I arrived a day early to meet with Mark Hylton in hopes of sampling with rod and reel. After a bizarre exchange with the campground hostess, we took off on a footpath to one of my favorite childhood fishing spots. Mark armed with an insect net and me with only sharp eyes encountered a click beetle, sphinx moth, fungus beetles, sap beetles, adult dobsonflies and many larvae among other less notable finds along the way. I was fortunate enough to catch quite a few smallmouth bass between searching the many spring seeps for snails and salamanders.

Female Dobsonfly

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After a good night sleep, I awoke with the birds to walk the river with rod and reel before the members showed up. I caught largemouth, smallmouth and rock bass along with a single channel catfish. Jamie and Jeremy arrived first from the western suburbs, Lance and Blake from central Illinois and Mike and his son from northwest Indiana almost missed us on the way to the first site but managed to recognize the caravan and keep up with the pack. The first site usually runs clear but was high and turbid. Despite the water conditions we found large rainbow darters, stonecat, rock bass, longear sunfish, rosyface shiners among others. We then traveled back to the Kankakee river to sample the also high and turbid waters. We did find beautiful examples of spotfin shiners and longear sunfish but they were hard to come by. A couple of large sucker (likely golden red horse) were found before we sampled a usually shin deep swift riffle in search of usually available selnderhead darters. This riffle was now waste deep and very difficult to maintain a foothold. Unfortunately I was unable to maintain good footing and was swept a bit and submerged, losing my car keys. This usually is not a big deal as I have a spare set at home but with my wife in Missouri and my keys somewhere in the river, getting inside my car where my wallet and phone remained dry was top priority. Thankfully Lance and Blake drove to the local car dealer where the parts department was closed but a very helpful Angela worked hard to have a single key made for a desperate guy without any ID. After driving to another dealership a considerable distance away, we managed to have a key made with great luck and only a few minutes before the parts department closed. I’m indebted to Lance, Blake and Angela for making every effort to get a key for me and owe an apology to the rest of the group that had to depart before we could make it back to the car. Lance, Blake and myself did have time to sample the mouth of a large tributary of the Kankakee and the river itself before light made it impossible to take photos. I now have spare sets of keys among frinds and family as well as a secure method of attaching my keys while I sample. At least I gave the members a comical memory of me searching for my keys.

The following day was much less eventful as we took a lazy pace in sampling two small tributaries. Mark, Blake Stephanie and I sampled vigorously producing a few more fishes including: redfin and striped shiners, many rock bass bluegill and green sunfish, fantail orangethroat and banded darters, black bullhead among others I’m surely forgetting. In addition to fishes a few Alasmidonta viridis (slippershell mussel) were found.

Redfin Shiner

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Longear Sunfish

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Spotfin Shiner

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Black crappie


Striped Shiner


We also found a few fish with what looks like a tumor in the Kankakee River.
I believe this is Notropis volucellus

http://farm3.static...._67fab175e3.jpg

This is anchor worm on Lythrurus umbratilis.

http://farm3.static....a34c4e823_o.jpg

Black bullhead with some kind of leech.

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I sure hope this poison ivy goes away soon!

Uland, your pictures are getting even better and I never would have thought that possible. I'm sorry to hear about your car keys.

I'm sorry you lost your keys. That's one of the big questions for this kind of field work, how to safely store your keys, wallet, watch, etc. I lived in Boston too long to ever leave my wallet in the car, so I have to carry everything with me in a pack and leave it on the bank.

And I especially like the anchor worm shot, how can you go wrong with parasites?

question...did you take out the worms and leech? lol

Thanks for the kind words about the photos...always trying to improve.
Thanks also for the sympathy for the keys but honestly, stupidity has it's price and I have learned my lesson.
I did not remove the hitchhikers since even a leech has to eat

Great pics, good story. Love those Dobbsin Flies. Did you note any odor?
Bizarre exchange with camp hostess? Its her job you know, watching out for oddities.

Keys... Ive learned my lessons well. Knock on wood.

I use those hideaway keys, magnetic box, on both my truck and van. Saved me plenty of times. You really gotta work out a spot and make sure it gets a good shake proof grip like inside a frame or bumper element. I also have a spare stashed in each vehicle along with a hundred dollar bill. That can save you too! I was a long way from home and lost my wallet, that 100 bucks got me home.

Funny, that Longear has red on his ear.

I met up with the crew saturday morning and departed the next morning. We started with 5 cars - by midday we were down to 3. My economy car turned into a race car full of soaked guys aimed at that next dealership The turmoil ended exceptionally well around a professionally cooked dinner that evening at the campsite by our very own, Uland.




I think Uland took care of all the fishy photos except what was decided to be a pickerel -



Grey Treefrog




I went my separate way sunday. I had a few places I wanted to hit in my nature boots and a few sites on my trek home I was interested in scouting out for Kankakee round 2. I encountered three species of orchid and several flowers I had and hadn't seen along with the usual.




Tubercled Orchid


Michigan Lily

Edited by natureman187, 05 July 2009 - 12:03 AM.

Awesome storied and pics, guys! That's too bad about your keys, Uland. When I go collecting, I double fish-bag my wallet and keep it in my pocket. I have a set of spare keys in my wallet. I also have my regular set of keys on a lanyard that hooks with a carabiner to one of my belt loops. I haven't gotten locked out of my car yet, and don't have to worry about watching a pack on the shore.

