Central Mudminnow Hunt In Massachusetts
Started by
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, Apr 27 2010 09:24 AM
21 replies to this topic
#1
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Posted 27 April 2010 - 09:24 AM
well today I went out in search of a mudminnow. I knew that chances would be slim to none. If you know mass fish at all then you know this...i would say that i gave 70% effort and that may have resulted in why i didn't catch any. I had alot on my mind. and i didn't lift up some tires that were in the water....and it was very muddy....enough excuses...there shouldn't be any excuses...i did the research and had good spots were they were collected in Mass. The habitats looked perfect so I will be checking again. The weeds were not present and it seemed like it was more rocky....but they are there....i took some pics so people could see the scenery at least. Every time i go out to try and collect them i will update this thread. if i had a partner i probably would have given a higher effort...did i mention it was cloudy/raining/cold? haha. i feel like a failure! but.....ill be back
#2
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Posted 30 April 2010 - 07:15 PM
well i went out again today....and again nothing...where do mudminnows go when there are not weeds? i think im gonna need a partner next time....the thing is its not like a brook they are in...its a river which gets deep so im limited to what i can dip-net in. this time i gave 100% effort. im convinced they arent there
#3
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Posted 30 April 2010 - 07:45 PM
well i went out again today....and again nothing...where do mudminnows go when there are not weeds? i think im gonna need a partner next time....the thing is its not like a brook they are in...its a river which gets deep so im limited to what i can dip-net in. this time i gave 100% effort. im convinced they arent there
Not weeds? Hmmm. Well piles of dead vegetation would be the next best place but if you don't see any green stuff in the water, I might think you're in the wrong spot. In early spring in Illinois (a month or longer ago), I find them in water so shallow, it's occupied by terrestrial vegetation and not usually much deeper. These locations are almost always heavily vegetated and even in the dead of winter are full of cover due to dormant vegetation. If I were you, I would not even bother sampling an area for Central mudminnow unless obvious signs of abundant vegetation were present.
#4
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Posted 30 April 2010 - 07:48 PM
hmm...man....well they arent native to mass. i did find documents that they were collected by the DPW (28 within 1.0 miles of sampling) and i went to the exact same spot. maybe i should actually check in the small pools that arent connected to the river? is that possible? there was a lot of what i call skunk cabbage...so maybe they are in those pools? i searched a fed pools that were cut off from the river that was full of algae and other decaying stuff....only caught crayfish.. the sampling is from 2004....they have to be there.
Edited by bumpylemon, 30 April 2010 - 07:49 PM.
#5
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Posted 30 April 2010 - 08:31 PM
They seem right at home in water that does not flow (or such gentle flow it's not recognizable). I would also say they appear to resent too much flow. Pools off of the main river, that do not dry out and are heavily vegetated seem like a fine choice. I see a lake or pond in one of the photos. Is that perhaps the location and did you see lots of veg there? Finding introduced fish isn't always that easy and Central mudminnows don't strike me as a "riffle runner" to find new marshes. I guess I'm trying to say that you might have to find very specific information to find them since you might not have lots of habitat they prefer to expand their range.
#6
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Posted 30 April 2010 - 08:49 PM
Nah the lake actually feeds the stream they are in. There weren't lots of weeds. The weeds are just starting to come back. The info I had was very specific. Its the only report online I could find. And it tells exactly where to go. Hmm ill give it one more shot. But I search in 2 huge pools cut off from the river (its in the pics above) they are like 4 inches deep max. Full of algae and rocks. No weeds. I knew it wouldn't be easy. I'm ok with that
#7
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Posted 01 May 2010 - 07:24 AM
Nah the lake actually feeds the stream they are in. There weren't lots of weeds. The weeds are just starting to come back. The info I had was very specific. Its the only report online I could find. And it tells exactly where to go. Hmm ill give it one more shot. But I search in 2 huge pools cut off from the river (its in the pics above) they are like 4 inches deep max. Full of algae and rocks. No weeds. I knew it wouldn't be easy. I'm ok with that
went back today....still nothing...this fish in mass has defeated me...ticks, poison ivy and a stick in the back of my leg....mudminnow you win
#10
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Posted 07 May 2010 - 11:12 AM
well well well...i went out today....seeing on how i have the next 2 weeks off...i was like lets just give it another shot...BOOM 2nd try....caught my first mudminnow....this may not be a huge deal in the whole country but to catch that fish in Massachusetts it is. it feels so great researching a fish finding 1 of 2 spots in the state it "may" be in and then catching it! im proud. ill post pics when he gets acclimated.
#12
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Posted 07 May 2010 - 03:31 PM
I caught some little mudminnows 30 years ago along the muddy edge of a pond at Puffton Village Apts near the UMass campus in Amherst (introduced). There was hardly any veg; just soft organic mud to dive into. I scooped a small aquarium net down into the mud wherever I saw divots in the mud surface.
#15
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Posted 07 May 2010 - 04:42 PM
I caught some little mudminnows 30 years ago along the muddy edge of a pond at Puffton Village Apts near the UMass campus in Amherst (introduced). There was hardly any veg; just soft organic mud to dive into. I scooped a small aquarium net down into the mud wherever I saw divots in the mud surface.
ya thats the other area that they have been documented in.
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