54 replies to this topic

[Casper]

Day 0   Prep for Departure

 

 

Visiting the Bakery every year since 1998.

 

 

 

2 fresh cases, ready to be loaded along with all the other assorted needs.

[Casper]

Day 1   Travel

 

 

Slight detour through Cerulean, KY.  Cyan's sister's namesake.

 

 

 

Cerulean Springs, formed during the great earthquake of 1811 when the Mississippi River flowed backwards and created Reelfoot Lake.

 

 

 

Late afternoon arrival to Fredricktown, MO and Cobalt City.  Cyan's brother's namesake.  One of only 2 sites in North American where Cobalt was mined.

 

 

 

[Casper]

Day 2   Castor River Snorkel

 

 

A fine day, pretty water, clear.  A site i have been to before.  Amidon Conservation Area.

 

 

 

Greeted by nesting Longears, a dozen nests scattered close in the sunlit shallows.

 

 

 

Active mounds populated by Bleeders, Striped and Ozarks.

 

 

 

Stonies grazing on the slick algae.

 

 

 

One of the Hornyhead Chubs tending to his mound.

 

 

 

[mattknepley]

Great pics, Casper! When does Cyan get her turn at her namesake? Amidon Conservation Area looks like a don't miss the next time I get to MO.

[Chasmodes]

Great report and pics Casper.  Of course, I yearn for more!  The longear and shiner pics are spectacular, but I like all of them!

[MtFallsTodd]

Awesome pics, thanks for sharing.

[JasonL]

Haven't been to the upper Castor in many years but back in the day it was an excellent smallmouth bass fishery. There are a number of small rivers and creeks in that area with good diversity too.

[AMcCaleb]

Great pictures! Looks like an awesome trip. 

[Isaac Szabo]

Very nice photos of the longear and chub mound minnows. I'm looking forward to more.

[Casper]

Well this was Day 2 and we had not yet arrived at Meramec SP, enjoying the travel and drive.  Quite an extended adventure lay before us.

 

The Amidon offers a great access to the Castor River, while just down the road the Shut-Ins are found.  Shut-Ins, of which Missouri has many, are a regional term for tight bouldered cascades.  Not so good for snorkeling as they are rugged and dangerous but pretty.

 

Yes Smallmouth Bass are common here but their habitat is being reduced.  As we learned during Wednesday's evening this region's erosion problem is not silt but gravel.  The deep pools get filled up and big fish need deep pools to prosper.  One of the No Trespassing sites i experienced recently had big machinery in it harvesting the gravel.  I reckon both good and bad.  I found spawning Bleeders and Ozarks in one of the channeled ruts.

A positive point for gravel is its filtration effect.  Much of the water flows down through the gravel keeping it clear and many Darters thrive in the shallow water.  In central south Tennessee we seem to have the same situation.

 

Unlike Cobalt and Cerulean, Cyan has no namesake.  It's interesting we were able to visit those 2 towns on our route.  Cerulean has a rock quarry you can dive in.

 

 

How about that Mill Stone?  Always good sites to find and snorkel.  Missouri has many Conservation Areas.

 

 

This and the color Purple are not welcoming signs.

 

 

 

[Casper]

 

Here is a photo i liked from Castor as it oddly showed my snorkeling reflection too.

Then Isaac worked his magic on it.

 

 

[mattknepley]

We were greeted by a less-than-welcoming local on Indian Creek who asked something to the effect of "don't you know what purple paint means?" Uh, no; that has got to be a MO or Ozark thing. Been in 43 states in the Union and this is the only place a passive-colored purple blaze or stripe meant "keep out". Dude would've probably had a coronary if he'd seen us there before, never mind we were on the right of way for the road...

[Chasmodes]

Nice follow up report Casper!

 

In Maryland, it's blue paint 

[mattknepley]

Blue paint, huh? I never noticed that, though perhaps that is to be expected as even though I have been through MD many times, almost all of it was interstate. Save for a three mile stretch between Cumberland and the PA border. You sir have helped me remember the wisdom of Leopold's lament that cruising the highways at 45 mph does not enable seeing what it there. Wonder what he'd make of today's U.S. with internet, social media, and 75 mph and higher speed limits.

[Josh Blaylock]

Great report and photos Casper!

