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Hello From Georgia

Started by Guest_Stumpknocker_* , Mar 10 2008 12:00 PM

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#21 Guest_Stumpknocker_*

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Posted 13 March 2008 - 05:07 PM

I love all of the sunfish for their own reasons. How big are they?
As far as food, Newt pretty much summed it up. Younger fish are easier to train to pellets.
If you feed minnows, make sure they're healthy. Most store bought feeders are diseased and have malnutrition.
P.S. If you ever have an extra female green, think of me.

Well if they breed and i get some female greens out of the deal I'll let ya know....also if I happen to catch a wild one, would you like a small one if I catch it? I catch them all the time, alot of females out here in the lake!! :biggrin:

#22 Guest_fishlvr_*

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Posted 13 March 2008 - 05:13 PM

I PMed you.

Edited by fishlvr, 13 March 2008 - 05:13 PM.

#23 Guest_fish for brains_*

Guests

Posted 13 March 2008 - 09:27 PM

I'm just curious Stumpknocker, do you have Warmouth in your area? I'm in the upper Ochlocknee basin and I haven't seen any Greens. Of course I haven't been here to long either.

#24 Guest_Stumpknocker_*

Guests

Posted 13 March 2008 - 09:43 PM

I'm just curious Stumpknocker, do you have Warmouth in your area? I'm in the upper Ochlocknee basin and I haven't seen any Greens. Of course I haven't been here to long either.

Yes i have warmouth out here, I just don't catch them as much...now I did catch one last week, and after marveling in it's beauty I broke down and released it...I am regretting that now... :unsure:

There used to be this runoff from the lake I used to fish, but someone bought the property and now I can't fish it anymore... :glare:

it had baby channel cat in there and everything...I caught every species of sunfish native to my area that day...and there are greens in the ochlocknee, I fish for them around willow trees like I do warmouth...give it a try sometimes if your at the river in a boat...sometimes you can catch them from the bank...I think the reason so many is in here is because they stocked it. If I catch warmouth would you be interested in one? I'll go out to my spot and give it a try, now that I have the huge tank I think a warmouth will be a nice addition to the family...also I could get a crappie for you to if needed everyone out here including me are killing them right now and they are awesome aquarium fish...I have been releasing them ever since i brought that one home because I don't know how to sex them yet...it would be cool to get some crappie fry... :tongue:

#25 Guest_fish for brains_*

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Posted 14 March 2008 - 10:54 AM

I guess the Greens have been introduced because I haven't seen them listed as natives. As cool as Greenies are I'm going to stick to Warmouth for my pond because I want to stay as native as possible. Thanks for offering to save WM for me, but don't inconvenience yourself too much. Ideally I would get a few hundred of them to stock my pond, but since they're not available from hatcheries I'll just gradually build up a population.

What I really need to do is find a local creek or pond that is dominated by them so that I can catch large numbers of them. My neighbor's pond has WM, but you have to catch dozens of (mostly small) Largemouths and Bluegills for every Warmouth you catch.

Redears are available from hatcheries so I think I'll stock them in quantity and then add Warmouth slowly. My goal will be to have various native minnows and small Sunfish, Redears, Warmouth, Chain and Grass Pickerel, and Florida Gar. I probably won't be stocking Crappie because of the difficulty in managing them in small ponds.

Right now I only have a 10 gallon aquarium set up mostly to hold small fish until I can ID them. Eventually I'll get a larger tank and set it up permanently.

#26 Guest_fish for brains_*

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Posted 14 March 2008 - 11:18 AM

Stumpknocker, I found this handy resource for the Ochlocknee river basin:

http://www.natureser...jsp?huc=3120002

Just in case it might be helpful...

#27 Guest_khudgins_*

Guests

Posted 26 March 2008 - 08:47 PM

Hey, everyone. Thought I'd join in and introduce myself - been keeping aquarium fish for many years off and on. Recently picked the habit back up, and I've always thought of keeping natives. I'm east of Atlanta, near Covington.

Anyone nearby do any collecting locally? I've never done it and at some point I'm going to need some pointers! I'm interested in keeping smaller sunfish (I've got a 55 gallon tank waiting to be set up for them) and anything else interesting.

#28 Guest_fishlvr_*

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Posted 26 March 2008 - 08:55 PM

Hey, everyone. Thought I'd join in and introduce myself - been keeping aquarium fish for many years off and on. Recently picked the habit back up, and I've always thought of keeping natives. I'm east of Atlanta, near Covington.

Anyone nearby do any collecting locally? I've never done it and at some point I'm going to need some pointers! I'm interested in keeping smaller sunfish (I've got a 55 gallon tank waiting to be set up for them) and anything else interesting.

Welcome to the forum! Glad to see someone else from GA. I'm in Fayetteville, and Michael is up in Athens. Maybe we can all get together this summer. I'm a sunfish fanatic, so I'll be glad to help you with any questions or collecting you have.

#29 Guest_khudgins_*

Guests

Posted 26 March 2008 - 09:26 PM

Welcome to the forum! Glad to see someone else from GA. I'm in Fayetteville, and Michael is up in Athens. Maybe we can all get together this summer. I'm a sunfish fanatic, so I'll be glad to help you with any questions or collecting you have.

Thanks! I'd love to go out and collect some fish - I've been looking at the state regs, and there's a bucket clause that says nongame wildlife may not be possessed, however, the fishing regs say that nongame fish less than 5" may be seined (as long as game fish are immediately returned).

What are some good areas around here to get your feet wet?

#30 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 26 March 2008 - 09:43 PM

I would love to get out with you sometime... I am just up the road from you in the Athens area... I'm not as much into sunfish as I am interested in shiners... In fact I was wanting to get out and chase some pteronotropis (lowland shiners) about an hour south of you (I have several locations identified by a relatively well known paper... at least known by this crowd).

