Participants: Todd Crail, Kathy Duffy, Eric Massengil, Rhys Massengil, Nick Zarlinga
Photographs and text by Todd Crail
We've had activity here in Ohio the last two weekends, which has just been
awesome. This weekend it was off to the Mighty Muddy Maumee. NANFA members present
were Nick Zarlinga, Eric Massengil, and myself. Kathy Duffy from the Cleveland Zoo joined us as well. Eric's son Rhys was with us
for a bit, but it was danged cold out with the wind, and well, a 5 year old
with wet feet in the wind is a bad scene. Eric returned from taking him home
to inform us that Rhys said "I hate this place!". We'll have to get him back
there in fairer weather :)
Our first site was Buttonwood Access which is a very popular place when the
Walleye are running in the spring. The wind was absolutely brutal. It was
one of those days where you almost hope there's a couple rocks in the seine so
everything doesn't fly out when you lift it. You can see how exposed we were. BRRRRRRRRRR.
At any rate, we managed to run into some fish. I had always suspected there
were stonecat in that rapid, I was glad to have finally run into a few. The
frequency of Logperch was impressive. I'd say we'd prolly caught
30-40, some of which were 5-6" range and looked like little walleye heh. In
the spring, it's not uncommon to snag one while working your jig for the
walleye. If I'm around, we have nature learning time :) Other than that, the
suckermouth minnows were of impressive size as were the brook silversides
(Which we quickly released the silversides so they wouldn't die for a picture.
That seemed counterintuitive).
Okay, so the clock was tickin' and we wanted out of the cold. We moved on to
Beaver Creek which is a small tributary of the Maumee. Unfortunately, my
usual bridge access on Route 65 had "No Parking" signs everywhere, so that kinda shot
that. Sadly, that prevented us from hitting a couple pools that would have
been awesome. So we began driving around and hit it from another bridge. The
site was cluttered with mussel shells, which was so nice to see! I took some
shots, hoping to find someone to id them. I'm really lacking on mussel knowledge,
so thank you Jeremy and Doug for taking a look and giving best guesses with the
limited information I provided :)
I will never buy bait again. This site yielded a minimum of 75 spotfin shiner
and bluntnose minnows per seine dip. It got ridiculous after a while heh. We
still did okay tho. We ran into a couple of Orangespot sunfish and a really
nice specimen of Blackside Darter. This portion was rough on us tho, as Nick
ripped all the way to his last "mil" on his waders, and I fully penetrated
mine. Guess we should pay more attention to the hawthornes if we're going to
stomp in them :)
We then hurried off to Van Tassel Access back on the Maumee proper. We didn't really
have time to walk to the big undercuts to see if we could score some eatin'
size Orangspots to really demonstrate the color of these fantastic critters.
However, we quickly worked the riffles and some of the marginal water willow.
Quick trip, quick results, added a largemouth bass to the day's tally.
As Eric and Nick needed to get back to their wives to celebrate Sweetest Day, we parted
ways. I made a quick stop at the Providence Dam in Grand Rapids on my way out
to a friends for a little dipnet kickin'. It's very flat limestone at this
location, and with the water so clear, I was able to see where rocks were
lying on the bedrock. Makes for easy targets :) From out a crack in the dam,
I managed to pluck a Tadpole Madtom, which is the first I'd seen in the Maumee
as well, which I was very excited about until....
He managed to pluck me. That is just the worst feeling. You know you
got hit, you're waiting waiting waiting and then... THE FIRE IS ON! Oh man I
don't think I'll do that again. I tell you, the people watching me and the
dam got some real treats. Getting "Tommed", sliping on a rock and landing
flat on my duff. I guess they didn't know that fishing was a full contact
sport. [sigh] But I pressed onward, in spite of fear of fallout from some
duck hunters that I could not believe they could shoot *in town* like
that (!), and my pain to turn up a decent species list.
Despite the cold and pain, it was a great day out with some great people. I look
forward to doing it again soon!
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(next time I promise to get pics of pseudocardinal teeth ;) |
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| Wabash Pigtoe
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Fragile Papershell
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Fragile Papershell
or Pink Heelsplitter
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Wabash Pigtoe
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| White Heelsplitter
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Fat Mucket
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Round Hickorynut?
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Note: The mussel specimens photographed were all aborted shells.
Please do not disturb any live animals, and leave any specimen, dead or alive, at the stream
unless you have the appropriate permits. In many states it is illegal to even touch the
shells, dead or alive. The photographer has decided to look over that fact to collect the
natural history on digital media, and feels that would not offend any governing body,
especially since nothing was removed from their location.
If you disagree, please email me at tcrail@northshores.com
and I'll be happy to discuss :) |
(19 Unique Species)
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Maumee River, Buttonwood Access
Bluegill - Lepomis macrochirus
Bluntnose Minnow - Pimephales notatus
Brook Silverside - Labidesthes sicculus
Emerald Shiner - Notropis atherinoides
Greenside Darter - Etheostoma blennioides
Hog Sucker - Hypentelium nigricans
Johnny Darter - Etheostoma nigrum
Logperch - Percina caprodes
Rock Bass - Ambloplites rupestris
Smallmouth Bass - Micropterus dolomieu
Spotfin Shiner - Cyprinella spiloptera
Stonecat - Noturus flavus
Suckermouth Minnow - Phenacobius mirabilis
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Beaver Creek, Long Judson Road Bridge
Blackside Darter - Percina maculata
Bluegill - Lepomis macrochirus
Bluntnose Minnow - Pimephales notatus
Creek Chub - Semotilus atromaculatus
Fathead Minnow - Pimephales promelas
Gizzard Shad - Dorosoma cepedianum
Greenside Darter - Etheostoma blennioides
Johnny Darter - Etheostoma nigrum
Orangespot Sunfish - Lepomis humilus
Rock Bass - Ambloplites rupestris
Spotfin Shiner - Cyprinella spiloptera
Smallmouth Bass - Micropterus dolomieu
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Maumee River, Van Tassel Access:
Bluegill - Lepomis macrochirus
Bluntnose Minnow - Pimephales notatus
Greenside Darter - Etheostoma blennioides
Johnny Darter - Etheostoma nigrum
Largemouth Bass - Micropterus salmoides
Orangespot Sunfish - Lepomis humilus
Rock Bass - Ambloplites rupestris
Smallmouth Bass - Micropterus dolomieu
Spotfin Shiner - Cyprinella spiloptera
Stonecat - Noturus flavus
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Maumee River, Providence Dam
Bluegill - Lepomis macrochirus
Bluntnose Minnow - Pimephales notatus
Emerald Shiner - Notropis atherinoides
Gizzard Shad - Dorosoma cepedianum
Green Sunfish - Lepomis cyanellus
Greenside Darter - Etheostoma blennioides
Logperch - Percina caprodes
Orangespot Sunfish - Lepomis humilus
Rock Bass - Ambloplites rupestris
Spotfin Shiner - Cyprinella spiloptera
Stone Cat - Noturus flavus
Tadpole Madtom - Notorus gyrinus
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