Bryce and i headed to the Citico on Sunday, April 11 to see some of the Buffalo Run. This spring has been quite unusual with the weather and the Buffalo's expected behavior not occurring. Winter was late departing and then spring hyper accelerating into summer temps and with no rain. The massive 2 or 3 day spawning event seen in the past did not occur but was sporatically spread over a couple weeks. Nonetheless we were able to observe many Buffalo, some large handsome River Redhorses, another sucker species, perhaps a Spotted Sucker, but the most fun was watching the sex parade of Darters.
Being my first snorkel of the year i was very rusty working with my new gear and camera again. The light was shimmering in and made it more difficult to get my eye and the focus to lock on the desired point. Sculpins are easy enough but chasing a Redline for the perfect shot takes patience and friendly persausion.
It's near impossible to tell what you have qualitywise until you get home and download the images to your monitor. It seems that out of 100 shots only 10 will be worth saving and then only 1 or 2 worth sharing. Im disappointed i dont have better images to share with all of you but some are interesting nonetheless. It's a difficult undertaking getting photos of our native fishes in their natural habitat. Holding on in the current, orienting your body, watching the light and shadows, careful to not stir up silt or debris, adjusting camera settings on the fly, much less trying to get the fish to "pose" and hold still. Its a lot of fun though and i burn up the batteries trying. I think i need to buy a 3rd set.
Intense white markings on this Sculpin, i'm not sure i have ever seen that before. White, white.
The Tennessee Snubnoses were all paired up and the males large and persistant chasing a female they had set their eyes on. The males blunt noses would brighten to translucent vivid green blue when they were getting on with it or encountering another male. It was a good show. They are certainly one of the prettist darters at this time of year.
Some of the other critters encountered during the day. It was the first time i saw a Mudpuppy cruising about. Heading upstream he was oblivious to our presence until we started trying to poke and pose him. He was probably eating the Buffalo eggs scattered about.
My best shot of a moving minnow today. Plenty of well marked Warpaints but none frosty.
Bryce headed back to K-Town about 4pm and i stayed a couple 3 extra hours til the sun eased down. After Bryce left i could not get my new wetsuit zipped up the back. It kept hanging and i was cussing like a sailor and contorting my body every which a way, near frantic. Finally i gave up and got back in the 55 degree water with my back exposed. Brrr... i was only good for about 45 minutes and then near chilled to uncontrollable shivers i switched to hunting Dry Land Fish, to no success. Bad year for fungi in these parts. Ed and i were near skunked for an entire cross country GA, AL and MS Morel trek.
Ocoee
The next Friday, the 16th, Jeremy and i headed to the Ocoee for a hint of the Hiwassee. Hiwassee would have added more travel time and Jim reminded me how cold it would be and the water volumne intense. The Ocoee provides a easy dose of the Tennessee drainage fish though lacks the glorious Tangerines visitors want to see. The site on 411 offers an easy stop and we were soon amongst them on a beautiful, sexy fish day.
The Gilt Darters were my favorite site fish this day. Lots of displaying and chasing. 2 male's territories overlapped and they did full side to side quivering displays, like 2 sailed warships blasting at each other. I struggled trying to get the master shot focused and wish i could fully share what i saw.
As in the Citico the Snubnoses were paired off and just as beautiful. The gravid females were unconcerned to my ever closing camera angles but the males were nervous at each attempted approach. Eventually some pairs would settle down and allow for some tight closeups.
I caught this emerald banded Banded but it took a look of relentless chasing to get a few shots. I was suprised how well he blended into the non vegetated surroundings, with the light rippling down. How much harder they would be to see in vertical green reeds.
About this time my camera screen went blank. Oh No! I played with the dial and buttons to no success and gave up. While having a lunch and a warmup break Jeremy offered me his back up camera, a Pentax with similiar functions. A quick tutouring gave me the go and we were soon back in the water. I decided to double up my wetsuits as chattering of teeth and quivering of muscles was taking the joy out of the sunshiney but cold water day. 2 suits works pretty good!
