On Friday we met near the Starved rock lock and dam and sampled the Illinois River. The day was warn and sunny, in general very pleasant weather.

Sorry for the following haphazard species list:

Illinois river below dam:

Notropis atherinoides Emerald Shiner
Notropis hudsonius Spottail Shiner
Alosa chrysochloris Skipjack Herring
Percina caprodes Logperch
Cyprinella lutrensis Red Shiner
Ictalurus punctatus Channel Catfish
Morone chrysops White Bass
Hypophthalmichthys molitrix silver carp
Micropterus salmoides Largemouth Bass
Gambusia affinis Western Mosquitofish

Emerald shiner and Gambusia were most abundant here. Rather sad to see so many gambusia compared to last year as this is not part of their natural range.

We decided that we'd seen enough emerald shiners and gambusia and wanted to sample a small river that enters on the north side of the Illinois river nearby.

This river was near a local cement plant and oddly enough the riffles were nearly impossible to kick since the rocks were (for lack of a better word) cemented. The stream itself was full of life but I suspect the cement plant has negatively effected this stream. The riffles were beautiful yet contained not a single darter. "Rock solid" siltation...good grief. Despite the conditions we found the following fishes:

Cyprinella lutrensis Red Shiner
Notropis hudsonius Spottail Shiner
Notropis atherinoides Emerald Shiner
Percina caprodes Logperch
Lepomis cyanellus Green Sunfish
Cyprinus carpio Common Carp
Fundulus notatus Blackstripe Topminnow

We also noticed large carp (I suspect we saw both silver and a large scale carp that easily jumped the nets maybe grass or common).

We worked a riffle and pool then decided to sample the mouth for a while. The mouth of this river was rather pretty. Small loose rock shoals abounded and many logperch were found here. Almost a shame sunlight was dwindling.

The next day was the big day...Garvana! We met local members (who might chime in) at the hotel and made the long steep walk down to the river. The morning was cold, so was the midday and early afternoon for that matter. My hands were numb and I had the shivers it was so darn cold. I guess the intermittent drizzle and heavy, cold rain didn't help much but we still had fun. When the sun was shining the Gar were actively feeding and at these times most of us grabbed our rods and caught quite a few decent Gar and each managed to land Mooneye. Late in the afternoon our last member arrived and we warmed up by getting in the water. We found a smallmouth buffalo with a damaged gill cover that never quite healed. Instead of healing, algae grew. And the really odd find was what I'm calling "rock" bowfin. This was a large female and she seemed quite out of place. We spent the whole day at this location and sampled a decent number of fish:

Carpiodes velifer Highfin Carpsucker
Carpiodes carpio River Carpsucker
Carpiodes cyprinus Quillback
Lepisosteus platostomus Shortnose Gar
Amia calva Bowfin
Percina phoxocephala Slenderhead Darter
Percina caprodes Logperch
Hiodon tergisus Mooneye
Notropis atherinoides Emerald Shiner
Notropis hudsonius Spottail Shiner
Cyprinella lutrensis Red Shiner
Cyprinella spiloptera Spotfin Shiner
Micropterus salmoides Largemouth Bass
Micropterus dolomieu Northern Smallmouth Bass
Morone chrysops White Bass
Lepomis macrochirus Bluegill
Lepomis cyanellus Green Sunfish
Ictalurus punctatus Channel Catfish
Ictiobus bubalus Smallmouth Buffalo
Pomoxis nigromaculatus Black Crappie
Sander canadensis Sauger
Labidesthes sicculus Brook Silverside

We made it back to the hotel late and talked fish for a while before waking up to flash flood advisories. It was a real mess to say the least. Wisely most of the group parted while Richard and I decided to drive 3 hours south to the Sangamon river drainage. Quite a different weather pattern from the day before. My car in the open sun indicated 106 degrees F but once we got moving tamed to the lower 90's. We sampled a small creek that was heavily weed choked moderately warn and crystal clear. Not far from there we sampled a backwater of a nearby lake that was quite warm and shallow.

Lepomis humilus Orangespotted Sunfish
Lepomis macrochirus Bluegill
Lepomis miniatus Redspotted Sunfish
Lepomis cyanellus Green Sunfish
Lepisosteus oculatus Spotted Gar
Cyprinus carpio Common Carp
Micropterus salmoides Largemouth Bass
Etheostoma asprigene Mud Darter


We then moved a few miles west and sampled some very odd waters and meet even stranger locals. This location had a horrid smell and it was real challenge to make ourselves jump in with the seine. Richard was trooper and didn't complain once. This will be known as the "stink hole" from this time forward.

Lepisosteus platostomus Shortnose Gar
Amia calva Bowfin
Cyprinus carpio Common Carp
Notemigonus crysoleucas Golden Shiner
Gambusia affinis Western Mosquitofish
Pylodictis olivaris Flathead Catfish

I had a great time despite the weather. I'm lucky to have found such a group to sample with and hope that Richard and I have found Garvana II with our little exploration south.

Below are some of the highlights (all can be seen in the NANFA gallery). I hope Richard and Solomon will post some shots of their own.
Flathed:


Sauger:


Slenderhead darter:


White bass:


Silver carp:



Shortnose Gar



Please let me know if I'm missing anything on the list guys.

More photos:

Hifin Carpsucker



Mooneye:




Bowfin:



River Carpsucker:



Drum:

And last but not least:

Smallmouth buffalo:


Matt, Richard and Solomon:

It really sucks we did not get a pic of that Mud darter..It keeps bugging me we did not.




I have a few more pics I need to process still...I really did not take many pics as I was having more fun playing in the water and with the fish.