a communal tank with more diversity, you should look into getting a 55g IMO.  

[zooxanthellae]

Sean, you are really only limited by space at this point.  Even with all the good recommendations zooxanthellae made, even a 15g isn't going to hold too many fish.  Some of the blennies can be aggressive especially towards one another.  Pin fish, mojarras, and sergeant majors can have 'tudes also.  If you really want to experience a communal tank with more diversity, you should look into getting a 55g IMO.  

That's a great point about aggressiveness. I forgot how aggressive my spottail pinfish and seargents major turned out to be after just 3 months of age. I had them in a 90 gallon with plenty of room, but they were still incredibly unforgiving to conspecifics. The crested blennies also became rather territorial, and would give short chase, but they do live in dense communities in nature, so I'm not sure if that was par for the course or not. I shot some underwater video last year that showed crested blennies in a density of about 5 per sq foot on floating docks. 

 

I have had a lot of success lately with brackish/euryhaline species, including fw gobies, spinycheek sleepers, and lyre gobies in small tanks. I do limit it to one fish per species in a 20, and they seem to be getting along just fine. This may not be exactly the sw environment you are looking for, but it is an option if you can't go bigger. 

[Kanus]

I once kept several naked gobies in a reef tank and they did very well. It was a good size tank with lots of rock, so they all spread out and had their own territories, but of the interactions I did witness, they seemed pretty peaceful. I did once make the mistake of putting a feather blenny in with a lawnmower blenny. The bicolor blenny in that tank fared just fine, but the feather blenny killed the lawnmower before I ever realized they were fighting, and shortly succumbed to what I suspect were injuries sustained during the fight. They are vicious little fish towards similar species.

[Kanus]

Also, if you can get them home, silversides are cool in a tank, though maybe too big and active for a 15 gallon. I had some survive a 5 hour car trip in breather bags and live for a year of so until they one by one found gaps in the lid. Sheepshead minnows are cool too.

[Sean Phillips]

Thanks for the responses guys! The absolute biggest I could go would be a 30 but I'm still thinking either a 5.5, 10, or 15. I'll look up some information on those species.