I drove down to Grand Rapids, OH from Grand Rapids, MI on Sunday and meet with Nate at a park along the Maumee River. The river was about 5-7ish feet above normal and very muddy. However we seemed to have some great luck considering the conditions and I now have a bunch of Orangespotted Sunfish, emerald shiners, and a Blacksided darter in my 120g tank.

I believe we caught about 15 or so species in Nate's 8ft seine net but I'll let Nate list the species as he is much more knowledgeable. This was my first collection trip and I had a great time and plan on doing it again as soon as possible!

I will be adding pictures of the trip and pictures of the fish in the tank in the next day or so!

-Kurt

Kurt, it was a pleasure meeting you and your dad. I look forward to scooping up plenty more carp with you soon...ahaha.

Here's how the trip broke down:

April 29th, 2007

Location: Grand Rapids Dam on the Maumee River, in Grand Rapids, OH.

Water Level: Very high. Water levels were at 7 feet higher than normal for this time of the year. There is a parking lot and a playground that are alongside a small creek that flows into the river upstream of the dam, and the parking lot and playground were completely flooded and underwater.

Water Quality: Very turbid. We had three consecutive days of rain prior to this trip. The Maumee River is commonly referred to as the "Muddy Maumee" and this was no exception. The river itself is low gradient too.

Water Temp.: Estimated in the low 50's*F, the week before the water temp was in the mid 50's*F but the rain and cool weather cooled it down.

Substrate: The areas sampled were flooded forests. The forests had a bottom of sticks, debris, and mud. The water was much too high to get to the main river (which is mostly bedrock with some boulders strewn throughout). Mostly flooded timber was sampled.

Air Temp.: Sunny (beautiful) and in the mid 60's*F

Collected:

• Orangespotted Sunfish (Lepomis humilis) - very abundant here
• Green Sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus)
• Hybrid Sunfish (Lepomis hybrid)
• Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus)
• Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides) - about a 10" fish back in the flooded trees
• White Crappie (Pomoxis annularis)

• Brook Silverside (Labidesthes sicculus)
• Gizzard Shad (Dorosoma cepedianum) - captured by method of Kurt's hand...haha

• Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio) - caught a few really big ones, one probably weighed close to 10 pounds.
• Northern Quillback Carpsucker (Carproides cyprinus cyprinus) - here's where things get interesting...need help identifying this one

in the 2nd shot you can see there's no "nub" on the bottom lip, so it's not a River Carpsucker...I'm sure it's a Quillback, it just looks too terete to be a regular Central Quillback Carpsucker to me. It may have just been awhile since I've seen my last Central, but this is what a Central Quillback Carpsucker looks like to me...

(this picture was provided to me by Brian Zimmerman) Brian was telling me that the Quillback that Kurt and I encountered was possibly one out of Lake Erie which might be different in appearance from one that is more or less found in the Maumee River. Perhaps someone could shine some light on this for me.

• Bigmouth Buffalo (Ictiobus cyprinellus) - I also need help ID'ing this one.

This fish was caught among the flooded timber along the river's edge. The fish was barely moving, and in bad shape (emaciated). A possible victime of VHS? I tried to key it out using the Fishes of Wisconsin as a reference. From that the best I can say is Bigmouth Buffalo because of the thick lips and the shallow groove of the bottom lip. Also, I didn't quite think it had an exaggerated hump to it's anterior half like the Smallmouth Buffalo should.

• Tadpole Madtom (Noturus gyrinus)

• Emerald Shiner (Notropis atherinoides)
• Spotfin Shiner (Cyprinella spiloptera)
• Spottail Shiner (Notropis hudsonius)
• Ghost Shiner (Notropis buchanani)
• Mimic Shiner (Notropis volucellus)
• Sand Shiner (Notropis stramineus)
• Bluntnose Minnow (Pimephales notatus)
• Fathead Minnow (Pimephales primelas)
• Common Shiner (Luxilus cornutus)
• Freshwater Drum (Aplodinotus grunniens)

Overall it was a great trip. Always fun to get in the water. I can't wait to do it again. Looking forward to your pictures here soon, too.

I'll get some pics of the fish in the tank soon.

He he Took my little brother and nephew there to Grand Rapids OH last summer. Spent hours swimming, chasing fish and snakes. They, OK, _WE_, had a blast. Saw a similar group of species. Man, that was fun!

He he Took my little brother and nephew there to Grand Rapids OH last summer. Spent hours swimming, chasing fish and snakes. They, OK, _WE_, had a blast. Saw a similar group of species. Man, that was fun!

Let me know when you come out this way again, we'll have to meet up on a trip.

Let me know when you come out this way again, we'll have to meet up on a trip.

We'll be in Ohio some over the summer. Sounds like fun! My Dad's in Perrysburg.

Can anyone help with the identification of the Buffalo pictured above? I know the Quillback is a regular Quillback Carpsucker, but the Buffalo is still up for debate.

Can anyone help with the identification of the Buffalo pictured above? I know the Quillback is a regular Quillback Carpsucker, but the Buffalo is still up for debate.

I would have to pull out "The Book" (Trautman). I haven't had much experince with buffalo. If you get any juvies, I'd like to try them in aquaria. I've had very mixed results with carpsuckers. We used to catch tons of fry from waters along Lake Erie, but that was before I knew what a buffalo was

Now that I think about it, one year I found a lot of carpsucker/buffalo juvies in the little creek that runs by 475 at Rt 65. It's kind of hard to access though. That big backchannel at buttonwood would probably be good too. What time of year do these things spawn? You'd need to time it so you were there when the little ones were.