Central NC trip May-June 2012
#22 Guest_gerald_*
Posted 25 May 2012 - 12:56 PM
Josh - Nope, warpaint shiners are another 2 hrs west of Greensboro.
Here's Lat/Lon of our first site if anybody needs for GPS:
38.7853, -79.6658. Sandy Cr at SR-2481 Low Bridge Rd, Randolph Co
#24 Guest_EricaWieser_*
Posted 25 May 2012 - 04:50 PM
#26 Guest_EricaWieser_*
Posted 25 May 2012 - 05:56 PM
Edited by EricaWieser, 25 May 2012 - 05:56 PM.
#28
Posted 26 May 2012 - 07:45 AM
Erica - Sounds like ZeeZ may need a ride if his car is not yet fixed.
Josh - Nope, warpaint shiners are another 2 hrs west of Greensboro.
Here's Lat/Lon of our first site if anybody needs for GPS:
38.7853, -79.6658. Sandy Cr at SR-2481 Low Bridge Rd, Randolph Co
Gerald, your coordinates are somewhere in West Virginia... I think you mean 35.7853, -79.6658
Changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes...
#29 Guest_EricaWieser_*
Posted 26 May 2012 - 10:38 AM
Here's a rough approximation of our May 27 itinerary:
1100 - 1200 Sandy Creek, Randolph Co
1230 - 130 Alamance Creek, Guilford Co
200 - 300 Reedy Fork or Stony Creek, Guilford/Alamance
330- 430 Hyco Creek, Caswell Co
500 - 600 Eno River, Orange/Durham
Hyco Creek and Eno River are easy-access and easy wading, so anyone with limited time, young kids, or mobility issues may want to meet us later in the day at those sites. Some of the earlier sites may require a little bushwhacking and bank-climbing (with possible briers & poison ivy).
#30 Guest_EricaWieser_*
Posted 26 May 2012 - 06:20 PM
I really hope Gerald gets online and checks this page before tomorrow's trip. Cristina expects me to know where I'm taking her XDWhat are the GPS coordinates and instructions for how to park for the Hyco Creek location? I am going to try to do the 'easy hiking' one.
#31 Guest_EricaWieser_*
Posted 26 May 2012 - 08:58 PM
Help? Gerald if you get this you have my phone number. I unfortunately don't have yours anymore (a delete buttom I am regretting now).I really hope Gerald gets online and checks this page before tomorrow's trip. Cristina expects me to know where I'm taking her XD
#32 Guest_gerald_*
Posted 26 May 2012 - 09:40 PM
Michael thanks for the correction, yes the Sandy Creek site Lat is 35. not 38.
Edited by Drew, 28 May 2012 - 01:40 PM.
#34 Guest_Auban_*
Posted 27 May 2012 - 12:56 AM
#35 Guest_EricaWieser_*
Posted 29 May 2012 - 06:59 AM
I had a great time seining and dipnetting fish with everybody. The weather was wonderful and the people were too We saw lots of different fish, crayfish, plants, turtles, and bivalves.
If anybody reading this in the future is looking at an event sponsored by Gerald and on the fence about whether or not you're going, go do it. Cristina had never gone out fishing with a seine net before or walked in the water like that and she had a blast.
#37 Guest_gerald_*
Posted 29 May 2012 - 03:32 PM
Our first site was Sandy Creek near Ramseur in Randolph County, a tributary of Deep River in the Cape Fear River basin. Based on state fish sampling reports we had high hopes of finding good fish diversity here, including redlip shiners (introduced to the Cape Fear basin from their native range in the adjacent Yadkin River basin). The habitat looked lovely – nice cobble riffles and pools, small bedrock waterfalls, and well-forested stable stream-banks. Before seining we walked up and down the creek hoping to witness an active bluehead chub nest with a glowing swarm of shiners and dace, but to no avail. No chub nest, and few fish visible, so we began seining. Baby largemouth bass and bluegill comprised the bulk of our catch from Sandy Creek. We also caught two small bluehead chubs, two golden shiners, several mosquitofish, one tessellated darter, and a few redbreast and green sunfish. It appears something may have “happened” to the fish community here in the past decade since the state’s last high-diversity collection report at this site.
After that disappointing start we headed northeast to the idyllic-sounding Stinking Quarter Creek near Burlington in Alamance County. This stream, also in the Cape Fear River basin, was mainly sand and silt substrate with not much rock, and more turbid than Sandy Creek, but despite its name and appearance the fish yield was surprisingly good: At least five shiner species (highfin, satinfin, white, crescent, and swallowtail), bluehead and creek chubs, mosquitofish, speckled killifish, redbreast sunfish, tessellated darter, and two baby turtles (musk and river cooter). State biologists reported a few mountain redbelly dace here (introduced from Dan River basin) but we didn’t find any.
After stopping for some good gas station beef jerky we continued northeast to Hyco Creek in Caswell County, in the Dan/Roanoke River basin. This tiny creek with bedrock riffles interspersed with sandy pools is one of my fail-safe sites for bringing native-fish-newbies, and as usual it did not disappoint us. Lots of crescent shiners, mountain redbelly and rosyside dace, bluehead and creek chubs, white sucker, redhorse suckers (notchlip or golden?), mosquitofish, speckled killifish, bluegill, redbreast and redear sunfish, johnny and fantail darter, and a three-lined salamander larva.
Last stop was Eno River at West Point Mill Park in Durham, site of the annual Festival for the Eno (July 4th weekend) which raises money to preserve land along the Eno and its tributaries. This is another fail-safe site for showing off colorful native fish, except perhaps during and shortly after the Festival when thousands of people and dogs converge on this site for three days. We caught several shiner species (white, satinfin, swallowtail, spottail, pinewoods), bluehead chub, speckled killifish, johnny and fantail darter, Roanoke and chainback darter, northern hogsucker, bluegill and redbreast sunfish, pumpkinseed, largemouth bass, yellow perch, and one Roanoke rockbass.
I did not take any pictures this time but I’m hoping others who did will post some.
Here are some pics from our April 2010 trip to some of these same sites and nearby sites.
http://forum.nanfa.o...ril/#entry74970
Edited by gerald, 29 May 2012 - 04:01 PM.
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