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dipnetting and castnetting...in the cold! pictures inside!


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#1 Guest_trojannemo_*

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Posted 14 January 2010 - 12:51 AM

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hey guys. last sunday I went out to Big Cypress to check out a spot I had visited 9 days before and was packed full of small fish, as well as gars, bass, and others. i made the plans to go on sunday before temperatures dropped, but i wasn't going to let a little cold change my plans!
i got to the spot at about noon, and what I found was heartbreaking. that same spot that was packed full of fish just 9 days before was now devoid of life. not a single small fish was to be seen anywhere, and the bottom (water was about 2-3 feet, clear, so i could see everything) was covered in dead fish. the fish had all their color and werent decomposing, just dead at the bottom of the canal, preserved by the cold water. the night before, according to weather.com, Big Cypress reached a low of 22 degrees Fahrenheit! i drove a little farther in to big cypress, to a roadside canal maybe half a mile further. this was a much bigger expanse of water, yet very shallow as before. this is the first thing I noticed when I got out of the car:

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I imagined what I saw next. the entire bottom of this much larger area was also covered in dead fish. all I could see was mayan cichlids, spotted tilapias, blue tilapias, and walking catfish. fortunately didnt see any dead natives. the usual bass and gar were nowhere to be seen, but at least they weren't dead at the bottom of the water!

some images: warning - these images depict dead fish and/or birds
Walking Catfish - this was the species affected most by far
Peacock Bass - there were several of these outside of Big Cypress along Tamiami trail
Great Heron - also found many dead birds in the water :-(

the walking catfish that weren't quite dead were dying, doing contortions in the water. they also had very big blister-like growths on the skin. i assume these were caused by the cold?
warning - graphic images on the next two links
blisters 1
blisters 2

i tried to do some dipnetting before leaving Big Cypress. everything looked pretty quiet for the most part. the only small fish I saw dead in big numbers were african jewel cichlids. for some reason they took it the hardest. did manage to catch and photograph some fish before moving on:

Bluefin Killifish:
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Bluegill (or Warmouth - not sure):
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Fundulus chrysotus:
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Fundulus chrysotus (melanistic):
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Gambusia + plenty of Grass Shrimp:
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Jewel Cichlid:
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Molly:
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Warmouth:
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Sailfin Pleco (this guy was at the very edge of the water and was extremely easy to catch with the dip net):
http://www.keepitfis...miami/pleco.jpg

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on the way out I stopped along several spots in Tamiami Trail to try my luck with my cast net.
the water was miserably cold, and very quickly our fingers (i went with my brother in law) got numb but we ended up
throwing the cast net for maybe 4 hours non stop...so here are some pictures.
everything show below was caught on a 5ft cast net:

Florida Largemouth Bass:
http://www.keepitfis...amiami/bass.jpg
http://www.keepitfis...miami/bass2.jpg

Bluegill:
http://www.keepitfis...i/bluegill2.jpg
http://www.keepitfis...i/bluegill3.jpg

Florida Gar:
http://www.keepitfis...tamiami/gar.jpg

Jaguar:
http://www.keepitfis...iami/jaguar.jpg
http://www.keepitfis...ami/jaguar2.jpg

Mayan Cichlid - caught these the most...by far (see pictures below!):
http://www.keepitfis...miami/mayan.jpg

Redear Sunfish:
http://www.keepitfis...i/redearsun.jpg

Spotted Sunfish:
http://www.keepitfis.../spottedsun.jpg

Spotted Tilapia:
http://www.keepitfis...ttedtilapia.jpg

Blue Tilapia:
http://www.keepitfis...ami/tilapia.jpg
http://www.keepitfis...mi/tilapia2.jpg

Tilapia species (Blue or Nile?):
http://www.keepitfis...llowtilapia.jpg
http://www.keepitfis...lowtilapia2.jpg

Both species together:
http://www.keepitfis...mi/tilapias.jpg

Warmouth:
http://www.keepitfis...i/warmouth2.jpg
http://www.keepitfis...i/warmouth3.jpg

my prize catch of the day...

a 22 inch Striped Mullet:
http://www.keepitfis...iami/mullet.jpg
http://www.keepitfis...ami/mullet2.jpg

in that last picture you can see how close to the water level we were standing!

we also spotted and successfully netted a 3-4 foot unidentified fish (believed to be either snook, tarpon, or huge peacock bass).
unfortunately it was so heavy that the cast net opened up and let it out before we got it on land. no picture :roll:

even though the day started on a sad note, along tamiami trail we had so much luck on the cast net that
I quickly forgot about the sad morning. we left when the sun went down, but not before we had pulled out
more than 1,000 fish on the cast net! don't believe me? here are two of the many loads we pulled out:

http://www.keepitfis...amiami/haul.jpg
http://www.keepitfis...miami/haul2.jpg

as you can see the most abundant species were mayan cichlids. caught many gars, many tilapia, few bass, very few catfish (most were dead?),
a few jaguars, many sunfish of all varieties. didn't catch a single peacock bass (all dead?).

it was a very cold day, my hands were painfully numb by the time we stopped, but it was worth it. I know that many fish died due to the cold, but considering how many fish we caught, i'm confident that fish populations will bounce back quickly as soon as it gets warmer. I intend to go back when the water isn't murderingly cold and check out what fish can be found then.

hope you enjoyed the pictures.

