Adventures Of Natureman

Missouri 2011

Bob Hrabik hosted a spring fish endeavor again this past year and what another wonderful time it was. Highlights from last year can be viewed here

I didn't have to leave Bob's front yard to pull out my camera....nestled in the middle of the grand prairie at home, we don't have Spring Peepers. I get down to Missouri and there's a zillion in Bob's front yard.



The first morning, we started off driving through the back roads running down small headwaters trying to find Brook Darters (Etheostoma burri). We consistently hit waters that were a hair too big and were consequently swamped with Rainbow Darters. Many of these fish made us squint to determine caeruleum complex, or spectabile complex.


Konrad Schmidt, our host Bob Hrabik, and Ray Katula

After an entire afternoon of work, finally a payoff. The size of stream these creatures inhabit blows me away - can't imagine these hold water in summer.

Brook Darter (Etheostoma burri)


That evening we pulled up to our hotel, made acquainted and drove to the edge of town to see if we couldn't scrap up a few Missouri Saddles before dark. That was a negative, but we very much enjoyed the cooling temperatures, good company, and stunning colors all around us.

Ozark Minnow (Notropis nubilus)







The next morning we headed down stream a bit to the next access - not really what we were after but how pretty. We picked up the next crossing even further downstream where we finally received a single glimmer of Saddles.

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We worked and worked most of the morning til almost exhaustion which yielded only a couple in this upstream limit of their habitat.



After lunch we darted off to the roaring waters of the west to locate our Nothonotus friends, the Yoke Darter (Etheostoma juliae). After a winding decline down what us flatlanders would call a mountain, we came to a huge river access. First kick seine about ripped my arms off. I'm unsure how any seine lead line could be grounded in that kind of turbulence but to our surprise, a beautiful Yoke and much more.



Checkered Madtom (Noturus flavater)


Bob making a specimen of himself
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Edited by natureman187, 16 September 2011 - 06:18 PM.

That evening we reflected on the past days to determine a plan for our last day in the Show Me State. There was a yearning to revisit our infatuation for Missouri Saddled Darters we saw so little of.
Bright and early our last morning, we revisited that watershed at an access even further downstream, and what a great way to start the morning. The motherload - 3, 5, 7 per seine hall, every seine hall.

Saddled Darter Smiles

Bob Hrabik, Mark Stopyro, & Ray Katula

Missouri Saddled Darter (Etheostoma tetrazonum)
Male


Female


We jumped watersheds looking for more Checkered Madtoms, but only found a spawning aggregation of Bleeding Shiners…DARN!
The dsrl with my newly purchased housing was going underwater, for the first time.







A 17 second flub of a video can be seen here.

Several rocks were thrown at me, which meant it was time to go…man, I didn’t get to the Stoneroller party at the head of this fireball. Actually, I don’t think I moved once submerged. In route back to Bob’s house, we stopped at a location we snorkeled the previous year that contained the clearest water I’d ever seen, and Gilt Darters galore. Nothing had changed…
With the little light remaining, I shot several bursts. My SD card quickly filled and called it a trip.





Thank you Bob!

And since his house is the coolest thing ever - view from his porch

Edited by natureman187, 16 September 2011 - 06:23 PM.

Great report and supurb pictures. Love the location too.


Usil

Nice photos and report -- that's an awesome tetrazonum photo! Makes me miss the bling of April!

Wow! Such beautiful photos. The detail is so intense I swear I can smell fish sitting right here at the computer. These are incredible. You actually turned the two finger background of the Brook darter into artwork. Terrific shots. Thanks so much for sharing.

Steve.

Breeding swarms of cyprinids like the bleeding shiners always amaze me, thanks, I needed that!

The Adventures Continue!

Really amazing photos! You've done a great job showing off some of my very favorite Ozark fishes. No picture of the Yoke Darters?

Those pictures are amazing, Lance. Keep up the good work! I would really like to get out to Missouri sometime to check out those Ozark fishes.

Thanks everyone.

No picture of the Yoke Darters?

I do, but none I'm happy with. Maybe next year!

Edited by natureman187, 28 September 2011 - 11:29 PM.

Early May I made a trip to Tennessee.
After some socializing in the Nashvegas region, watching it pour, and frowning at orange swelling streams, I decided to head to the southern part of the state. At dusk I arrived at our 2009 snorkel camp excited to find the first clear water of the day.

As soon as my tent was up, it began to pour, and failed to stop for 15 consecutive hours. This was my first breakout from the Eureka 'land ark' once the sky quit falling. Our precious camp side stream was no longer small, nor clear...
Not to mention near record lows for the region - and I didn’t bring a blanket. I’ve never worn 3 pairs of socks, 4 tshirts, or wrapped a bath towel around my feet to keep warm before…every piece of clothing I brought was worn that night.



That morning I met up with Jeremy for the day, who happened to be traveling through. We ate at STANS and drove around throughout the afternoon in search of something worth hypothermia, but came up empty handed.



We chased waterfalls instead….





On the morning of my departure, after several additional days of unfortunate circumstances, more rain, construction, park accesses closed, Dave Herasimtschuk who joined me the day earlier and I were able to see, underwater. Unfortunately, the muddy pulse had stripped our lingering spring beauties of their glory.

Saffron Darter


Until next time –

that waterfall shot is amazing.

Too bad about all the rain. I also really like the over/under waterfall shot. That's something I've wanted to try for a long time but have never gotten around to it.

The partial underwater shot of the waterfall is SWEET! Sorry to hear about the misfortunes of the rest of the trip, but that is a nice waterfall shot. Thanks for sharing.

Steve.

Wow Lance....wow. Man, I love Gilts and what a shot of the waterfall.

I am literally kicking myself for missing out on this thread for so long! thanks for posting the pictures of how your take your pictures! All of your pictures are superbly beautiful! I wish I can join you one day just to see and observe what you do. I just had a son and now taking down almost all of my tanks to save some money. After seeing these pictures, I am debating now if I should continue one tank just for darters. Now I remember why is stayed away from this site for a while. I knew coming back would just entice me to find more darters.

Wow... Just...wow!