(Edit: Ben has since written up this story on his own blog, along with other fishing successes. Check it out for some great fish and photos: http://bencantrellfish.blogspot.com/)

These were caught in an area of no visible flow in a side channel or small creek connected to the Wisconsin River. Ben estimates the water was 18 inches deep with a temperature of about 40°F.

Ben’s description of his tactics:

There was a massive school of shiners in the channel, so thick it was difficult to see the bottom.  Every now and then I saw a flash of silver as slightly larger fish on the bottom turned on their sides, which I assumed was feeding behavior.  I was fishing with a Tanago new half moon hook and a tiny bit of nightcrawler.  The shiners would attack the bait before it could reach the bottom, so I put a bigger piece of crawler on (a piece smaller than a pencil eraser).  This allowed the bait to get past the shiners and reach the bottom.  I left the line slack and every 5 seconds gave it a pop to see if a fish was on.  This produced 2 of those juvenile quillbacks in about 15 minutes.  They were both definitely fair hooked in the mouth.  I checked the lower lip for a nipple and did not see one in order to rule out highfin or river carpsuckers.  I suppose it’s possible that juveniles of those species do not have the nipple on their lips.  However, quillback strongly outnumber the other 2 species in the lower WI River, so I’m sticking with quillback.

In fact it is possible for the nipple to be absent from juveniles of the other two species: Etnier and Starnes (The Fishes of Tennessee, 1993, pp. 264-265, full text available online) say of the quillback “This is the only carpsucker that lacks the tiny, nipple-like projection on the lower jaw, but young carpsuckers of other species may have this process absent or weakly developed, and are very difficult to identify.” These are quillbacks, however, based on scale counts. According to Becker (The Fishes of Wisconsin, p. 630, full text available online) the quillback has 36-40 lateral line scales, while the highfin (p. 638) has 33-35 and the river (p. 634) has 34-36. There are about 39 on both of Ben’s fish. There is always the possibility that young specimens of Carpiodes can be confused with young specimens of Ictiobus. Anal fin ray counts can help distinguish the two, but are not available in these photos. Based on their bright silver coloration and general appearance, and on the shape of the suboperculum (symmetrical in Ictiobus, assymetrical in Carpiodes and Ben’s fish), I don’t think there is any need to worry about these being young buffalo.

Ben estimates (based on a measurement of his hand) that these fish were about 5.8 inches long. Given the vagaries of measurement in photos, I’m arbitrarily considering them somewhere between 5.25 and 6 inches (roughly 130 to 150 mm). Becker’s growth chart shows southern Wisconsin young-of-year quillbacks, hatched in May or June, reaching an average total length of 41 mm by the middle of July and 100-110 mm by the middle of September. He writes that “in the lower Wisconsin River, age-I quillbacks are 144 (134-155) mm TL by mid-July; age-II fish average 202 mm.” (p. 632) If Ben’s fish were 130-150 mm long, and if I’m reading the data correctly, they would be products of 2012′s spawn.

Now, let me get to the point. I love fish and fish science, but I am first and foremost a fisherman. Even worse, I’m a fisherman who chooses to pursue suckers. I have to point out the most remarkable thing about Ben’s story:

“This produced 2 of those juvenile quillbacks in about 15 minutes.”

Those who do not target quillbacks may not know that they are generally very difficult to catch fairly because of their extreme skittishness, their preference for small foods (see below), and their ability to suck in and spit out a bait faster than the vibration can travel up the line to the angler’s hand. By the time the signal has traveled from the fish to the hand, then from the hand to the brain and back to the hand as an order to react, the quillback has already expelled the bait. Because of this, quillbacks are frequently snagged outside the mouth when the angler attempts to set the hook. I know fishermen of undisputed skill and expertise who have tried for years, without success, to fair hook a single quillback despite snagging many. That Ben managed two of them in 15 minutes is both remarkable and probably annoying to some others.*

On the subject of quillbacks’ culinary habits Becker writes (p. 632):

The quillback feeds freely on debris in the bottom ooze, on plant materials, and on insect larvae. According to Harrison (1950), only small amounts of indentifiable material are found in the visceral contents: 86% undeterminable debris, 12% algae, and 2% insect remains, with a trace of other invertebrates. Very small tendipedids, sometimes occurring by the thousands, were the only insects found intact in the digestive systems examined. Other insects were represented by larvae cases, detached legs, and wings. In southeastern Wisconsin (Cahn 1927), the quillback’s food consisted of fragments of aquatic vegetation and algae, occasional Chironomus larvae, and a variety of snails (Planorbis, Physa), and small clams.

