Going collecting

Those of you that saw my GSAS presentation on native fish know I have my favorite spots in IL to collect. I'll be heading back for my dad's birthday next month and I intend to use my 2 checked bag allowance for fish coolers. Expect collecting pics. Also maybe hitting up Chicago Discus.

Awesome! Looking forward to a lot of pictures! Any idea what kind of fish you expect to find?

MRTom wrote:Awesome! Looking forward to a lot of pictures! Any idea what kind of fish you expect to find?

  

The creek I normally hit by my house has johnny darters, sunfish, suckers, chubs, and assorted "minnows".  Specifically hoping to find redbelly dace, blacknose dace, creek chub, madtoms, central mudminnow, topminnows, sticklebacks, rainbow darter, orangethroats.

I have to be careful though because IL is currently a VHS region.

Very Hot Summer region?

I hope you find lots of mudminnows!

That made me LOL. Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia. Originally a koi disease that's now spread to:
Black crappie
Bluegill
Bluntnose minnow
Brown bullhead
Brown trout
Burbot
Channel catfish
Chinook salmon
Emerald shiner
Freshwater drum
Gizzard shad
Hybrid (Tiger) muskie
Lake whitefish
Largemouth bass
Muskellunge
Shorthead redhorse
Northern Pike
Pumpkinseed
Rainbow trout
Rock bass
Round goby
Silver redhorse
Smallmouth bass
Spottail shiner
Trout-Perch
Walleye
White bass
White perch
Yellow perch

I can't transport any of these alive, which sucks because I really wanted a pumpkinseed.

What a travesty Be careful out there and don't catch any of that goo! VHS sounds almost as bad as Betamax.

Thread has been cleaned up, so please carry on with the original discussion.

Thanks, Madness. I spend a ton of time verifying regs prior to collecting. Just FYI.

I'm in IL now. Tomorrow I'm headed to Rock Creek, Kankakee River, and Hickory Creek for collecting. Thursday I'll be heading to small spring-fed cave pools and the Illinois River near Starved Rock. Stay tuned for pics.

Yes, yes...wishing you lots of fun out there in the wilderness Kat. And pics would be great.

Caught what I think are 2 creek chubs and 1 dace. No pics because I forgot my phone in the car and then it started pouring. They've taken up residence in a rain barrel for now.

Well that's a bummer about the rain! Hope the fish do well! What kind of equipment did you get to use? Did you bring the big fancy fyke net you showed at the gsas meeting?

I'm just using a dip net. I tried hook and line but nothing took.

Today we hit the Vermilion River, which was quite a hike in through poison ivy and stinging nettle.
River view:
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Our trek paid off though: first line in caught a 2.5 foot Asian carp, which unfortunately snapped my line before I could kill it.  Second cast brought this guy:
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(Channel Cat)

Afterwards everything went quiet, so I started netting minnows.

Here's the creek I hiked up and caught most of my specimens in:
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Here's who I caught:
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I believe there are blacknose dace, creek chub, creek chubsucker, redfin shiner, and maybe others.  I'll have to wait to get them in a tank to see their full colors for a real ID.

2nd to last one looks really nice, i like the dark bronze back and the black stripe down the side, although it looks like it might be a baby pf something bigger

So FYI, you CAN bring live fish in your carry-on baggage, at least from a security standpoint. Individual airlines may have a different policy for what they allow, but I flew Alaska. They must be in plastic leakproof containers and declared as you pass thru security.  TSA will hand-inspect the bottles to confirm there are fish and not fish-like TNT bundles floating in there.  Each bottle does not need to comply with the 3.4 oz rule.  I took an entire suitcase with 12 bottles thru O'Hare, the airport that purposely screws you every chance it gets, but the most hassle I got was waiting for all the TSA agents to come gawk at my awesome catch.
All the fish survived the journey despite a bit of leakage, and are currently in their quarantine tank in the garage.  Some even ate.  I had my partner bring a bucket of fresh water to toss them in at the airport, knowing the decompression of the plane had sucked a lot of the O2 out of the bottles and the leakage was a problem.  Now that I have my key, I can ID these guys.  They colored up quite a bit in fresh cold water.  I know I have a creek chubsucker and a western blacknose dace for sure.

Wow. Nice. Been following this thread. Now want to see more pictures in their new home.   

What a great summer vacation Kat. I'd love to do a collecting trip some time. Loved the collection photos...great shots of the location(s) and the finds. Also can't wait to see these guys in their tank.

The quarantine tank is pretty bare, and I plan on doing a 1 month quarantine because I do NOT want to introduce anything to my discus. But I will get pics as soon as I can!

just a heads up but you can catch pumpkinseed sunfish out on the KP. idk if its legal to collect them but i know ive pulled a bunch out of lakes off hood canal and the surrounding area. glad your collecting went well, i certainly look forward to seeing pics

swamp-rat wrote:The quarantine tank is pretty bare, and I plan on doing a 1 month quarantine because I do NOT want to introduce anything to my discus.  But I will get pics as soon as I can!

Wouldn't that be a trigintine tank then?   

Anthraxx wrote:just a heads up but you can catch pumpkinseed sunfish out on the KP. idk if its legal to collect them but i know ive pulled a bunch out of lakes off hood canal and the surrounding area. glad your collecting went well, i certainly look forward to seeing pics

Great question, was bummed when I found out I can't bring the pumpkinseeds home from Lake Tye.

It is illegal to transport any fish caught in Washington waters alive, even if they are introduced species such as pumpkinseed.

so you can buy pumpkinseeds / collect them elsewhere and bring em home to your tanks but not if theyre local? gotta love silly laws

I've had a couple days to key these out, so I can say with ~90% confidence that they are:

Redbelly Dace
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Suckermouth Minnow with key ID marks
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Blacknose Dace (speckled) and Central Stoneroller (leaning on log)
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Creek Chubs and Creek Chubsucker (on bottom)
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There's one minnow left in there that I can't get a good look at to key out.  I'm hoping they'll color up after some continuous feeding.  Everyone's eating and doing well except a bit of fin rot, which I seem to have curbed.

Very nice. swamp-rat. Now I can see the pictures.   

I can see them...good job id'ing those guys. I would not even know where to start. That blacknosed dace is beautiful.

They're even prettier when they're in breeding colors.

Blacknose Dace
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Redbelly Dace
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Central Stoneroller
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Creek Chub
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I use How to Know the Freshwater Fishes by Samuel Eddy and James C. Underhill as my key. Plus my years as a fishery biologist to know what the hell they're talking about.

That blacknose dace is an awesome looking fish thanks for sharing! How do they do at adjusting to our water? Do you do a lot of work with their water parameters to help them adjust?

They do fine in pretty much any water. The creek I got them from was mostly limestone and shale. The area is rich in sulfur leached from the limestone, as well as large coal deposits. Hardness was probably very high, and I expect pH was somewhere around 7.4. My water here in sumner comes out at 7.0 and 74 ppm, so it's not that different. Most natives are very hardy and can adapt quickly, particularly the chubs. The ones that are more sensitive are brook silversides and shiners, IMO.