4 replies to this topic

[Michael Wolfe]

If you are over on the NANFA Facebook, you might have seen that we were representing Native Fish at the Yellow River Jam on Saturday.

 

Several of us got to the river early and collected a dozen species in high water conditions.  We set up our aquarium near the take out point for the boats part, and well within earshot of the bands part, and I can neither confirm nor deny anything whatsoever with regards to the brews part.

 

Normal Sunfishes for this area...

Bluegill and Redbreasts

Our endemic Cyprinellas Atlamaha and Ocmulgee

Blackbanded darters

off to the side of the raging current we even found a juv. Chain Pickerel

We also had Yellowfin shiners, Spottail Shiners, Bluehead chubs, Gambusia and a juv spotted bass of some sort.  Maybe the most interesting catch of the day was a single Fundulus.  This little guy was interesting because we only saw the one, had not seen them here before and he is WAY above the fall line and not reported from this drainage.  They are in the lower part of the drainage below the fall line, but have never been reported up here.

We already have the state DNR folks and local university type talking about this.  He looks to me to be a relatively normal (but maybe a little pale) F. lineolatus. Just a long ways up stream and up hill from where they are normally found.  

 

It will be interesting to see what the professional types decide.

[mattknepley]

Very cool, Michael. And that Fundulus is an interesting find there. I bet it can neither confirm or deny that it was enjoying the brewskis, too. I'm surprised you guys were able to get into the water at all after all the rain. Hardcore NANFAns!

[Michael Wolfe]

Florid as own Doug Dame joined Georgia NANFAns John Duktig and Camm Swift and I. And special guest appearance by Camm's son Keith.

The river was up a couple of feet and running a lot faster than normal but we were able to work the edges. Doug had one slip and got a little wetter than the rest of us, but we stayed safe.

[Doug_Dame]

To set the record straight, Doug had more than one slip & fall.

 

My waders with built-in plastic boots work well in Florida's typical aquatypes of sand or knee-to-thigh deep mud/muck, where the biggest hazards are getting stuck or having a boot sucked off while trying to move. Not ideal for slick bedrock with a real current.

 

But the collecting was fun of course, and it was good to join up with Michael, John and Camm again. And meet Keith and his kids, Otter #1, Otter #2, and Otter #3. I feel bad I couldn't stay for the "outreach to the public" part of it. 

[Casper]

Good job making the northern drive Doug.  Maybe Michael will get you a NANFA Visiting Member at Large uniform.  Perhaps he at the least let you park in his driveway or gave you a coupon for local BBQ.

I thought for sure yall would have been rained out, certainly near everything here was, except for Wine Over Water which probably should have been renamed considering the conditions.  The Tennessee River will be rescued October 17 instead of last Saturday.