-Eric
North Georgia collecting in mid-April
#1
Posted 23 March 2016 - 02:21 PM
DEC Rare Fish Unit, Watertown, NY
#2
Posted 23 March 2016 - 07:06 PM
Hey Eric,
I could take you to see some of these on the evenings of the 11th-14th (or even on the evening of the 10th... I know that sometimes I travel on a Sunday before an event). On the 15th I am leaving for another fish event.
Also, it will be extremely difficult to get to all the places you are talking about. Some of these are 2-3 hour drives one way from Atlanta, and some of them are in opposite directions. Take a look at this site... it has distribution maps for some of these fishes. E. inscriptum, N. leptocephalus and N. lutipinnis are all here in the Athens area. Some of those others are only in the Tennessee or Coosa Basin (which is a lot farther north and west). And I have only seen O. emiiae much farther south.
But I am sure we can work something out to help you see some fish. It will just take a little planning. We can keep talking here or you can send me a PM and let me know exactly where you are staying and maybe I can help you with some of the planning.
#3
Posted 23 March 2016 - 08:22 PM
Thanks again for offering to show me around. I sure hope we can meet up!
DEC Rare Fish Unit, Watertown, NY
#4
Posted 23 March 2016 - 09:55 PM
I live in Athens (maybe an hour and a half for you to get up here with traffic) and I can pretty much guarantee that we can see Yellowfins and Turquoise, but not really guarantee breeding colors (although the Turquoise are pretty close right now). We should at least be able to see some like this:
I also know of a good spot in Porterdale, GA (google it) that we have visited. That's closer to you and closer to where I work and we got Yellowfins there the last time, but I don't think Turquoise. But it is a fun spot. http://gallery.nanfa...l Wolfe/yellow/
#5
Posted 24 March 2016 - 07:27 PM
Michael,
I am not surprised that the fish won't be in full-on breeding mode yet, but with some luck perhaps if I can manage to bring some of those species home they might treat me to a nice display of colors in a couple months when my basement temps warm up. I would be fine for meeting up in Athens if that's convenient for you, especially if you're already familiar with some sites nearby.
Thanks again for offering to meet up! I have met far too few southeastern NANFAns (NANFA-ers? NANFA-ites?).
DEC Rare Fish Unit, Watertown, NY
#6
Posted 24 March 2016 - 09:18 PM
Let me know if you'll be doing any sampling near Raleigh-Durham. I'm in Wake Forest ~18 mi NE of Raleigh. The upper Neuse, Tar, and Dan basins have some neat species. Which eastern NC 'mander is being so elusive?
Gerald Pottern
-----------------------
Hangin' on the Neuse
"Taxonomy is the diaper used to organize the mess of evolution into discrete packages" - M.Sandel
#7
Posted 25 March 2016 - 09:36 AM
Gerald,
I would love to see some of the species in that part of NC. That's a good neck of the woods to see L. matutinus, isn't it? Unfortunately my time the weekend before the conference (Apr. 9/10) will be quite limited and I will probably be shooting straight for the Croatan NF area on the 9th. That is supposedly a good place to find C. cornuta, and Stereochilus marginatus, one of the aforementioned elusive salamanders. It's one of the few North American salamander genera I haven't seen yet. I will also probably do some dipnetting/seining/minnow trapping nearby if I have time, to look for Necturus lewisi. I visited a few promising sites just last month but the water was several feet higher than usual.
I have no doubt that I will be in North Carolina before too long. I hope we can meet up next time!
DEC Rare Fish Unit, Watertown, NY
#8
Posted 25 March 2016 - 10:44 AM
Yes L. matutinus is pretty common around Raleigh-Durham area, although not always easy to catch - it's an open-water cruiser. We found a good spot for Chologaster and Umbra last summer about 15 mi SE of Fayetteville, along NC-53 (Cape Fear). Also the Roanoke tribs between Williamston and Windsor in northeast NC have good Chologaster pop's (and occasional mud sunfish). I think i've seen Stereochilus once at Rhodes Pond between Fayetteville and Dunn, but not entirely sure it wasn't just a juvenile dusky.
Gerald Pottern
-----------------------
Hangin' on the Neuse
"Taxonomy is the diaper used to organize the mess of evolution into discrete packages" - M.Sandel
#9
Posted 25 March 2016 - 01:20 PM
I am going to pretty much echo what Michael said. Many of the species mentioned are from different drainages and vary in distance from the City.
Edited by UncleWillie, 25 March 2016 - 01:23 PM.
Willie P
#10
Posted 25 March 2016 - 04:03 PM
Gerald - Thanks for the locality tips! I will actually be driving right through the Williamston/Windsor area, I might just have to get my net wet there. I will also be stopping in the Fayetteville area (Lillington, to be more precise), my grandmother lives there and I like to say hi when I'm passing through. Unfortunately I don't think I'll be going southeast of Fayetteville. If all goes well I could get those two target species in NE NC. The only other coastal plain species I'll be looking for that I haven't mentioned is Necturus punctatus. I found one metamorph in the Lumber River drainage but I am hoping to find a bigger population as I pass through the area.
Willie - Thanks for elucidating some of the finer points of those species' distributions, and offering locality tips. There is a spot on the Flint River where O. emiliae was reported (according to fishmap.org, anyway) just 30 minutes from the hotel, and due to its proximity I will probably check that spot out. I will also likely make an excursion to the Rome area to check out the Coosa and Etowah Rivers and see what I can't turn up. It's going to be a hell of a week! Even if I can't manage to turn much up on my own, it seems like Michael has a good handle on several very attractive species near him and if we can manage a meet-up it seems likely we'll get to see some really great fish.
Many thanks to all of you who have offered your help in this thread or in private messages - I wasn't sure if I was going to get to see many fish on this trip but I'm looking forward to potentially meeting a couple of you and seeing some cool species!
-Eric
DEC Rare Fish Unit, Watertown, NY
#11
Posted 26 March 2016 - 08:48 AM
#12
Posted 26 March 2016 - 08:55 AM
Just because we don't have a state book, I have been going by this:
http://fishesofgeorg...ge&key=ethetenn
for the things that I find up around Ringgold in the Chickamauga that look like this:
#14
Posted 26 March 2016 - 09:38 AM
Peterson's extends our confusion by calling all your fish E. tennesseense also... and only having simoterum in the extreme NE of the range (just barely still in TN. And lets not even talk about common names for these beasties.
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