Later that evening i opened my Olympus and found a single bead of water centered on the USB port underneath the rubber gasket. Danger! I dryed the camera's interiors with tissue and gently blew them out and left the hatchs open through the night. The next day, thankfully, everything was ok.
Back in the water and what a shot, and i do wish it was better. I took about 25 or so. He was the king of the Striped Shiners that day, none bigger, nor as well marked. And certainly none other sporting his headgear.
My last downstream float found me in a pool with a large Bass ( they eat all my favorite fish ) and a well tuberculed River Chub. The Chub was especially wary and though i looked i could not find his nest mound upstream. It may still be early as my cement pond attendee has not moved stones yet. Several pods of Yellow Perch where feeding in the downstream backwaters, the river here seems as if it becomes a wide flowing lake. I have seen Shad screaming by downstream but today's time, distance and visibilty did not allow for any quality distant shots so i eased back upstream. I did find this Sculpin perched on a branch at the head of the River Chub pool. Upon closer inspection on my monitor i see crisp, round, white spheres on his body. What are they?
Conasauga
With the sun set high above we headed south to the Conasauga to a convenient place i have permission to access the river. The water here was near crystal clear as well, a probable result due to the lack of rain for the past 2 weeks.
Entering the water the Speckled darters were most impressive, vivid blue and perching on rocks to proclaim their territory. Females were plain and plump with ripe eggs. I soon saw the Bridled, Bronze and Blackbanded Darters and again had to refine my eye to catch their differences, as when young they can be difficult to seperate apart. I saw no high males except for a couple stunning and frosty white glazed Blackbandeds which i had never seen in such condition before. About this time Jeremy's camera quit snapping pics and i was feeling techno hexed. A striking pair of Southern Studfish, male and female cruised by, headed upstream, probably to a quiet sandy pool for some procreating. A lamprey was dead centered to a Hogsucker's concave head. A new darter was chasing his beloved along a submerged log. I felt empty without my camera. I got over to the Drum and Redhorse pool and caught a 3 legged Slider for Jeremy to see and hold. Her mate, 4 legged, was just upstream hunkered under a snag. River Reds were stacked back in the eddy, the nervous Drum, they know me well, not yet arrived this season to panic the River Reds away from my quiet observations. Another lamprey was seen, this time on the side of a smaller Redhorse. I never, ever want to see one of those dangling from my thigh. It's a good thing to wear a wetsuit sometimes.
Just downstream i found a solitary lamprey and dang suprised if i did not catch it, but near choked and gagged to exhaustion in the effort. Slippery, squirmy beasts, i finally got to the bank with it clasped to my chest for a closer looksee with Jeremy. I cant tell the species apart but surely with all the adhesions we saw today, this one was a parasite as well.
The sun was dropping below the horizon so we got out, geared off and dried in the remaining sun. Soon headed home with a stop for Mexican, sans loud karoke, and a quiet evening resting.
Before Jeremy's camera locked ( which it also recovered from ), i got a few blurry shots of some of the finer minnows of the Conasauga. The Blues had a proud high male among them and some of the Tricolors were well flagged. I did not see any tuberculed Bamas, nor evasive Riffle Minnows. Plenty of Blacktail venustas though, but none in their glory. You really need a whole day to seek out all the variety that the Conasauga offers. Maybe a week! We counted 17 species at the Citico and 20 at the Conasauga. This does not include any of the mystery species we encountered, nor keeping up with all the various sunfishes. Jeremy got to see an upstream cruising Gar, which is always a fine treat. He said this was a perfect capstone to his 2 week SE snorkel. Its a fine start to a new season and i will work hard at refining my techniques and playing with all the iso, exposure, zoom and macro settings for better pictures to share.
Edited by Casper Cox, 20 April 2010 - 07:36 PM.
NANFA Youtube Channel 