Brian

Casper,

The exchange with the campground hostess was civil but indeed very strange. She asked what we doing at the river and I explained we were going fishing. I think she asked about a boat when I told her we were wading (something I've been doing for nearly 35 years in this river). She then told us a story with quite a bit of detail about her sons friend who never came home from a wading trip despite the warnings from her and her son. She said it with such a smile and cold tone I didn't believe a word she said until she explained she and the campground were under no obligation to contact emergency services (911) in the event of an accident involving fishermen that wade. For emphasis she told Mark and I that she WOULD NOT call in that event and furthermore parents of children who allow kids to wade will be arrested. Surprised by the last comment, I said something along the lines of a sad day when kids can't even get their feet wet in the local river. I don't want to sound foolish since I believe water is far more powerful than most people think. I believe people should learn to read an respect the power of rivers and I'm willing to take the risk.

Good golly natureman (Lance) you found some really neat stuff on Sunday. Thanks for posting those photos.

When I bought my last car (first one with a remote) I thought I would get a couple of extra keys made. Until I found out they were $150 due to the techie stuff inside them I guess. So now I keep good track of them and the first thing on trips is to give some one else a set of keys just in case.

Ah.... The season of Platanthera begins in the Upper Midwest! Some of my friends who work for the Feds were out inspecting the prairie fringed orchid sites in Ohio last week. Things are coming a bit earlier than usual here. Once we get this NSF grant cycle off our plate this week, I'm gonna do some heavy duty botanizing.

We really should make botany a bigger part of our NANFA outings. Go figure that where the aquatics are cool, the plants can be absolutely amazing. I'd go back to Tate's Hell in FL just to look at plants.

Great stuff, guys!

Todd

Ah.... The season of Platanthera begins in the Upper Midwest! Some of my friends who work for the Feds were out inspecting the prairie fringed orchid sites in Ohio last week. Things are coming a bit earlier than usual here....

I bit earlier I think would be an understatement. I thought being 2 hours north of home I'd have a good chance catching them in prime time. I've got to wait yet another year for a good photo of the prairie fringed.

Edited by natureman187, 05 July 2009 - 11:04 AM.

Aw man! Oh well, just another good reason to go back Yeah my butterfly milkweed in my yard bloomed a week ago and is at peak right now (about a week ahead, it usually really gets in earnest at the 4th). I dunno what's going on this year. I have about 300 blossom heads up front, it's pretty impressive.

I really like how you framed the prairie pic with the tall green milkweed. That was a delicious touch.

Were the grass pinks out?

And btw Uland, that is a fantastic pic of a dobsonfly. Did you guys find any males? Those would be some good things to have pictures of to interpret the critters to kids. Big n ugly is always a winner

Todd

Edited by farmertodd, 05 July 2009 - 12:49 PM.

Aw man! Oh well, just another good reason to go back Yeah my butterfly milkweed in my yard bloomed a week ago and is at peak right now (about a week ahead, it usually really gets in earnest at the 4th). I dunno what's going on this year. I have about 300 blossom heads up front, it's pretty impressive.

I really like how you framed the prairie pic with the tall green milkweed. That was a delicious touch.

Were the grass pinks out?

Todd

300 sounds amazing! I have 2
Thanks Todd! Can't be an ordinary field with that in the corner. I didn't find any grass pink but that doesn't mean they weren't there. Sometimes I suffer from retard eye and walk over everything I'm looking for. Depending on the social calendar I may go back looking for them or remnants of.

Can't be an ordinary field with that in the corner. I didn't find any grass pink but that doesn't mean they weren't there. Sometimes I suffer from retard eye and walk over everything I'm looking for. Depending on the social calendar I may go back looking for them or remnants of.

No, it's definitely not an ordinary field. GPO's would have just started. I would think next week would be peak for them, and the follow weeks is when the yellow/orange fringed orchids should be booming. I've decided that ciliaris is my birthday flower, not the forget-me-not. It blooms on my birthday, it's native, and it rules.

Todd

And btw Uland, that is a fantastic pic of a dobsonfly. Did you guys find any males? Those would be some good things to have pictures of to interpret the critters to kids. Big n ugly is always a winner

Todd

I was not there when Mark and Uland found the female dobsonfly. However, at our first site Uland did manage to catch mid-air with the minnow seine a male dobsonfly. I believe Lance took a photo of it. Cool insect indeed, from larvae to adult.

Blake

Wonderful pictures! I have some lilies similar to that Michigan Lily in my backyard.

You should snap a picture Susan. It could be a Michigan lily, but it's more likely that it's an Asiatic lily. If it's the MI kind, I'll be over on Thursday That would be a pretty high quality indicator plant.

Todd

Great photos and story. I need a good adventure soon. You folks make me jealous!

Hiding the key is always the challenge. When I snorkel alone is when I have no good way to deal with the problem as I don't want to submerge my keys in saltwater or leave them on the bank when I'm underwater. I usually hide the key somewhere in the outside body of the car.
I did forget to stash the key once on a cold October day and emerged with hypothermia to find I was locked out of the car, the towels and the dry clothes.
I ended up tearing up a snow fence and making a jimmie out of the wire.

I forgot to say I thought your longear looks alot like the punkinseeds we get around here.