Speckled darter
#1 Guest_JohnO_*
Posted 26 April 2009 - 09:34 AM
Josh and I went on an expedition yesterday, back to the Rockcastle area. Couldn't have picked a better day. Just beautiful, and the streams weren't very high. The idea was to get away from Livingston itself, as we kept stirring up motor oil when we dragged the bottom. It was the right move.
First stop was the fork of two creeks around 10 miles south of Livingston, where I found this gorgeous little fellow, plus another male and a female. We also found several enormous striped darters in full color. Two of them had white spot patterns on their pectoral fins, very interesting. When I put them in the tank, they promptly scurried under the big rocks at the back, and have absolutely refused to come out, so no photos yet. Curious event - when I put the three speckled darters in the tank, the two males squared off near the female, fins flashing, hairy eyeball. One finally left, and the other perched on top of the female.
Second stop was at another creek a few miles away, where I found a peculiar darter. Shaped and striped like a rainbow or headwater, but the stripes were about the same light emerald as the speckled, though not quite as intense. Very pretty. Still working on photo'ing that one.
Final stop was the S Fork of the Rockcastle river, down in D Boone National Forest. I was getting discouraged, as we weren't finding much of anything and I was dog tired at that point, between dragging a net all day, and battling allergies. Josh came running back - I found them! Ran back up, and it's either a bloodfin or a bluebreast - red spots on the side, red fins, a big proud fellow. We worked that area over pretty well, but couldn't find any more. I did find what was probably another orangethroat variant, beautiful, but didn't keep it. Looked a lot like the thoroughbred darter.
A fun trip. I also brought back three northern studfish from a big school we found, plus a couple of highland shiners, very pretty.
#2 Guest_jblaylock_*
Posted 26 April 2009 - 09:06 PM
Striped Darter
-we found hundreds of these in every place went.
Bluebreast
#3 Guest_BTDarters_*
Posted 27 April 2009 - 02:09 AM
..hundreds of these in every place went
*drool*
Brian
#4 Guest_JohnO_*
Posted 27 April 2009 - 07:00 AM
I hadn't been very impressed with the striped darters we had found in previous trips, but this time made up for it. Lots of big ones. I'm still trying to photo the big one with the white spot pattern on the pectorals, but the darn things are incredibly shy, just won't come out. More motivation to build a better photo box, the last one didn't work too well.
That one creek was fairly thick with the speckled darters, again larger and definitely healthier than the ones we found in the Rockcastle in Livingston. I don't know whether to hit up that area again next weekend, or head to the Red to look for emerald darters in breeding colors. Choices, choices...
#5 Guest_jblaylock_*
Posted 28 April 2009 - 10:50 AM
#6 Guest_bumpylemon_*
Posted 29 April 2009 - 09:46 PM
#7 Guest_jblaylock_*
Posted 30 April 2009 - 08:20 PM
wow those are awesome. i wish i had some cool natives in Massachusetts i could go grab!!!
How far of a drive is it from Mass to KY , I have an extra net
#8 Guest_bumpylemon_*
Posted 10 May 2009 - 07:15 AM
How far of a drive is it from Mass to KY , I have an extra net
hahah after going out with mike i am tempted...he got me real into this. im ready to go cross country now!!
#9 Guest_tglassburner_*
Posted 10 May 2009 - 07:31 AM
Head out to NE Ohio, I'll show you some fun, and some fish.I'm ready to go cross country now!!
#10 Guest_bumpylemon_*
Posted 10 May 2009 - 08:07 AM
Head out to NE Ohio, I'll show you some fun, and some fish.
ive been out to columbus in 04. my ex was from there. man i would love to go there...prob a 10 hour drive lol.
#11 Guest_JohnO_*
Posted 14 May 2009 - 07:49 AM
ive been out to columbus in 04. my ex was from there. man i would love to go there...prob a 10 hour drive lol.
Let's see... central KY is about another 3-4 hours from Columbus. From Lexington, it's about an hour's drive to either the Red or Rockcastle rivers and associated tributaries, our happy hunting grounds. My truck has a crew cab, we always have room for one more.
Road trip!
#12 Guest_Irate Mormon_*
Posted 15 May 2009 - 12:00 AM
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