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Darter Hunting

Started by Guest_njJohn_* , Sep 09 2009 01:51 PM

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20 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_njJohn_*

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Posted 09 September 2009 - 01:51 PM

I don't think my local streams are really full of Darters. I've seen them on the edge of this river. Are they called Darters, because their fast as heck? The reason I ask is, I kept spotting some kind of fish (darters?) at the mouth of the smaller stream in the pic. The would be in a group of 3 or so and stop and sit on the bottom facing up stream. One little movement by me and they would scat. I'm ready to mail order some!

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Sunnies 008.jpg 149.06KB 11 downloads

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#2 Guest_JohnO_*

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Posted 09 September 2009 - 05:29 PM

NJ has darters, and that appears to be a likely stream for them.

Try walking up to that riffle section just upstream of the pool. Get a big net, like a pool cleaning net. Put it down in the riffles, and rustle the rocks directly upstream of the net. You should scare a few darters into the net, if they're there.

Catching them in calm sections is a little harder. Some times you can get them by using a seine, starting deep, and heading towards the shore. If you have a big dip net, some times you can drag it across the bottom quickly, and that can scare a darter or two into the net. Tears the frame of the net up pretty quickly, though.

Finding them is half the fun. Actually, I think it's most of the fun.

Edited by JohnO, 09 September 2009 - 05:30 PM.

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#3 Guest_njJohn_*

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Posted 16 September 2009 - 11:47 AM

I GOT DARTERS! I bought a 4' sein and did the one man backward drag. I also went down stream from the picture above. Its about a 1 minute drive from my house. My Wife was a non believer, as we saw no signs of anykind of fish apon arrival.The first few drags, nothing. Then, I got a crawfish, then one darter and then two small(tiny) darters and one gambusia. Pics to follow.

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#4 Guest_njJohn_*

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Posted 16 September 2009 - 12:13 PM

OK, heres one bad pic. In the reflection you can see one of the small ones, also. I think the third is even smaller. Swamp? Tessellated? Piedmont?

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#5 Guest_sonix215_*

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Posted 16 September 2009 - 04:29 PM

where did you buy your seine from and how much did it cost? I need to get one also as i find dipnetting is near impossible for me lol.

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#6 Guest_bumpylemon_*

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Posted 16 September 2009 - 05:08 PM

i can say that its not a swamp or a tessellated darter....iv never seen a piedmont darter...googling it looks like it could be that

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#7 Guest_fundulus_*

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Posted 16 September 2009 - 07:11 PM

I don't know, it looks like a tessellated more than anything else as far as can be seen from the photo. Does the piedmont really exist in NJ?

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#8 Guest_njJohn_*

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Posted 17 September 2009 - 12:15 AM

My link
Those Darters are listed in my watershed.

I got the net from Dick's for $8.99. Plus two free broken broom sticks from work.

Heres a pic of the crawfish and the two smaller Darters. Their tiny, less than an inch long.

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darters2.jpg 61.55KB 2 downloads
crawfish.jpg 135.91KB 2 downloads

Edited by njJohn, 17 September 2009 - 12:16 AM.

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#9 Guest_njJohn_*

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Posted 19 September 2009 - 12:57 AM

The big one (I really stink at this picture thing)

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darters 001.jpg 41.58KB 2 downloads

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#10 Guest_ashtonmj_*

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Posted 19 September 2009 - 06:29 AM

It's a tessellated darter.

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#11 Guest_Kanus_*

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Posted 19 September 2009 - 08:34 AM

It's a tessellated darter.

Yes it is, I shocked up plenty of them yesterday.

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#12 Guest_njJohn_*

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Posted 19 September 2009 - 10:29 AM

Cool, thats what I was leaning towards. I'll wait to see how these guys do, before I go and catch more. A simple plain Darter, but I'm happy :D/

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#13 Guest_njJohn_*

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Posted 22 September 2009 - 12:04 AM

The bigger darter(about 3") sometimes chases the smaller ones(close to an inch). Could he actually eat them. Their mouths look to be on the smallish side. They are eating live brine shrimp and flakes. thanks

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#14 Guest_fundulus_*

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Posted 22 September 2009 - 07:34 AM

Darters are fairly specialized in what they can eat by virtue of a small mouth. The bigger one could harass the smaller one, but couldn't eat it, as you guessed. On the other hand, a three inch sculpin would already have eaten the smaller darter.

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#15 Guest_njJohn_*

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Posted 26 September 2009 - 12:42 AM

Any food sugestions? They seem to like abult brine shrimp. All the local pet stores don't carry them. The one that does seems to sell bags of mostly dead ones. The small Darters take some flakes and the big one usually spits them out.

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#16 Guest_gzeiger_*

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Posted 26 September 2009 - 05:52 AM

People rarely have success keeping darters on flakes, but any frozen food you find at the pet store will be fine except for the vegetable-based Koi foods (Emerald Entree). They'll eat anything meaty that will fit in their mouths, so bloodworms, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, beefheart and plankton (baby krill) are all good.

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#17 Guest_lozgod_*

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Posted 26 September 2009 - 10:33 AM

People rarely have success keeping darters on flakes, but any frozen food you find at the pet store will be fine except for the vegetable-based Koi foods (Emerald Entree). They'll eat anything meaty that will fit in their mouths, so bloodworms, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, beefheart and plankton (baby krill) are all good.

I've only had my darters for 4 days so I am no expert but I bought 4 ounces of live blood worms from LFS and they stay alive in the substrate and the darters eat them at will.

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#18 Guest_njJohn_*

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Posted 26 September 2009 - 11:45 AM

Cool, thanks!

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#19 Guest_njJohn_*

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Posted 29 September 2009 - 12:39 AM

The dried blood worms seem to do the trick.

I bought 4 grass shrimp to keep as tank cleaners. Four for a dollar, can't beat it. The guy at the store thinks their from Florida.