So... Last week, us Yankee types had the inagural meeting of the Society of Ohio Recovery and Elucidation of Ammocrypta and Subgenera Sympatric Etheostoma Species (SOREASSES). I thought I would post it here along with your Catfish Trials, so we could compare and contrast.
Forum member Ben Keck of the Univ of Tennessee, Marc Kibbey of the Ohio State Univ Museum, and a fella named Jacob who is forum member Tom Near's lab tech did a float down Paint Creek through the gorge in search of Nothonotus and eastern sand darter. We quickly learned one thing about our superior aluminum technology:
It's really danged heavy when you have to carry it over every stinkin' riffle!!!!
We initially planned to start on the road adjacent to the gorge, but that wasn't the locality that I remembered. This put us about 4.5-5 miles upstream for our put in, and the entire strech was winding alluvial plain stream with riffles on every corner. There was so little water in the stream, that every riffle was a struggle, and usually involved getting out and walking. By the time we got to the road from which we would have liked to launch, we were dead. Forgot water, there was limited food.
But the fish and scenery were goregous. We got some bluebreasts that were even larger than the monsters I'd found here before. They were just enormous. Pics tonight.
Also found a good population of sand darter in some of the sand swales off riffles.
And then it started to rain. And then it rained a little harder. And harder. And harder. And then it got dark. And darker and darker... You get the idea. And remember that part about having to carry the canoes over every riffle? This was below the gorge, so the rocks were all much more cobble-ish than I ever care to wander among in the dark and pouring rain. I just closed my eyes, I walked better that way. We knew we wouldn't die... But it was like "Okay, this can end ANY minute now."
Finally a light at a house looked promising and Jacob demanded we at least go ask for help. Turned out to be our take out. And not a river meter soon enough!
Didn't end up finding any spotted darter. I'm encouraged by Brian Z and his MBI crew getting them out in the mainstem Scioto south of the confluence. Now to determine if it's the paper mill that's keeping them out, or Paint Creek really isn't a good place for spotted darter to live.
The next day, as I've alluded to in another thread... The problem was no longer too little water. It was too much. But we managed to look at some of the Kokosing River's finest before the pulse came in (the Darby was presently getting rearranged). We got a second spotted darter, and it was like "Okay, I ain't dying for no fish. If you find anything THAT different, I'll come back and get more material. Sheesh."
Todd