#2 Guest_fundulus_*

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Posted 14 January 2010 - 09:18 AM

I'm not surprised the natives survived, they survived the last glaciation when Florida had the climate of modern Virginia or North Carolina.

#3 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 14 January 2010 - 09:55 AM

But will the natives survive the high ammonia, oxygen depletion, and opportunistic bacteria & fungi as all those exotic carcasses rot? Not much flow there for re-aeration; this ain't no salmon stream. Yemil - Any guesses why the birds died? And those large yellowish warmouth have a red ear flap; is that common in FL warmouth?


I'm not surprised the natives survived, they survived the last glaciation when Florida had the climate of modern Virginia or North Carolina.



#4 Guest_fundulus_*

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Posted 14 January 2010 - 10:40 AM

I dunno, those waters probably don't have that much oxygen most of the time anyway, my guess is that the biochemical oxygen demand is always high. And with current cold water temperatures in the near future the water should be reasonably oxygenated. But it is an interesting experiment, if anyone is checking it out.

#5 Guest_scottefontay_*

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Posted 14 January 2010 - 04:43 PM

surprised to see the dead heron, they are late leavers and early comers up her in CNY. You would think with all the fish to be eaten they would be able to keep themselves pretty warm.

Looks like a fun trip, wish I could get gars like that up here! Thanks for sharing.

#6 Guest_trojannemo_*

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Posted 14 January 2010 - 07:05 PM

And those large yellowish warmouth have a red ear flap; is that common in FL warmouth?

that "yellowish" warmouth is the same warmouth you see in the picture with the yellow glove. it had been in my cooler for several minutes, maybe an hour at the time I took it out again and took a new picture. i don't really know much about sunfish so i couldn't answer the question on the red ear flap. this is the first time I catch a warmouth that big

surprised to see the dead heron, they are late leavers and early comers up her in CNY. You would think with all the fish to be eaten they would be able to keep themselves pretty warm.


i saw two dead great herons and one great egret, plus another unidentifiable small black bird. i'm assuming the cold temperatures killed the birds? it sure wasn't lack of food, as there was more than enough to feed for a long time.


i might go back this saturday. temperatures from last weekend to this weekend have warmed up about 35-45 degrees (i.e. now back to normal winter temps). i'll keep you guys updated on the condition of the water.

#7 Guest_Jan_*

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Posted 14 January 2010 - 07:11 PM

As always, your reports are super! I was wondering how the non natives were going to cope with your unusual weather - now we see. I'm wondering about the
bird, though. We have blue herons here in the North East (Long Island). They thrive all winter. Maybe yours are a southern subspecies which cannot acclimate.

Thanks again!

#8 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 17 January 2010 - 02:20 PM

Another possibility regarding heron deaths: Maybe they swallowed some large cold-weakened fish that they wouldn't ordinarily have landed, and then choked or had their esophagus or stomach punctured by pectoral + dorsal spines.

As always, your reports are super! I was wondering how the non natives were going to cope with your unusual weather - now we see. I'm wondering about the
bird, though. We have blue herons here in the North East (Long Island). They thrive all winter. Maybe yours are a southern subspecies which cannot acclimate.

Thanks again!



#9 Guest_mikez_*

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Posted 17 January 2010 - 05:47 PM

As always, your reports are super! I was wondering how the non natives were going to cope with your unusual weather - now we see. I'm wondering about the
bird, though. We have blue herons here in the North East (Long Island). They thrive all winter. Maybe yours are a southern subspecies which cannot acclimate.

Thanks again!


Was gonna say the same thing. GB herons will winter over in Ma if they can find open water to hunt. I've also seem them hunting rodents on highway medians far from water in the winter.

Edited by mikez, 17 January 2010 - 05:49 PM.


#10 Guest_smilingfrog_*

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Posted 17 January 2010 - 08:36 PM

Another possibility regarding heron deaths: Maybe they swallowed some large cold-weakened fish that they wouldn't ordinarily have landed, and then choked or had their esophagus or stomach punctured by pectoral + dorsal spines.


Yet another possibility, they might have been older weaker birds that would have died individually and largely unnoticed in the coming months anyway. The extreme weather may have just pushed them over the edge and taken them all out at once.

#11 Guest_Clayton_*

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Posted 19 January 2010 - 04:39 PM

It certainly looks like the cold snap hasn't put much of a dent in the Mayan cichlid population. Looks like it was a pretty good trip despite the nothern climate.

#12 Guest_trojannemo_*

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Posted 19 January 2010 - 07:13 PM

actually it did more than you can imagine. that day, in the middle of the cold, the mayans were to be found in thousands. i returned 6 days later, with much warmer temperatures, and all the mayans and exotics were dead or dying :-(

i'm going again this friday, let's hope things got better!

#13 Guest_Clayton_*

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Posted 20 January 2010 - 04:21 PM

You'll likely find that on a native fish board that more dead Mayans can only be a good thing. Of course as long as the decomp doesn't cause oxygen issues for the natives.

#14 Guest_tadpoleboy_*

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Posted 08 February 2010 - 05:17 PM

Wow i did not realize there was so many invasive fish down there. Then again, im from the temperate midwest. It is probably good they died... As for reduction in oxygen, if the temps stay low, that shouldn't let the decmop process gain much momentum, cant really say whatll happen when it warms up tho.

Edited by tadpoleboy, 08 February 2010 - 05:18 PM.




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