[Casper]

Day 3 Indian Creek

 

The previous evening i had studied the MO Gazateer looking for potential snorkel sites located near Meramec State Park.  The Meramec River itself was not clear at the boat launch, only offering about 2' visibility Thursday morning so Michael, Cyan and i headed south for a lookabout in the local watersheds.  After a few gravel road turns and checking on a few smaller creeks and springs we crossed Indian Creek and looking over the bluff side we could see promising and active Sunfish nests.  Turning left at a gravel road we followed the creek downstream and soon came upon several parked cars and people waving from the creek below.  They were lounging in the shade under a popup awning with their chairs halfway submerged in the flowing water being cool.  Waving back we drove down a bit further and found an inviting grassy spot overlooking the wide graveled creek.  A bit of fading purple marked the 2 trees bracketing our parking spot.  I like purple and considered it a welcoming mark.

 

 

 

Our parking spot, my van to the left.  Indian Creek can rage high and wide with the churning gravel.  I soon learned sandals were not appropriate as the gravel gets in and does not get out none to easily.  After a bit of pain i returned for my zip up boots.  Just weeks before the region had record flooding causing concerns for many folks, especially our host Bob.  Yet during the convention the weather was ideal and i found many excellent clear water snorkeling sites over the sunny week.

 

 

 

Log Jams create scouring, the fast waters cutting deep to the right, left and underneath thus creating deeper pools where the bigger fish cruise.

 

 

 

Michael disturbed a water snake from the tangled jam.

 

 

 

Cute little turtle slider of some sort.

 

 

 

Sculpin, a green eyed beast of ambush.

 

 

 

Lots of Rainbow Darters.  Maybe a few Orangethroats here too.

 

 

 

Walking about a half mile upstream i came upon a couple fresh Hornyhead Chub mounds in the shallow run.  Ozarks and Bleeders were spawning actively over them.  Over the 3 days exploring Indian Creek i found several older mounds, often located under log jams but this pair were the only mounds being attended to.  It was a good show, and perhaps the last of this season as the summer temps were increasing daily.

 

 

 

Mr. Rock Bass.  Several Sunfish were spawning or guarding eggs upstream of the mounds including this proud Goggle Eye.  Mostly Longears, but also Smallmouth Bass and 3 of these guys.  A good show they offered.

 

 

 

He was a fighter and would not let me get away with any close digital inspections into his nest.  Finally he nipped me once too many times and i snapped tight.  After a few awkward turbid photos i released him but the following day he was my friend.  Approaching him the next day i slowly closed my 2 hands around him raising him from the water for a unique aerial view to he tell his buddies of.

 

 

 

Back to the NANFA gathering place that evening we enjoyed a very nice talk about the history of Meramec State Park, the waters and region.  The questions session went on for quite awhile with enthusiasm from both the speaker and listeners.  We thoroughly enjoyed Naturalist Brian Wilcox's talk, it was a perfect introduction to the fine days ahead.

 

 

 

[mattknepley]

Love the Rock Bass pics! Think his buddies believe any bit of his "human that got away" stories?

[Isaac Szabo]

Great photos! Indian Creek was very nice. The turtle looks like a Northern Map Turtle.

[Casper]

 

Here is another shot showing the wide gravel and sporadic log jams of Indian Creek.  Topside center you can barely make out my van parked in a nice grassy knoll overlooking the creek.  The entrance was bracketed by a pair of tall pines marked with fading purple.

 

It was a beautiful site and offered a lot of aquatic life for our first day arriving early to the Meramec SP.

 

 

 

[Casper]

River Hills Traveler   August Issue

 

 

While Cyan and i were wandering around SE Missouri during the 2017 NANFA convention i picked up a regional paper.  Opening it up, dead center was a color photograph and article featuring the "Critter of the Month: Bleeding Shiner", one of the many cool fish i observed over Chub mounds during this trip.  Other articles of interest were included within about water witching, vintage Ozark gigging, the upcoming solar eclipse, and various historic areas of interest.  It's a nice publication for visitors and locals.

When i returned home i contacted the editor, who coincidently has named his daughter Cyan, and i suggested a story about snorkeling Missouri waters and he liked the idea.  I worked on it a few days and ran it by Isaac and Bob before submission.

Low and behold he published it on the front page this month.  It's complimented with Isaac's photograph of Bleeding Shiners and a gawking snorkeler.  A bonus at the end of the article was the promotion of NANFA.org, isaacszabo.com, Isaac's beautiful website and a bit about Bob Hrabik's upcoming book the "Fishes of Missouri" featuring Lance's photographs and Dave's illustrations.