Jump to content


Mississippi Gulf coast


22 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

Guest_Irate Mormon_*
  • Guests

Posted 23 September 2006 - 03:08 PM

Hey guys,

I will be heading down to the coast sometime this week to explore the coastal rivers. I don't have anything specific in mind, just following my nose. Is anybody up for it? I'm on vacation until Saturday.

#2 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

Guest_Irate Mormon_*
  • Guests

Posted 25 September 2006 - 10:46 PM

No takers? I will be going probably Thursday and Friday, camping at the state park near Biloxi.

#3 Guest_dredcon_*

Guest_dredcon_*
  • Guests

Posted 25 September 2006 - 10:49 PM

Wish I could, gotta teach a lab and take and aquatic toxicology on Thursday then some nightime gillnetting friday night. Where are you gonna collect?

#4 Guest_hmt321_*

Guest_hmt321_*
  • Guests

Posted 26 September 2006 - 08:39 AM

my week is looking bad, how long will you be in the area? to much work going on

#5 Guest_hmt321_*

Guest_hmt321_*
  • Guests

Posted 26 September 2006 - 09:34 AM

will you be available on thursday?

i will pm you with details

#6 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

Guest_Irate Mormon_*
  • Guests

Posted 26 September 2006 - 10:47 PM

Wish I could, gotta teach a lab and take and aquatic toxicology on Thursday then some nightime gillnetting friday night. Where are you gonna collect?

No firm idea, I just wanna sample some of the coastal streams.

#7 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

Guest_Irate Mormon_*
  • Guests

Posted 30 September 2006 - 10:37 PM

You guys missed a helluva a trip - Harry was a wonderful guide to all the goodness that the Escatawba holds. Hogchokers by the hundreds - we could have supplied all the Petsmarts in the US with "freshwater flounder".

Attached Images

  • hogchoker.JPG


#8 Guest_hmt321_*

Guest_hmt321_*
  • Guests

Posted 01 October 2006 - 09:55 AM

did you ever get an id on that madtom?

#9 Guest_dredcon_*

Guest_dredcon_*
  • Guests

Posted 01 October 2006 - 10:23 AM

What else did ya get?

#10 Guest_hmt321_*

Guest_hmt321_*
  • Guests

Posted 01 October 2006 - 10:54 AM

we found:

silver sides
bluegill
red spotted sunfish
longear sunfish
shadow bass
various darters
tons of Gambusia
and i think a taillight shiner

we found some fat sleepers

Irate is way out of my league with IDing these fish, the trip realy sparked my interest in the collecting side of the whole thing. I am going to get myself a decent dipnet and convert my old one (wal-mart special) to a throw net.

I believe Irate had petersons field guide, would this guide be good for the gulf coast or is there another that is better suited?

it was a great trip, looking forward to next time.

#11 Guest_dredcon_*

Guest_dredcon_*
  • Guests

Posted 01 October 2006 - 11:14 AM

Sounds like a good time. For freshwater id'ing I use Inland Fishes of Mississippi and for saltwater I use Hoese and Moores Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico Texas, Louisiana, and Adjacent Waters. Any idea what kind of darters ya got?

#12 Guest_hmt321_*

Guest_hmt321_*
  • Guests

Posted 01 October 2006 - 11:44 AM

the morman would know better than I, I think they were Etheostoma nigrum, they look very close.

#13 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

Guest_Irate Mormon_*
  • Guests

Posted 01 October 2006 - 08:45 PM

We did get some E. swaini, and a madtom that disappeared as soon as I put him in my tank, so I don't know what he is.

#14 Guest_dredcon_*

Guest_dredcon_*
  • Guests

Posted 02 October 2006 - 09:34 AM

Swaini are some of my favorite darters for the tank. Were you collecting from a boat or the bank access?

#15 Guest_hmt321_*

Guest_hmt321_*
  • Guests

Posted 02 October 2006 - 09:47 AM

we collected from the bank, used the boat to hit likely spots

#16 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

Guest_Irate Mormon_*
  • Guests

Posted 04 October 2006 - 12:47 AM

The sleepers were the highlight of the trip - they confounded me at first, but they are VERY cool aquairum fish. "Sleeper" is a real misnomer - these guys are active!

#17 Guest_dredcon_*

Guest_dredcon_*
  • Guests

Posted 04 October 2006 - 12:57 AM

Do you know what the salinity was where you collected the sleepers?

#18 Guest_hmt321_*

Guest_hmt321_*
  • Guests

Posted 04 October 2006 - 09:37 AM

What can i measure the salinity with? I will be headed back this Friday. The river has a pretty good current; you have to head south for many miles (2-3 hour run, in my little boat) before you find barnacles or obviously brackish water. So I would say that where we were is relatively fresh. However it is still affected by the tides, the tidal change is about 8" to 12" depending on the tidal faze.

I have heard uncomfirmed reports that during hurrican katrina, salt water was pushed up the river, and caused a large fish kill. I am unsure about that though.

#19 Guest_dredcon_*

Guest_dredcon_*
  • Guests

Posted 04 October 2006 - 10:12 AM

Are you launching near I-10? Most of my time on that river has been spent near Moss Point, MS, so it was pretty salty some of the time. I dont know if the salt would make it that far up. It would most likely do so in the form of a salt wedge, dense saltwater under the freshwater. I was just curious how far up the river the sleepers were. As for the Katrina fish kills, some may have been caused by saltwater intrusion. I would guess that many were killed by all the organic matter that was flushed into the system causing bacterial blooms. These blooms would suck the oxygen out of the water causing hypoxic conditions. Either way, it sucked.

#20 Guest_hmt321_*

Guest_hmt321_*
  • Guests

Posted 04 October 2006 - 11:46 AM

we launched a few miles north of I-10.

I will pm you with specific details about where we were.



Reply to this topic



  


0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users