Justin "Bumpylemon", Josh "Firstchaos" and myself left my house in Schenectady NY about 2:30 am Sat morning for Kingsport TN to check in to our hotel. We arrived about 3:30 pm Sat afternoon, changed into collecting gear and headed north west to check out some sites I'd visited bacvk in 1988 and 1989. One site no longer had access but the others were still good! The one site, a trib of the clinch has the nicest Redline darters I've ever seen so I was quite pleased to get back. We found:
Redline Darters- abundant and still some hunkers
Snubnose darters- all young or female
Fantail darters
Warpaint shiners - only got 2 about 4.5 inchers and one smaller about 2 inches. We could have gotten more but fatigue began to set in as collecting them took a lot of energy
longnose dace
river chubs
northern hogsuckers
common suckers
sculpins
tons of the mystery silvery shiners
Fatigue and late start shortened our stay here as we wanted to try a few other spots before sundown.

The next spot was much easier as the riffles were less rocky. Found much of the same as well as:
one Bluebreast darter
one Blotched logperch - cool looking fish even at 2.5 inches he was returned
a few to several tiny Golden darters most of which were identified as they slipped through the mess the others soon joined them

We also tried a quick net through some weed beds by a boat launch and found some 1-3 inch rock bass and a nice 5 inch longnose gar.
The 1 inch rock bass had a much different pattern then I see here in NY. They had rows of evenly spaced green/brown spots whereas here they are always mottled.

It was getting late and we all really wanted some nice snubnose darters so we quickly headed to a small creek I always managed to find some nice males in the late 80's. I climbed in with a 4 foot seine that really only covers 2 feet and quickly found enough for us all to get a couple nice males. also found longnose, blacknose dace, central stonerollers, fantail darters and some of the most colorful and diversly colored sculpins I've seen. Darkness had slipped in so back to the hotel for some dinner and finally some sleep.

The next morning we headed to some spots near the border with TN we hoped would yield some saffron shiners and more warpaints. The first stop we could see large schools of various sized shiners including a good number of nice warpaints but after some real hard attempts and one lone warpaint we realized it was not to be. So we searched for another site but no access to be had. We then headed further east for an exciting (Josh likes to take scenery pictures hanging ot his window even on mountain roads while driving) albeit long trek through mountain roads. We finally reached the spot selected and it turned out to be great. Fish found:
Saffron shiners - very abundant
Mountain redbelly dace - very abundant
Kanawah darters - wow these were sweet
longnose dace
blacknose dace
sculpins
N hogsuckers
fantail darters

This spot was quite slick with a light layer of algae and silt and many large rocks half of which were immovable. I fell a record 4 times, full body laying in the water. I did show some amazing moves on one fall to avoid first my spine then my head smacking the large sharp edge of a protruding boulder. I have several bruises, scatrches and aching spots to help me remember this place. I believe we all fell full body in the water here but I definitely hold the record. My full body face first was definately worth a round of tens.

We decided to head up to 81 north to the Roanoke area and try south of Roanoke for a variety of species. We would only have time for something fairly close . We did find a nice looking trib of the Roanoke. As Justin and Josh remarked how the cement enbuttment was way to steep to get down much less return to the top, I sidestepped down with a seine and pocket full of breather bags. Soon my partners found an easier way down and we started sampling:
White shiners
Satinfin shiners
Roanoke darters
River reed darters

Had hoped to grab some crescent shiners and rosefin shiners oh well can't complain. We headed back to 81 and the long trip home, another sleepless night. Got to Schenectady about 5:15 am Monday. Lost only 5 tiny mystery shiners myself and all look good so far. Josh got all his fish home alive (didn't try any mystery shiners). Not sure how Justin's fish did. We did use Gerald's suggestion of salt and Binox and it seems to have worked quite well. That and Justin's air conditioning that almost put a layer of ice on us and the water in our coolers.

Very nice report. Glad to hear you guys got those Saffrons, some MRBD, and some good darters. I'm shocked you guys didn't get crescents though, when we were down there we got them everywhere we got whites I think.

awesome write up. i will post pictures soon. all my fish made it home alive. all my MRBD are colored up!!!!!

a minor correction, it was justin taking pics from the car not me.

I wish I could keep all those little rockbass, technically i could but i misread the rules on it and thought i couldn't.

I'd love to have a tank full of little quarter sized rock bass.

My fish all made it home alive too.

Edited by FirstChAoS, 08 September 2009 - 11:49 PM.

sample pics

Edited by bumpylemon, 09 September 2009 - 06:35 PM.

Oh man, I don't remember those Kanawha darters being that nice when we got them at the NC convention in 2007. Those are absolutely stunning fish.

Oh man, I don't remember those Kanawha darters being that nice when we got them at the NC convention in 2007. Those are absolutely stunning fish.

Yes the ones we got at the NC convention we're skinny compared to these ones and the photo is not as colored up as they were in the stream, in late summer. What are they gonna look like in the spring!

first place we stopped...

we caught

SAME SPOT

The slim silvery shiners with black dashes along the LL are probably Tennessee shiners, maybe some Rosyface too. That mutant one is pretty weird. Have you got pix of the Saffrons? In the New River basin both Saffrons and Redlips are present (both presumably introduced) but IME Redlips are more common, at least on the NC side. Thanks for posting pix and story. Wish I coulda joined you!

Nice looking location and nice Redlines.

i got more pics...alot more...ill post later on. i am going out for a lil bit.

I am fairly certain that the first darter pictured under the post "WE CAUGHT" is a wounded darter, E. vulneratum.

I agree with Dustin's ID of E. vulneatum. I believe those are in a bit of trouble and deserve our attention and protection.

Blake

I also think that the weird, somewhat smooshed "mutant" shiner could well be a popeye shiner, Notropis ariommus. That huge eye is a big indicator, but I have only seen these once so someone else will need to verify this. It could also be a squished telescope, though it it is all speculation since it would be nearly impossible to ID the fish from the picture.

I agree with Dustin's ID of E. vulneatum. I believe those are in a bit of trouble and deserve our attention and protection.

Blake

I have never seen a Wounded Darter, but it looks like a washed out Redline to me. But again, I've never seen a wounded. I believe the Wounded is a Federal Species of Concern, though I don't think it is on any list in VA. http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/

I think i'm in Josh's camp: washed-out redline darter based on cheek markings, light areas on caudal peduncle, and lack of blotch at front of spiny dorsal. But i've never seen a live wounded darter so i really dont have a good sense of how much they can vary (or fade in a photo tank).

I think i'm in Josh's camp: washed-out redline darter based on cheek markings, light areas on caudal peduncle, and lack of blotch at front of spiny dorsal. But i've never seen a live wounded darter so i really dont have a good sense of how much they can vary (or fade in a photo tank).

I see your points and they make me a little unsure of exactly what it is. I saw lots this past weekend and I will be posting some pics tonight but I do not have any right in front of me. I was basing my ID off of the more diffuse red markinging in the caudal that don't go all the way around and the red spotting pattern on the side vs. more of a red barring mixed with vertical barring on a redline. The lack of the dorasl blotch is concerning, as is the cheek markings.

more pics...

some pics will be from in my tank...so forgive me..and they wont be in order.