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Huron River sampling, 5/29/07


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#1 Guest_Histrix_*

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Posted 30 May 2007 - 01:39 PM

I and a few other people from the U-M Museum of Zoology visited a stretch of the Huron River between Dexter and Pinkney in search of itcalurids yesterday. Fish life was unusually sparse. We spent close to three disappointing hours seining, only to come up with a baby smallmouth bass, a half-dozen greenside darters, and a couple of miscellaneous shiners (probably rosyface). The water was very clear, so I was able to see a small shoal of medium-sized smallmouth bass and a large northern hogsucker fleeing the area from the surface.

Some of us are attributing this observation to the recent zebra mussel infestation in this stretch. Every rock we moved was practically covered with these things, and other molluscs or inverts (except for helgramites) were few and far between. One of the guys I was seining with managed to slice his hands up pretty well on the blasted things.

Anyway, has anyone else observed this phenomenon in their local watersheds? I'm hoping that we just had bad luck seining yesterday :(

#2 Guest_farmertodd_*

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Posted 30 May 2007 - 02:30 PM

Yeah, you've got the zebra mussel faucet just upstream at Portage Lake.

It can be very difficult to seine fish in those types of circumstances (clear water, lots of wood and plants, good discharge), esp if you're just relying on the good ol' darter dance.

Did you do any downstream hauls? Equipment can make a big difference too... What kind of and size of seine were you using?

Since you have the option, I would snorkel it before I even bothered to seine. I've found fish distributions very patchy in the Huron and the upper Raisin as well.

If you're looking for Senor Stigmosus, you might also consider doing a night snorkel in the riffles where they've been found.

Unfortunately, with what seems to be a high reliance on expired mussel valves, Mister Miurus is running out of habitat in that segment. Hopefully, they're faring better upstream of Portage Lake.

Todd

#3 Guest_edbihary_*

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Posted 30 May 2007 - 03:59 PM

Are you talking about the Huron River in northern Ohio? As I've crossed the Turnpike bridge over it, I wondered what was in there, and whether it would be worthwhile checking out someday. So the answer is apparently "nothing", and "no"? Thanks for the info!

#4 Guest_Histrix_*

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Posted 30 May 2007 - 04:10 PM

This spot was in Washtenaw County, SE MI. We used 2 purse seines (10 and 20') with ~4 mm mesh. We were originally planning on electrofishing, but we got all the way out there and discovered that we forgot the generator. But now I think we are planning on making a second trip out there with the shocker just to figure out what the heck might be going on. I'm hoping that we were just extraordinarily bad at seining :)

#5 Guest_sandtiger_*

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Posted 30 May 2007 - 07:47 PM

I live between Cayuga and Seneca lakes in NY and both lakes are infested with zebra mussels. The collecting in both lakes is very poor IME, I can be along a shoreline for hours and not catch anything. Granted, I never collected in the area before the introduction but based on my collecting experiances elsewhere and those of others I would say the mussels are to blame.

#6 Guest_Brooklamprey_*

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Posted 30 May 2007 - 09:15 PM

I've sampled the stretch around Dexter and Pickney a few times Histrix and never really had much luck in diversity no matter what time of the year or equipment used. It just seems to be a rather sparsely populated section of river.

I'm really not sure if this is directly related to Dreissena or not....I would be very interested in seeing what would pop up in a shocking run. If your going back out there for a second run let me know...

#7 Guest_farmertodd_*

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Posted 30 May 2007 - 09:36 PM

Yeah. Like I said, the fish distribution in those streams, for whatever reason, is very patchy. Worse off, they see you coming and move. With a big bag seine like that you can do some downstream sweeps with a blockade and perhaps get a better picture of the pelagic fishes. Good luck on the benthos. With all those zeebs, there's a lot of places to get out of the way.

Seriously consider snorkelling it before you bother with any technique. You'll be very suprised by how concentrated yet patchy the places where fish conveine are.



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