On July 9 through July 12, I traveled to Sayre, Pennsylvania, on business. Sayre borough is at the confluence of the Chemung and Susquehanna Rivers, just south of the NY state line. Also passing through the borough, adjacent to my job site, emptying into the Susquehanna, is Cayuta Creek. I sampled these streams in the evening hours, after each day's work was complete. Suffice it to say, the trip to Sayre was not very successful, at least when it comes to evening fish collecting. The work I was sent there to do went well.

The short of it is this. The Susquehanna River, Chemung River, and Cayuta Creek were rocky, all having cobble and boulder beds (mostly cobble). We found a lot of river cobbles when digging test pits on the job site, too. There was virtually no overhanging vegetation or undercut banks in the Susquehanna and the Chemung, and some but very little in Cayuta Creek. It was mostly just rocky shoreline. Most of my historical success seining and dipnetting alone has been in overhanging vegetation and undercut banks. I've had very little success in open water. The fish are just too fast; I can't drag the net alone as fast as they can swim. I see plenty of small fish, some even in the net while I drag, but by the time I lift, they are gone. This was mostly the case. This was entirely the case in the Susquehanna. No fish cover, no riffles to kick-seine, just open water. I got very little, even though I saw plenty of small fish. There were no undercut banks or overhanging vegetation on the Chemung, either, but there was a nice riffle, and I had some success kick-seining there. Cayuta Creek had a nice riffle that I kick-seined. It also had a small amount of undercut banks and overhanging vegetation, but I didn't find much in them besides rock bass and smallmouth bass.

Here is what I found.

Susquehanna River, at Gene Paluzzi Memorial Riverfront Park (Sayre Borough):

• White Sucker
• Tessellated Darter
• Rock Bass
• Smallmouth Bass

Chemung River, at Tozer's Landing Park (Athens Township):

• White Sucker
• Tessellated Darter
• Rock Bass
• Smallmouth Bass
• Longnose Dace
• Banded Darter
• Shield Darter
• Margined Madtom

Cayuta Creek, at Thomas Avenue bridge (Sayre Borough):

• White Sucker
• Tessellated Darter
• Rock Bass
• Smallmouth Bass
• Longnose Dace
• Banded Darter
• As-yet unidentified small shiner or minnow

I could see numerous small fishes, and I could tell that many were not on the list above. But I was unable to net them working a seine or dipnet alone. And I could not ID them without netting some. My colleague Ken was in town, to work at the same site for a different reason, for one day Wednesday, and he was willing to work a seine with me that evening. But a thunderstorm rolled in that evening. So much for that.

I may get sent back to that site eventually, and I hope that it will be when Ken is also in town to work the seine with me.

It should be noted that the Chemung River is in the Chemung HUC watershed:
http://www.natureser...jsp?huc=2050105

and this reach of the Susquehanna River (as well as Cayuta Creek) is in the Owego-Wappasening HUC watershed:
http://www.natureser...jsp?huc=2050103

Banded darters were plentiful, as were juvenile smallmouth bass. Neither of these fish are listed as on NatureServe as being present in these watersheds. I remember reading somewhere a while back about the successful introduction (under the auspices of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, I believe) of the banded darter into portions of the Susquehanna River drainage. This would certainly be evidence of that success.