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Micropterus chattahoochae


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#1 smbass

smbass
  • Board of Directors

Posted 18 November 2015 - 11:32 PM

Last week I traveled to the Southeastern Fishes Council annual meeting in Gainesville FL. I left on Tuesday from Ohio and got to southeern SC by that evening. The meeting did not start until Thurs so this allowed for some time to make a couple stops and spend some time collecting on Wens. I spent some time in the Santa Fe River basin and collected some Elassoma gilberti and Etheostoma edwini for my tanks and tried to fish for Micropterus notius but failed to capture any.

 

I went to the meeting Thurs and Fri which was very good as usual with lots of interesting talks on the conservation and study of our North American fishes with an emphasis on species of the SE US. I particularly enjoyed the 3 consecutive talks on the Blackbanded Sunfish (one of my favorites) and the one on the work to restore additional populations of the Robust Redhorse.

 

After the last talk Friday and saying good bye to new and old friends I made plans to head north on a more western route than what I had come to FL on. As a fisherman I was interested in seeing one of the Micropterus species that was described in 2013 when the Redeye Bass group was split into 5 species and one unsubscribed form. I have in the past caught actual M. coosae and the un-described "Bantram's Bass" from the Savannah River basin. So I looked up the type locality of the new Chattahoochee Bass M. chattahoochae which was the species most on my way home. I drove close to 4 hours Friday night to get me close to the area I wanted to fish and bought my GA fishing license on-line Friday night from my hotel.

 

Saturday morning I got up and did some more driving and got to the site around noon. I am still kicking myself for not taking a photo of the site before I left but I would described it as a nice looking small stream with well developed pools and riffles. I tried fishing with lures for about 45 minutes or so but had no luck. I decided to do a little seining and capture some live bait in the process. I captured the following species...

 

Bluefin Stoneroller Campostoma pauciradii

Longnose Shiner Notropis longirostris

Highscale Shiner Notropis hysilepis

Alabama Hog Sucker Hypentelium etowanum

Southern Studfish Fundulus stellifer

Bluegill Sunfish Lepomis macrochirus

Redbreast Sunfish Lepomis auritus

Blackspotted Sunfish Lepomis punctatus

Blackbanded Darter Percina nigrofasiata

 

I kept a few of these small fish in a bucket and tried them as bait in a deeper pool and almost immediately got a bite. After a short fight I landed a small largemouth bass. I was a little disappointed at catching such a common species. Quickly released it and tried again. The second fish was what I came for a very nice looking Micropterus chattahoochae! I carefully unhooked it and put it in a bucket until I could set up my photo tank. I went on to catch, or I guess almost catch one more Chattahoochee Bass (fell off my line as I lifted it out of the water) out of the pool and a couple redbreast sunfish. I'm sure I could have caught more had I walked up or down stream to some other pools but I had a long drive ahead of me and wanted to be sure I got a good photo of my targeted species before heading home. So I took the below photo and released all my extra bait back to where they came from before leaving the site. 

 

 

Micropterus+chattahoochae1++by+BZ.JPG

 

It was great to see a few new species to me and then continue on my long drive back north which came to an end at home in central Ohio around 1am!


Brian J. Zimmerman

Gambier, Ohio - Kokosing River Drainage


#2 Isaac Szabo

Isaac Szabo
  • NANFA Member
  • Marble Falls, AR

Posted 19 November 2015 - 10:05 AM

I'm glad you caught your target. It's a nice-looking bass, with the orange fin tips.



#3 BenCantrell

BenCantrell
  • Moderator
  • Sebastian, FL

Posted 19 November 2015 - 10:57 AM

Nice species fishing! :D



#4 smbass

smbass
  • Board of Directors

Posted 19 November 2015 - 11:16 AM

Yeah I thought I was down to three sunfish species I had never caught until that paper came out... Now I need to catch Micropterus cahabae, Micropterus warriorensis, and Micropterus tallapoosae along with the other three I still have never caught which are Micropterus treculii, Enneacanthus obesus (next years convention), and Archoplites interruptus. Plus I think there may be one other bass that hasn't made it to our NANFA checklist yet the Choctaw Bass which is a spotted type along the gulf coast and if someone ever decides to make something out of all the longears I may have a couple of the extreme SW forms to go after still. Anyways it is always fun to cross one off the list and get a photo I am happy with too. Maybe someday I'll take the time to clean up the background on these photos.


Brian J. Zimmerman

Gambier, Ohio - Kokosing River Drainage


#5 Doug_Dame

Doug_Dame
  • NANFA Member

Posted 19 November 2015 - 09:45 PM

Bah, wish I had known you were coming down this way. I know a location within Gainesville city limits that has yielded obesus a couple of times I've visited in the past.


Doug Dame

Floridian now back in Florida
 


#6 smbass

smbass
  • Board of Directors

Posted 20 November 2015 - 11:47 PM

Yes I should have let you know I was in town... Even thought about it but then just forgot. I really like your profile pic, that has to be one of my favorite minnows...


Brian J. Zimmerman

Gambier, Ohio - Kokosing River Drainage





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