Tennesee Tiny Fish

[Johnsfolly]

One of the great things about being an obsessive multispecies angler and a micro-fisherman is that no creek, tributary, drainage ditch is too small to potentially hold some new species. it also helps when you have a partner in crime, in this case my daughter, to convince your wife that a quick side trip to find a small creek is a good way to split the long trip.

My wife and daughter stayed out in Maryland with me and we decided to drive to Memphis (that's another story) instead of a direct route back to Columbia. Suggesting the Memphis trip was primarily to visit the Bass Pro shops in the Pyramid, but a secondary motivation was to catch some of the diverse species found in Tennessee. We decided to drive through the night. I picked up driving after 3 am and was scanning every river, creek and stream as soon as it got light enough to see. After we passed the Duck River just outside of Bucksnort, TN, I pulled off at the next exit and tried to find any access to a tributary or the river itself. We did find a boat access and saw that the river was cold and colored up from the recent rains. We didn't wet a line. However, we found a small clear water creek going into the river. Below the culvert was a plunge pool followed by a series of riffles and pools. The pools held fish that neither Livie or I had ever seen before.

I had on a long shank #20 hook and a small piece of worm that I put on the hook at the car. I dropped the bait into the school of minnows and caught my first rosyside dace.

As elated as I was with this new life list species and the first fish that I ever caught in Tennessee, I was just as disappointed that the fish took my bait with the remaining piece of worm back in the car. Livie did not want to go back to the car to get another worm. So she dug around the creek and found a couple of small worms. With those worms, we got into a few other fish.

Livie caught the first darter and we were not able to get a photo since it ended up back in the water after she got it unhooked. She did find a couple of more and even with the poor picture we were able to id this one as a buffalo darter based upon the humped back and the anal fin rays differentiating this species from the orangethroat darter.

I had to get one as well and landed this buffalo darter, another life list species.

 I tried to catch a different looking darter in a deeper pool, but failed to get a good hook set and could not get it interested again after taking the bait once. There were a number of minnows and a couple of large ones with obvious nuptial tubercles. The small minnow kept taking the bait. Livie and I caught a couple of southern redbelly dace, a new species for her, but she could not hook and land one of the rosyside dace.

The larger fish eventually left that pool or hid under the larger rocks/logs and we never did get a chance to hook one. Livie was determined to catch a rosyside dace and finally caught one in the pool where I hooked my first one.

Then she hooked this fish. The body shape and mouth size would indicate that it might be just another rosyside dace, which I am inclined to go with. It's just that the coloration is just off a bit. I have not been able to get a good id on it and am open to suggestions by anyone familiar with Tennessee minnows .

It was then that I got a text from my wife that we should head back on the highway. I'll leave this photo of a Luna moth near the road as a parting shot.

 

 

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

I am very envious!   Great job you two!  You have a great wife.  

[Harps]

Those darters are cool, wish they grew to 30 inches.

[Flysmallie]

10 hours ago, Harps said:

Those darters are cool, wish they grew to 30 inches.

You wouldn't be able to catch one if they did. 

[JestersHK]

Nice job you two on the micros!

[tjm]

Nice dace and the darters have great colors.

[Harps]

On 5/21/2018 at 9:12 AM, Flysmallie said:

You wouldn't be able to catch one if they did. 

Probably true..............sigh..................smh......................