Darter collecting methods

I am thinking about trying to check out a few local creeks near me, see if I can find any darters. What should I look for? I only have a 12" kids butterfly net for collecting, will that work? Any tricks for flushing them out of the substrate so they can be seen? What depth water should I look for them in?

I think there may be a few past discussions on it in here : http://forum.nanfa.o...p?showforum=205

For the most part, you won't see the darters you are netting. If the water is shallow and clear you will see them dart around but for the dip net method, you have to go with some luck. If the butterfly net is round then it will be a bit troublesome. A flat bottom net is best where you put it downstream of rocks and you kick into it, check for fish, repeat.

Depending on species, water temp, time of year, etc, the fish will be at different depths.

If the butterfly net has a metal hoop, take it and bend it into a D so that the flat part is the part away from the handle.

I find it easiest to catch darters in riffles if I am using a net. Like Drew said, stand in the riffle and put the net a few feet from you, downstream, with the flat part on the bottom. Shuffle the rocks above the net around with your feet. Any darters that were resting in the rocks will swim up, and the water flow will help force them into the net.

Don't give up if you don't catch any right away. It can take a bit to get the hang of it. Even then, the net will come up empty most of the time. But the few times that it does bring up darters are enough to make you shuffle around the river all day long...

Most darters I've found have been in 3"- 8" deep water. You have to look very close to see them, they like to stay under rocks, Occasionally, one will dart out, but for the most part, they prefer to hide.

How thick is the mesh in your net? If it's more than 1/4", darters can get stuck in the mesh. I'd suggest you drop by any wal-mart and pick up a pool cleaning net from their swimming pool section. They're about $10, are very fine mesh, have a thick plastic rim that holds up well when dragged over rocks, and a relatively rectangular shape that is great for sweeping the bottom.

There are two primary methods I use, depending on what the stream is like.

A lot of darters love the riffles. Put the net down in the riffles, then take your hand or foot and start shoving rocks around directly (within 1 foot) upstream of the net. Anything scared up will tend to head downstream. People refer to this as kick-seining, though I like to use my hand to move the rocks as I get a better feel for what the bottom is like.

If the stream has calm sections, look for a rocky bottom. Drop the net to the bottom as far away from you as the pole will allow. Then, pull it toward you as quickly as you can. That will scare up any darters hiding on the bottom.

Another method is to put the net near a flat rock, pick the rock up, and make a fast pass over where the rock was with the net.

And be persistent. The first pass may not yield anything, nor the second or third. These are quick little fish. Give it at least an hour or two, and try different locations. More than once, I've been getting ready to leave, and say - oh, just one more pass, let's see what we find, and something amazing comes up in the net. My big dusky and my first frecklebelly darter were found on that 'one last pass'.

AWESOME!!! I only got to try for about 5 min, but the kick seining worked great! 3 tries got me 2 fantails. I'll have to go back and try again next time the weather is decent.... The spot I tried was about 6 in deep, in a 3' wide creek, but the creek has some great variations within a 20' area. Some slow, some fast, some slow, some rocky riffle, even a spot where it goes 3' deep with grass laying across partway. Any idea if i could find some madtoms there?

Kick-seining is the method of choice for me. I've had great sucess with this method. I rarely actually look for the darters. When your in riffles deeper than a few inches, it's hard to see them. I just find a spot and try it. Usually if you see a darter and 'hunt' it, you'll spend way too much time trying to catch it. However, I did net my Striped Darter after I saw it go under a rock. I also have found that I have more success if I'm walking upstream due to most fish wanting to flee downstream. Walking upstream will push the fish up, then you kick-sein them back down into the net.

I hunt for the faster riffles and I usually try to find a "funnel" area in the riffle. I look for the spot that the water funnels between two larger rocks, reducing the area that the darter can run to. I place my net behind the "funnel" area and move around to the other side and kick downstream, attempting to scare the darters into the funnel area and into the net.

Also, if I'm in a stream where the rock makes a ledge I will run my net down the ledge scaring the darters out from under the ledge into the net.

I hunt for the faster riffles and I usually try to find a "funnel" area in the riffle. I look for the spot that the water funnels between two larger rocks, reducing the area that the darter can run to. I place my net behind the "funnel" area and move around to the other side and kick downstream, attempting to scare the darters into the funnel area and into the net.

This is excellent advice. Even if a large rock is on only one side, it reduces the direction that the darter can go in. You can see the "funnels" by looking not just for large rocks, but little areas where the water flows faster for a foot or so.

Don't limit yourself to just the riffles. Certain types of darters hang out there, while others prefer calmer water. Based on what I've seen in the central to east KY area, I tend to find fantail, variegate, and banded in the riffles, while rainbows, emeralds, greenside, and johnny seem to prefer calmer water, though they can turn up in riffles on occasion. And I've found some of the more unusual ones - frecklebelly, logperch, and dusky, in deeper pools. I find banded sculpin just about everywhere, even in tiny streams that have no darters. They're determined migrators. All of those darters have turned up in just the N fork of the Red River, and I found them by being persistent and exploring riffles, shallow pools, and deeper pools, in numerous locations. One pool or riffle may look like another, but it can contain an entirely different species.

If a stream has darters, try everything, and keep trying. You just never know what you'll find. Kicknet the riffles, fast drag the pools. and don't be shy about making a pass along the edge of a submerged log. I found the logperch - under a log.

That's what makes native fish so fascinating. It's the world's largest pet store, and the lights are turned out on all of the tanks.

Don't limit yourself to just the riffles.

Ditto that - I catch a lot of darters on the border between pebbles and sand. And of course, sand darters (way cool) are usually buried in sand...

I have had luck sweeping weeds with a dip net and picking through what comes off in the net. Another method that works well for me is to walk backwards up stream and flip rocks with my heels while I keep my dip net on the bottom as close to my feet as possible. Be careful since walking forwards up creeks can be pretty tough let alone backwards. This has yielded 3-4 darters in one sweep a few times. Like others said before, try different locations, even on the same creek. I found an area that was maybe 10'x5' that produced darters on nearly every scoop when the rest of the creek gave up none. Must have been a little darter village.