Nativeplanter, Kanus, my g/f and I were able to get out on a gorgeous day in VA around the Charlottesville area. We started at the Crofton access on the Rivanna River and then moved up river to the Milton access.

Unfortunately I didn't have all parts of my photo tank setup so we didn't get any goods pics. We probably should have just grabbed some hands shots because these fish had some nice color. Much more than than when we saw them last fall/winter.

Lythrurus ardens - Rosefin shiner
Notropis rubellus - Roseyface shiner
Notropis telescopus - Telescope shiner (the ones I looked at appeared to be telescopus and not amoenus)
Nocomis micropogon - River chub
Luxilus cornutus - Common shiner
Cyprinella analostana - Satinfin shiner
Notemigonus crysoleucas - Golden shiner
Hypentelium nigricans - Northern hogsucker
Campostoma anomalum - Central stoneroller
Etheostoma flabellare - Fantail darter
Etheostoma olmstedi - Tessellated darter
Percina roanoka - Roanoke darter
Lepomis auritus - Redbreast sunfish
Amblopities rupestris - Rock bass
Gambusia holbrooki - E. mosquitofish
Noturus insignis - Margined madtom

I don't recall seeing any spottail or swallowtail this time. We also didn't net any black basses but observed a few.

We then left, drove through a rain storm, and went to a trib of the Rivanna. The clouds held off for us as the storm split and went north and south of us.
Here we found :

Phoxinus oreas - Mountain Redbelly Dace
Rhinichthys atratulus - Blacknose Dace
Clinostomus funduloides - Rosyside Dace
Luxilus cornutus - Common shiner
Nocomis micropogon - River chub ( but now that I think about it they could have been Bluehead )
Etheostoma blennioides - Greenside darter
Etheostoma flabellare - Fantail darter
Etheostoma olmstedi - Tessellated darter
Thoburnia rhothoeca - Torrent sucker
Cottus bairdii - Mottled sculpin

Hope you guys enjoyed the beauty of MRBD in spawning colors.

I do have some pics to share on the camera but haven't downloaded them yet. Might be able to get to that tonight or tomorrow.

Hey Drew, were all of the Mountain Redbellies colored up, or just certain individuals? Is it warm enough for them to be spawning now? What about the gradient? Was this up in the mountains or more of a lowland stream? Small stream? I'm curious because I've seen differences in oreas from different parts of VA. I had some lowland ones that were just blazing color all the time. The ones from the mountains only colored up briefly and not so much. Thanks!

It was an awesome trip! Unfortunately I am sad to report that many of the fish I took home perished last night in an extended power outage after a severe thunderstorm. However, like you said, Drew, the MRBD are pretty much tough as nails and I only lost one as opposed to all of the Notropis and Lyrthrurus. I guess that just means I need to take my gf up there and grab us some more rosefins and roanoke darters. The good news is that the dead fish are going to be donated to my professor's collection. Not a total waste I guess.

Oh, somehow I accidentally took a chub home. I didn't even know how one got in the bucket.

Till next time!

Mark, they were pretty much all colored up. We went to that location in January and we were able to distinguish the males from the females for the most part but still ended up with more males than I thought. Having collected MRBD from Roanoke through the Shenandoah Mountains, they do vary. We found a lot of large gravid females that were returned. I'd guess (forgot my thermometer) the water was 60-65F so they should be spawning in the next week or so.

It was a transitional stream. We were about 10 miles from the Shenandoah park.

I had some issues with the fish I took home as well. I think it ended up being a lot warmer than I planned.

How big is that chub derek? Is it just a river chub?

How big is that chub derek? Is it just a river chub?

The chub is about 3''. I'm guessing he may have been in the net and I mistook him for the blacknose dace when we were sorting the catch. I still don't know how he got in the bucket though, maybe someone thought he was a stoneroller? He appears to just be a river chub, but how can you tell when they are immature?

The chub is about 3''. I'm guessing he may have been in the net and I mistook him for the blacknose dace when we were sorting the catch. I still don't know how he got in the bucket though, maybe someone thought he was a stoneroller? He appears to just be a river chub, but how can you tell when they are immature?

He may have slipped by.. it happens. I have a bluehead chub that I took home at some point by accident. I don't think we would have mistaken it for anything else.