Hi everybody,
I got out yesterday to collect some new fish for my newly moved and newly set-up 125 gallon stream tank. My target at the Maumee River was the Ghost Shiner (Notropis buchanani) and the Spottail Shiner (Notropis hudsonius). I took the half hour drive from my apartment upstream to the Grand Rapids Dam, the first dam on the nearby Maumee River. For those of you not familiar with the Maumee River, it is a large tributary to the Western Basin of Lake Erie. The shallow Western Basin of the lake warms faster than the rest of the lake and in the spring is used as a spawning ground for a wide variety of fish. Although after hatching, many larval fish float downstream and back into the lake, quite a few stay around and spend time in the river. The Maumee is then a nursery for many species of fish. Fish of all kinds tend to congregate below this dam on the river. That's kind of a round-about way of saying the river is pretty productive (not to mention it drains some of the most fertile farm lands in the Midwest so nutrient loading is high too).

Anyways, here's how it went...

Date: July 28, 2009
Location: Maumee River in Grand Rapids, OH. At the Grand Rapids Dam.

^ at the dam.

^ just downstream of the dam.
Water Level: 500 cfs at the downstream gage. Normal discharge for this time of year is 900 cfs. Pools around the dam were as deep as 1.5m.
Water Quality: Water was turbid as usual. High nutrient loading to the river produced large blooms of Cladophera. Visibility was poor even in shallow water.
Water Temp.: around 75°F
Substrate: Limestone bedrock and cobble. The bedrock is covered in Cladophera and silt. The cobble is mostly silted over.
Collected:
Gizzard Shad (Dorosoma cepedianum)

– caught at least a hundred of them above and below the dam. No large adults were found, but I did find young of year fish and maybe even last year’s hatch in good numbers.
Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio)

– only one was collected. It may be too large to be this year’s. This could be a year 1 fish.
Spotfin Shiner (Cyprinella spiloptera) – very abundant and quite a few males in breeding condition were caught.
Striped Shiner (Luxilus chrysocephalus) – only young of year.
Bluntnose Minnow (Pimephales notatus)
Redfin Shiner (Lythrurus umbratilis)
Emerald Shiner (Notropis atherinoides)

– by far the most abundant fish at the dam. These fish were caught in the thousands directly below the dam.
Ghost Shiner (Notropis buchanani)

– these were almost as abundant as the Emerald Shiner. They are quite a bit smaller than the Emerald Shiner. The larger Ghost Shiners closely resembled the Sand Shiner that was also found below the dam.
Sand Shiner (Notropis stramineus) – found in low numbers below the dam.
Spottail Shiner (Notropis hudsonius) – only collected two smaller specimens below the dam. At certain times of the year, these fish can be as abundant as the Emerald Shiner.
Bigmouth Buffalo (Ictiobus cyprinellus)

– caught one large one in a pool right below the dam. The fish looked emaciated and had many lesions on it. I also caught one young of year in a pool downstream of the dam.
Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus)

– caught one in a pool downstream of the dam. It looked as if someone/something had damaged it pretty bad.
Brook Silverside (Labidesthes sicculus) – caught a few small ones directly below the dam.
Blackstripe Topminnow (Fundulus notatus)
Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides)
White Crappie (Pomoxis annularis) – young of year.
Rock Bass (Ambloplites rupestris) – very tiny young of year. I could barely make out that this fish was a Rock Bass.
Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) – young of year.
Orangespotted Sunfish (Lepomis humilis)

– by far the most abundant sunfish sp. here. The males were in full spawning colors and the females were very gravid.
Johnny Darter (Etheostoma nigrum)
Greenside Darter (Etheostoma blennioides)

– a few large ones were found in the riffles below the dam.
Logperch (Percina caprodes) - very abundant directly below the dam.
Freshwater Drum (Aplodinotus grunniens)

Notes: I’m pleased to see the Gizzard Shad have arrived below the dam because it usually signifies great fishing for Catfish right below the dam. I used a 8’ x 4’ seine by myself to catch these guys. It was quite a workout.

What is/was the purpose of the low head dam??

The reservoir-like conditions created above the dam have the use of maintaining a water supply and recreational purposes. I'm not entirely sure the original purpose. It may just be maintaining a water supply and aiding in flood control.

Well it looks like you had fun.8'x4' net alone is hard work.
your channel cat looks like a bigger cat fish almost had him for a meal for sure.
gotta love the color in those os sunfish.

Love those Orangespots! I'll have to go down there, I went to Side Cut park last week for feeders and it was slim pickins. I had a nice ramble around Bluegrass Island, though. Has the water come up much in the past week?

Beautiful report Nate. You had yourself quite a handful to look at.

Love those Orangespots! I'll have to go down there, I went to Side Cut park last week for feeders and it was slim pickins. I had a nice ramble around Bluegrass Island, though. Has the water come up much in the past week?

The water was at summer pool levels, but the rain we received today should help. I stopped at Side Cut myself, but it was too shallow for me to find what I was looking for so I headed upstream to the dam.

Edited by NateTessler13, 29 July 2009 - 09:08 PM.

Great report Nate. We were out at Weir Rapids a week and a half ago learning how to seine and got 3 juvenile gar in a limited sample of the habitat. Might have been a good recruitment year. Also caught and immediately released an 18" walleye! That was a real surprise. Orangespots were all fired up and beautiful too.

Did I tell you about the juvenile rainbow trout we got in the Ottawa down at Upton? I can believe wandering adults, but that they actually got a spawn off? HA! (Rob Carillio Style) Nothing like an urban trout stream. These muddy lake plain streams have all sorts of secrets.

Todd

Great report Nate. We were out at Weir Rapids a week and a half ago learning how to seine and got 3 juvenile gar in a limited sample of the habitat. Might have been a good recruitment year. Also caught and immediately released an 18" walleye! That was a real surprise. Orangespots were all fired up and beautiful too.

Did I tell you about the juvenile rainbow trout we got in the Ottawa down at Upton? I can believe wandering adults, but that they actually got a spawn off? HA! (Rob Carillio Style) Nothing like an urban trout stream. These muddy lake plain streams have all sorts of secrets.

Todd

I've been hearing more and more reports of resident Walleyes from there up to the dam. I've heard the pool directly below the dam on the Grand Rapids side has a group of them that feed pretty heavily in the morning. Go figure.

You didn't mention the juvi Rainbow Trout in the Ottawa. Where is Upton? Hans was mentioning seeing groups of Steelhead on gravel (or at least in runs) from looking off bridges. He jokingly mentioned that if I were to catch one down there it would be good PR with the dam removal and all.

Those are nice pics; the orangespot is stunning. You might want to double check your N. buchanani; I'd call it N. volucellus from the pic and the observation that large ones look a lot like sand shiners.

love the Orangespotted Sunfish.

Upton is about 2rm downstream from campus. It's extremely urban influenced, although it runs through a park first.

Todd