With this drought being so long I checked on one of my fishing holes in a little known creek near the sleeper branch. The water was so depleted that all that was left was a 8" deep puddle at the deepest point and maybe 18' by 12' in legth and width. The fish would thrash about as you approached the puddle. I contemplated netting the fish and replacing them to healtheir waters, however, I hate to mess with the natural of order of things. I decided to take inventory of the fish in the puddle so, with nets and waders I headed into the creek /puddle to see what I could find.
Very, very interesting. I netted pickerel of course, both red fin and chain,but also a few catfish, a blue spotted sunfish, a few eastern mud minnows, numerous sphagnum sunfish, a few black banded sunfish, a pirate perch, and one american eel. However, the biggest surprise was the number of creek chubsuckers I netted. dozens of small ones and 5 or 6 in excess of 12". In all my years of fishing the streams and bogs I never caught a chubsucker. I did used to catch them up north when I was trout fishing. It just goes to show how aggressive the pickerel are that they are 99% of what you catch when you fish here. Chubsuckers would not eat what pickerel eat, so it doesn't surprise me I havn't caught one, but I just can't believe how many there are.
In the end, I decided to leave the fish be and not replace them. It appears there is still a healthy food chain despite the confined conditions. I wonder about the oxygen supply in the water and the danger of predators, but hey, I guess that is nature.
Jeff
Very, very interesting. I netted pickerel of course, both red fin and chain,but also a few catfish, a blue spotted sunfish, a few eastern mud minnows, numerous sphagnum sunfish, a few black banded sunfish, a pirate perch, and one american eel. However, the biggest surprise was the number of creek chubsuckers I netted. dozens of small ones and 5 or 6 in excess of 12". In all my years of fishing the streams and bogs I never caught a chubsucker. I did used to catch them up north when I was trout fishing. It just goes to show how aggressive the pickerel are that they are 99% of what you catch when you fish here. Chubsuckers would not eat what pickerel eat, so it doesn't surprise me I havn't caught one, but I just can't believe how many there are.
In the end, I decided to leave the fish be and not replace them. It appears there is still a healthy food chain despite the confined conditions. I wonder about the oxygen supply in the water and the danger of predators, but hey, I guess that is nature.
Jeff
