Multispecies Angler Information

[Johnsfolly]

For those guys that like myself like to catch a variety of species there are a number of great resources that I have found to check on species identifications or distributions to confirm what you have caught.

If you don't already know, I am fairly targeted on specific fish species each year. To be successful in those endeavors I prefer to find locations within the target species distribution ranges and head out there and fish for that particular species. (sorry won't be able to make these sites as hyperlinks)

One of the best resources that I have found to help me to target those fish is  www.fishmap.org. This site is maintained by the North America Native Fish Association (NANFA) and covers freshwater species and some brackish species. You are able to select by Genus or by common name/species name. Once you select the species you will be brought into that species distribution ranges. The site shows historical and introduced ranges typically by watershed. The data points/collections on this site pull data from a number of different organizations data, including some that I mention below e.g., INaturalist and NANFA. The data points can be opened and you can see who collected the fish or observation as well as the date that it was collected. The INaturalist entries will typically have a photo or photos of the fish.

Just recently I joined and have been fairly active on www. inaturalist.org site. This is a site where members can post and support identifications of all kinds of flora and fauna. These observations get reviewed by other members from across the country. Data from these observations feed into various projects across the country as well. I know that my entries for fish caught in Maryland will feed into the Maryland Biodiversity Project (www.marylandbiodiversity.com). Also fish from Arkansas can feed into the Biodiversity Project of Arkansas which is a group on the INaturalist site. I have only posted a couple of fish (whitetail shiner and strawberry darter) so far for Arkansas and both were pulled into the Biodiversity project.

I will admit that these next two sites I have had issues becoming a member so I tend just to lurk. I still use their information for species identification which includes photos and locations. I have mentioned NANFA (www.nanfa.org) already. I hope to resolve my issues and become a member soon. I know a few folks that are active with this organization. The other site www.roughfish.com is a bigger issue and I continue to have issues trying to become a member of this organization and likely will not become one in the future. I can however look through their species listings, photos, collections, etc. I just cannot interact with others on that site.

Some other states and organizations exist out there that have great information.

With my travels into NC, SC, and GA I found www.ncfishes.com and this site has great photos and descriptions of freshwater and marine fish as well as invertebrates. They also compare to similar species and describe their ranges. I often use this site and the fishmap site to evaluate new species in the southeast.

The state of Utah has a poster series that describe and illustrate the native species in their primary watersheds (can't upload)

Some posters exist for other species like bullheads and other species.

Lots of information out there for us crazy folks that track and try to catch many different species and work to build our lifelists .

 

[Al Agnew]

There is a new book on Missouri fish coming out soon if it isn't out already.  Bill Pflieger's book, "Fishes of Missouri", has been out of print for a while.  Arkansas also has a fish book similar to Pflieger's, don't know the present status of it.  Those are the two I use a lot.  I also have a field guide to the fish of North America that is very good, but right now I'm in Montana and it's in Missouri, and I can't remember the exact title of it.  I'm still a bit of a Luddite, prefer books to the internet.

[semble]

32 minutes ago, Al Agnew said:

There is a new book on Missouri fish coming out soon if it isn't out already.  Bill Pflieger's book, "Fishes of Missouri", has been out of print for a while.  Arkansas also has a fish book similar to Pflieger's, don't know the present status of it.  Those are the two I use a lot.  I also have a field guide to the fish of North America that is very good, but right now I'm in Montana and it's in Missouri, and I can't remember the exact title of it.  I'm still a bit of a Luddite, prefer books to the internet.

Is the new book a new edition of Bill Pflieger's, "Fishes of Missouri"? Or a new book entirely?

[Johnsfolly]

3 hours ago, semble said:

Is the new book a new edition of Bill Pflieger's, "Fishes of Missouri"? Or a new book entirely?

I actually don't  know if it will be a third edition to Pflieger's or a new book. Since it is funded by the MDC it may be a 3rd edition. I am in fairly regular contact with the author and can ask. He did work with some others on The Fishes of Nebraska book released a couple of years ago.

[Johnsfolly]

3 hours ago, Al Agnew said:

There is a new book on Missouri fish coming out soon if it isn't out already.  Bill Pflieger's book, "Fishes of Missouri", has been out of print for a while.  Arkansas also has a fish book similar to Pflieger's, don't know the present status of it.  Those are the two I use a lot.  I also have a field guide to the fish of North America that is very good, but right now I'm in Montana and it's in Missouri, and I can't remember the exact title of it.  I'm still a bit of a Luddite, prefer books to the internet.

Al I love the guide style books as well. Maybe a little too well🙄..

I have the following:

2nd edition of Pflieger's Fishes of MO.  I believe that there are a few copies for sale online. I know an OAF member picked up a copy recently within the last year.

The new Fishes of Nebraska

A pdf copy of the Fishes of Tennessee (which you can get free online)

A pdf of a Pocket guide to Kansas stream fish which is free online.

The Freshwater Fishes of the Carolinas,, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware

A really old copy of Peterson's field guide to Freshwater Fishes

My kids got me A field guide to Coastal Fishes last Xmas.

They did release the 2nd edition of The Fishes of Arkansas which I do not have but know one OAF member that has a copy. It's  on my to buy list. I have had limited contact with the author of that guide about yellow perch in Arkansas and a few other fish species.

So if books are your thing lots of those are available as well.

[Johnsfolly]

@Al Agnew Do you know Robert? Are you a NANFA member?

[Al Agnew]

18 hours ago, Johnsfolly said:

@Al Agnew Do you know Robert? Are you a NANFA member?

Not a NANFA member, though I follow their Facebook group.  Don't know Robert, contacted MDC when I got wind that the new book was being written to see if they would be interested in having me do the illustrations, but I was too late and they'd already gotten somebody else to do them.  I hope whoever it is is better than the artist they had do the illustrations for Pflieger's book.

 

[Johnsfolly]

8 hours ago, Al Agnew said:

Not a NANFA member, though I follow their Facebook group.  Don't know Robert, contacted MDC when I got wind that the new book was being written to see if they would be interested in having me do the illustrations, but I was too late and they'd already gotten somebody else to do them.  I hope whoever it is is better than the artist they had do the illustrations for Pflieger's book.

 

Al

I don't  know for certain, but I think that Robert is working with the same illustrator, Justin Sipiorski, that worked with him on The Fishes of Nebraska.