Keith can provide more details of the club but here is group photo, less the late arrival of Alejandro and a young husband and wife team with their 2 rubber booted boys in tow.
From the right is Keith, Wolfe, sporting his creek wear, Let It Be Jeffrey, a husband and wife K team and a happy fella, whom on this trip i knew my fish better than i remembered these folks names i am ashamed to say. I do know there were a bunch of K names among them. Kirsten, Karl, Kurt, Kramer.
The stream was a favored watering hole for the locals and they had undertaken a lowhead dam project that deepened a flowing pool allowing a brisk run, high bank jump, loud whoop and plunge into the cool water. I waded out into the deepest and one my tippy toes i could such barely breathe air. Convinced it was safe, my urgings to Michael for a photo op did not motivate him for a similiar plunge.
This did not curtail our downstream activities of seining up a healthy diversity of critters.
Shiners: big eyed Stripeds, nice velvet spotted Blacktails, dorsal fin color flaged Tricolors, rugged Alabamas, Rainbows with half their eyes red.
Darters: bland Coosas, a couple Greenbreasts, handsome Blackbandeds.
Sunfish: Longear, Spotted ( Red Spotted? ), Redbreast, Bluegill, a nice Shadow Bass, a pretty Croppie and probably Smallmouth / Coosa Bass.
The Usuals: Stonerollers, Hogsuckers, Sculpins.
Redhorse ( maybe River Reds ), and plenty of Southern Studfish.
A dead Bullhead made it 21 species. We had a couple mystery shiners, long, slender and agressive mouthed and i felt like a speckled Darter should have been held in someone's hand but no gambusia either, though we were eager to hit 22 positive IDs.
It was a good group and my compliments to Keith for getting it organized and also to Michael who was a nonstop informative chatterbox to these new folks pointing out all the wonders and showing them the various tricks to capture using seine and net. Good job guys.
By early afternoon most of the Atlanta folks were ready to head back but i suggested a 10 mile ride north to snorkel the Conasauga. Michael, Keith, Alejandro and myself made the quick drive with a short refreshment stop along the way leaving puddles on the store floor. The Conasauga was again clear and comfortable. We all snorkeled in our skins without the need for wetsuits on such a pretty day with the sun high overhead. Michael had his camera along and after a few minutes of getting oriented we were both engrossed in chasing photos. Most of the fish have fallen from color this late in the season but a few were still proud in their spawning attire.
Here are a few photos.
Im figuring this is a River Redhorse. We caught lots of big and smalls but after looking over Mettee's Alabama book the consensus was River Red. We never saw a Blacktail Redhorse.
Here are my better snorkel pics from the Conasauga. I will let you guess as to what they are.
And the hungry predator just downstream of the darters and shiners, ever present and awaiting an opportunity.
And a few activity pics...
3 critters in one shot...
And finally the semi art shot for the day though a bit blurry. Im still trying to get a dead on focus but have not yet refined my technique. The best technique... Lots of Photos!
Once the sun dropped below the treeline we backtracked to Little Rome outside of Chatsworth and enjoyed a nice salad bar and fish tales. They had much further to drive but i hope they make it back soon. I really enjoy activities such as this and i was much refreshed after suffering a bout of chiggers from hunting mushrooms the previous weekend.
Edited by Casper Cox, 17 August 2009 - 03:21 PM.
NANFA Youtube Channel 
