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new dipnetting pictures

Started by Guest_trojannemo_* , Oct 18 2009 11:55 PM

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6 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_trojannemo_*

Guests

Posted 18 October 2009 - 11:55 PM

hey guys. here we go again. another dipnetting picture thread. this saturday went out with another couple of guys from the club...we hit the Tamiami Trail entrance to the everglades, stopping at about 3 or 4 locations along the way in and back...here are the pictures...the last pictures are of the "catch of the day"...

first location pictures:

we stopped at several water holes like these. you can get an idea of how close to the road we were. here dipnetting was bad but I managed to catch a 14" or so pleco with our small cast net (pictures below). a couple of fishermen stopped while we were here and in 5 minutes also netted another two huge plecos, a peacock bass and two other bass type fish.
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not very good for dipnetting as the vegetation was all on the land and not in the water!
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this was a very shallow and muddy area where the airboats usually go in. this was the only place we caught Fundulus chrysotus and very small flag fish:
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on the other side of the road across these water holes was a canal running the length of the tamiami trail. here is where most of the fish were caught dipnetting:

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on to the fish!

as I mentioned above, two fishermen stopped and using their cast net caught two 12"+ plecos within minutes:

first pleco caught
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cassian holding he pleco for size
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rodolfo holding both the plecos the fishermen caught and gave to us
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i then managed to catch a third pleco with our smaller cast net. since we had the other two, we released this guy
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caught a single crayfish
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very few Fundulus chrysotus...and they were very dark in coloration compared to our usual catch?
http://www.keepitfis...i/chrysotus.jpg

also very few, and very small specimens of the florida flag fish were encountered
http://www.keepitfis...amiami/flag.jpg

the only cichlids we found were mayans (C. urophthalmus) and spotted tilapia (T. mariae). for some reason I dont have any pictures of the tilapia, here are some of the mayans:
http://www.keepitfis...miami/mayan.jpg
http://www.keepitfis...iami/mayan2.jpg

the predominant group collected was sunfish. i dont know the identification for all of these, but i did notice a trend towards green coloration as compared to the usual bluegills and warmouths I've collected in the past. are these sunfish a different species than the aforementioned two?
http://www.keepitfis...mi/sunfish1.jpg
http://www.keepitfis...mi/sunfish2.jpg
http://www.keepitfis...mi/sunfish3.jpg
http://www.keepitfis...i/sunfishes.jpg
http://www.keepitfis.../sunfishes2.jpg
http://www.keepitfis.../sunfishes3.jpg

this was a good specimen showing the green coloration i talked about...what type of sunfish is this?
http://www.keepitfis...mi/greensun.jpg

this guy i'm not sure what he is. he was rather big (around 4"). looks like a sort of sunfish but not very colorful:
http://www.keepitfis...ami/unknown.jpg

now on to the catch of the day...what you've all been waiting for! *drum roll*

http://www.keepitfis...tamiami/eel.jpg
http://www.keepitfis...amiami/eel2.jpg

managed to catch a Peacock Eel, approx. 7" long. thanks to the help of a member here it was identified as Macrognathus siamensis.
according to USGS, this species is established here in south florida, but the club members who accompanied me believe this is the first time any club member has caught one.
USGS info here: link

last but not least, we enjoyed a fine lunch at Coopertown restaurant, where we got to try alligator tail and frog legs!
http://www.keepitfis...amiami/food.jpg

all the fish photographed that I caught were released with the exception of the peacock eel. the other club members took home the fundulus chrysotus, flag fish and two of the plecos.

that's it...hope you enjoyed the pictures!

comments and identification help greatly appreciated!

:smile2:

#2 Guest_BTDarters_*

Guests

Posted 19 October 2009 - 04:47 AM

Nice pictures and description! I'm not sure that I can be much help with the sunfish. If they don't come from the Upper Midwest, I'm pretty-much lost. Looks like you may have caught a Bluegill (4" one) and maybe a Warmouth (darker fish)? I'm not sure.

You mentioned that you returned the rest of the fish to the water except for a few. Did you consider euthanizing the non-natives?

Brian

#3 Guest_UncleWillie_*

Guests

Posted 19 October 2009 - 07:19 AM

In addition, it looks like you have Eastern dollar sunfish, and spotted sunfish in there as well. Very nice post and pictures.

#4 Guest_trojannemo_*

Guests

Posted 19 October 2009 - 08:19 AM

You mentioned that you returned the rest of the fish to the water except for a few. Did you consider euthanizing the non-natives?

i dont have the heart to kill fish unless it is necessary. these fish are healthy and well established, so me killing the couple of babies i was catching wouldn't really make a difference, and it would leave my conscience to torture me afterwards!

In addition, it looks like you have Eastern dollar sunfish, and spotted sunfish in there as well. Very nice post and pictures.

well i hadn't caught any Eastern Dollars before, so that's cool. i didnt know the name but I knew it was different from the ones i usually get :-)

#5 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 21 October 2009 - 08:10 AM

this was a good specimen showing the green coloration i talked about...what type of sunfish is this?

This one look like spotted sunfish to me... L. punctatus...

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#6 Guest_khudgins_*

Guests

Posted 22 October 2009 - 09:58 PM

Your 4" sunfish looks to be L. punctatus to me - that blue crescent under his eye is a key indicator of either punctatus or miniatus. To be honest, a lot of them look like punctatus. The full white margin on the ear tab is a dollar sunnie. Some of those may be bluegill - the way to tell is lift their dorsal fin. If there's a black spot on the rear base of the dorsal, it's most likely bluegill. (I say most likely 'cause I'm hedging my bets. But it's a sure indicator)

#7 Guest_trojannemo_*

Guests

Posted 27 October 2009 - 10:12 PM

can you guys help me identify this pleco?

[img]http://www.keepitfishy.com/fish/dipnetting/tamiami/pleco.jpg/img]

someone said in the club "gibbiceps" but what i've found under that name looks prettier than this, more brown than this one, and with much bigger eyes than this guy has...or am i looking at the wrong pictures?

thanks for the help!