As far as the Georgia regulations are concerned, my thoughts are this... don't over analyze... always have a fishing license... you are collecting bait...game fish are defined in the regulations as game fish... everything else is bait... you are collecting bait.

I've got an empty tank, waders and not much planned for the weekend (although it looks like rain)... let me know if you are interested in getting out this weekend or next.

Thanks! I'd love to go out and collect some fish - I've been looking at the state regs, and there's a bucket clause that says nongame wildlife may not be possessed, however, the fishing regs say that nongame fish less than 5" may be seined (as long as game fish are immediately returned).

What are some good areas around here to get your feet wet?

Edited by Michael Wolfe, 26 March 2008 - 09:44 PM.

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#31 Guest_khudgins_*

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Posted 27 March 2008 - 07:59 AM

Sunday looks good. I do need to renew my fishing license, but that's not hard. I'll PM you my email address.

#32 Guest_fishlvr_*

Guests

Posted 27 March 2008 - 05:05 PM

I would love to get out with you sometime... I am just up the road from you in the Athens area... I'm not as much into sunfish as I am interested in shiners... In fact I was wanting to get out and chase some pteronotropis (lowland shiners) about an hour south of you (I have several locations identified by a relatively well known paper... at least known by this crowd).

As far as the Georgia regulations are concerned, my thoughts are this... don't over analyze... always have a fishing license... you are collecting bait...game fish are defined in the regulations as game fish... everything else is bait... you are collecting bait.

Where are you going(city/town)? I might be able to get out around 5 on Saturday or maybe Sunday afternoon if you wouldn't mind a little company.

(although it looks like rain)

Ha. Blessing or a curse?

#33 Guest_khudgins_*

Guests

Posted 27 March 2008 - 08:00 PM

Looks like things are going to be Saturday. As for where... I'm tagging along. Somewhere east or south of me, at least.

#34 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 27 March 2008 - 11:00 PM

I looked a my maps, etc. and I have been trying to find an excuse to get down towards Sandersville... so I may use this as my excuse... getting to khudgins will be the frst hour, so why not another hour south?

Anyway, if anyone wants to meet us, I am thinking that we will find a spot in Madison, or maybe just where 441 crosses I20 to meet on Saturday morning... more details to follow... and then head out in a south-easterly direction... with an ultimate goal of hitting a few spots down near Sandersville where I think we can chase some aweful pretty minnows.

This is not a private party, if anyone wants to join us in the beauty of middle Georgia (on a day when it might rain :angry:

) just let me know so we can arrange a meeting place... we have also heard from Steve, who may be able to join us later in the day... so we may make a big effort to be back close to the interstate to meet up with him and check out a few places closer to Madison... this will be very informal, so just let me know if you are interested.

MW

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#35 Guest_Stumpknocker_*

Guests

Posted 28 March 2008 - 11:35 AM

I looked a my maps, etc. and I have been trying to find an excuse to get down towards Sandersville... so I may use this as my excuse... getting to khudgins will be the frst hour, so why not another hour south?

Anyway, if anyone wants to meet us, I am thinking that we will find a spot in Madison, or maybe just where 441 crosses I20 to meet on Saturday morning... more details to follow... and then head out in a south-easterly direction... with an ultimate goal of hitting a few spots down near Sandersville where I think we can chase some aweful pretty minnows.

This is not a private party, if anyone wants to join us in the beauty of middle Georgia (on a day when it might rain ) just let me know so we can arrange a meeting place... we have also heard from Steve, who may be able to join us later in the day... so we may make a big effort to be back close to the interstate to meet up with him and check out a few places closer to Madison... this will be very informal, so just let me know if you are interested.

MW

....The south Georgian feels left out.

#36 Guest_fishlvr_*

Guests

Posted 29 March 2008 - 04:46 PM

I think we should all get together this summer. Sadly, I couldn't go today, because I got home too late.

#37 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 31 March 2008 - 10:08 PM

Just to let everyone know, khudgins and I did get out into middle Georgia on Saturday. We got in several hours of sampling in locations that were black water tributaries of the oconee river, and one trib of the ohoopee river. Had a pretty good day all things considered. I was hoping to collect a few lowland shiners, and I did get a few. Realized that the mesh in my seine is way to large for these smaller sized shiners (time for a new/additional seine). It eventually rained but we still got to see a few fish and scot a few good locations for sampling on another day.

We saw (in no particluar order)...
Pteronotropis Stonei - lowland shiner just three, although I am sure that many others slipped through the seine
Gambusia holbooki - he who shall not be named
Lepomis macrochirus - bluegill
Lepomis punctatus - spotted sunfish
Elassoma zonatum - banded pygmy sunfish
Aphredoderus sayanus - pirate perch
Ameiurus natalis - yellow bullhead
Esox niger - chain pickerel - this is a total guess since what we saw were all equal to or less than three inches long
Etheostoma fusiforme - swamp darter
unidentified notropis - sorry no picture
unidentified chub - sorry no picture

Not huge diversity, but we had a good day!

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#38 Guest_khudgins_*

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Posted 01 April 2008 - 12:08 PM

Photos coming soon...

#39 Guest_khudgins_*

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Posted 09 April 2008 - 03:23 PM

These are the three fish I've got photos of. The first is (I think, I'm new at this) Elassoma Zonatum, then the likely Esox Niger, and finally the one small bluegill we found.

#40 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 09 April 2008 - 03:28 PM

First guy is a pirate perch (Aphredoderus sayanus). You're definitely in the right genera for the other two, but I'm not sure about the species. That sunny doesn't look like a bluegill to me.

Edited by Newt, 09 April 2008 - 03:29 PM.