So it looks like myself and Nate Tessler were the first on here to get out in the new year. I have had this stream I have been wanting to get too for the past two years after having an Ohio EPA person tell me that they can collect 40 species in one day there. Nate had a friend (John) visiting from Chicago and they wanted to get out to a "good" stream and the Darby was high. So I suggested Wakatomika Creek and was not too sure what to expect since I had not been there myself. We went on tuesday Jan 2nd 2007. We left Bowling Green Ohio at 6:00am and finally returned 4 sites 450 miles on my jeep and 28 species later at 9:00pm. It was quite a day. The water was a little high but nothing like streams in the western part of the state that day so conditions were less than perfect. The fastest part of some riffles were too dangerous to get in and there was a lot of deeper pools so we did not sample all possible habitats. We did hit the riffles and sand bars below them prety well though. The first site of the day was only about 2-3 miles upstream of the confluence with the Muskingum River and the most difficult to sample. This is what we got...

Bluebreast darter 12
Variegate darter 30+
Fantail darter 30+
Greenside darter 20
Rainbow darter 2
Johnny darter 10
Blackside darter 2
Banded darter 30+
Eastern Sand darter 5
Trout-Perch 15
Bluntnose minnow 30+
Bullhead minnow 1
Silverjaw minnow 1
Silver Shiner 3
Spotfin Shiner 15
Bigeye chub/Sand shiner/mimic shiner Sorry still have trouble with these kept 2 of the 5 we caught to look at closer later
Central Stoneroller 30+
Striped Shiner 5
Brook silverside 1
adult mudpuppy 1

The first sein hull had a bluebreast darter and I was under the impression they were close to extirpated from the Muskingum drainage and they were not on any range map in this creek. Since then both a contact at the EPA and Ohio State's Dr. Ted Cavender have told me yes they have been found several times in the past 15-20 years (all since the most recent Ohio maps have been made). Oh well so much for being the first to report them. The sand darters and the bullhead minnow were my first in Ohio also so I was happy about those too. Next we went upstream the main stem of Wakatomika Creek about 10 miles or so and found another set of riffles along the road and got the following...

Variegate darter 60+ never seen so many before and very good distribution of sizes lots of young and some huge adults
Banded darter 30+
Greenside darter 20
Fantail darter 30+
Rainbow darter 15
Johnny darter 5
Logperch darter 1
Creek Chub 5
Bluntnose minnow 30+
Central stoneroller minnow 30+
Striped shiner 15
Silver shiner 1
Northern hog sucker 1

The variegate darter population at this second stop was almost unbeleivable, I would say the 60+ was an under estimate. The next stop was at the fist bridge on Little Wakatomika upstream of its confluence with the main stem. By this time we were begining to wear out from the two 2 hour stops we had already made and we were here for just 20 minutes and collected the following...

Variegate darter 5
Banded darter 10
Greenside darter 5
Rainbow darter 5
Johnny darter 5
Blackside darter 1
Eastern sand darter 2
Rock Bass 1
bluntnose minnow 5
jv mudpuppy 1 about 1.5"

It was nice to find a couple more sand darters and untill we got home and I put it in a tank for a closer look we thought we had a dusky darter but it turns out it's a large blackside darter. Oh well. The final collecting stop of the day was a little headwater stream that had been damed up by a beaver. We were seining in a creek that was likely normaly only a few inches deep except for pools that as a result of the beaver activitiy was several feet deep. The fish community still fit the headwater location. This little stream had no name but is in the Wakatomika drainage and we again were only there 15-20 minutes.

Fantail darter 5
Johnny darter 5
Redside dace 10
Southern Redbelly dace 10
Creek chub 10
blunnose minnow 5
Blacknose dace 5
spotfin shiner 1
Central stoneroller minnow 10
White sucker 5
Green sunfish 1

It still wasn't dark and one of Ohio's two trout streams was on the way back, the Clear Fork of the Mohican River. We got there about 15 minutes before dark and it was running rather high but still very clear. None of us managed to hook a trout but it was a nice sceanic stop before the rest of our long drive back. I didn't take a whole lot of picture this trip but there are a few below...

Adult mudpuppy


adult mudpuppy


two of the bullhead minnow



an eastern sand darter


the largest variegate darter I have ever seen


two of the tiny mudpuppy



and of course I pictured what I thought was a new discovery of bluebreast darters
a male female pair


I definitely would like to get back to this stream in the summer when water is low and I can do some fishing along with the collecting so anyone interested let me know!

I just want to say this is an excellent trip report! Thank you for taking the time to post it.

If this is any indication of how the rest of 07' will shape up, I'll assume this is going to be a great year.

is there anyway i could get some of the variegated darters?

Actually you guys got the first report out for 2007, but I may have got the first trip in 2007. On Jan 1st I made a trip down to Basher Kill in se NY. The weather was unbelievably warm for this time of yr and has been all Dec. I have never collected here this time of the year. I was surprised to find mostly tiny fish, I think many fish have been spawning in the fall. I found a large number maybe 20 + redfin pickeral 1 inch and under to barely 1/2 inch, 1/2 inch and some under 1/4 in. Bluespot Sunfish, 1 to 1/4 inch ironcolor shiners and small golden shiners as well. Found no large pickeral and few large Sunfish and shiners but they were proably in the deeper areas. Also went to a nearby small creek and found some large Shield Darters and Tesselated Darters. It sure felt good to get out this early in the year and not get frostbite or have to chop through ice first.

A family with 4 little kids stopped to see what I was up to. If it wasn't for the little girl's eagle eyes I never would have seen the first redfin pickeral. As I was about to shake the seine back into the water she said "hey mister isn't that a fish?" sure enough there was a 1/4 inch sliver redfin pickeral. I got out my glasses at that point, wonder how many I'd missed up till then.

Those Eastern Sand Darters are really interesting to keep in an aquarium. I have I think three or four of them. I say, "I think" because they are so good at hiding in the sand. I thought they were all gone from my aquarium and then I looked and could see a few sets of eyes sticking out of the sand. These darters are awesome at burying themselves in the sand. Really cool fish for a sand bottomed aquarium.

the eye's as nate described...

I've done quite a bit of sampling in the Muskingum/Wakatomika/Tuscarawus drainages and have never seen
Bluebreast darter, Eastern Sand darter or Bullhead minnow there. Good finds.

That's an excellent report there Brian. I really envy you guys with that kind of darter variety. I hope to get up that way and try those streams out at some point. Excellent pictures as well.