Thanks to Ben for the photos and information, and for making the rest of us feel like chumps.

The following video shows a feeding quillback (starting at about 2:40, after lots of gar, cats and others) in an aquarium at the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium in Dubuque, IA. I keep meaning to go back and get some better quality footage. (http://youtu.be/iuVh2BWmUoQ)

*(Due entirely to dumb luck, and not at all to skill or knowledge, the first sucker I ever caught was a quillback. That was several years ago and despite seeing thousands of them since, and trying every trick in my arsenal, I have never hooked another one.)

Brothers Andrew and John Chione were fishing the Fox River west of Chicago in 2008 for carp, catfish and anything else that would bite. On April 24th,13-year-old John caught a 25.5 inch, 6.71 pound silver redhorse, got it weighed on a certified scale and had the ID confirmed by an Illinois fisheries biologist. Pretty cool? The next day—the VERY next day, and in the same area of the river—his15-year-old brother caught a 21 inch, 3.74 pound shorthead.

For my money, however, the best part of the story is that they knew what they had caught. It’s a rare fisherman who knows the difference between redhorse species. In fact, most probably don’t know there are multiple species of redhorse and can’t reliably see the differences between redhorses and other suckers. I’ve watched clearly skilled anglers kill suckers in the mistaken belief that they were carp. But when John caught the record silver, he knew what it was and he knew the existing record. Bowman quotes him as saying “‘We go through a lot of DNR magazines and remembered the record was around 5 pounds.’” Icing on the fishcake is Andrew’s comment regarding his record shorthead: “‘I knew it what it was. We caught the species before. I knew what the record was.’”

Bowman shares my feelings about this: “What I find most interesting is how sharp the brothers were. They knew the species of redhorse (something I normally have to look up)
and that they were Illinois records.”

The Illinois shorthead record is beatable. I’ve caught specimens longer than and very close to the weight of Andrew’s fish. Hook an egg-laden female during the spawn and you could fairly easily have a state record fish.

To see the photos and read the whole story, see http://blogs.suntimes.com/bowman/2008/05/oh_brother_record_shorthead_su.html

These fish (I’m calling them goldfish, though some may actually be koi (i.e., common carp) were active under the ice of Botany Pond on the University of Chicago campus a week ago. Since then we’ve had snow and the ice is covered completely. I know they’re still under there, so I’m hoping for another chance to photograph them before the ice is gone. Next time I’ll have better equipment and hope to get some better angles and lighting.

Got out fishing in a favorite creek today, and though it’s December 2nd, for a while a long-sleeved t-shirt was too warm. For the first time in months, a sucker was caught. I’d really hoped to get one more before snow, ice and holidays derailed my fishing.

The rock bass were on fire, including one that missed becoming the new Illinois state record (1 pound, 10 ounces) by only a few ounces. Largest rock bass I’ve ever seen.

Caught: rock bass (at least a dozen), several bluegills, two green sunfish, many largemouth and smallmouth bass, a yellow bullhead and A REDHORSE! It was a golden (m. erythrurum) but with every golden there’s always the hope that it will turn out to be a black (m. duquesnei). Lateral line scale count (43) indicates golden, dorsal ray count (15) is high for a golden and at the top end for a black. Mouth could go either way, depending on how wishfully I’m thinking. But the caudal peduncle isn’t particularly skinny (if you’ll pardon the scientific jargon), and the pelvic fin ray count, as near as I can tell from the photos that show that fin, is not 10.

Spotted but not caught: several very large hogsuckers and one tiny one, two buffalo (not sure which species), quillbacks, many redhorses (of at least 2 species), several fairly large common carp, and innumerable minnows.

For more on robust redhorse see The Robust Redhorse Conservation Committee website (http://www.robustredhorse.com/) and download their 2 page fact sheet.

This video gives a very brief account of the efforts of the state of Georgia, Georgia Power and agencies of the US government to protect the robust redhorse (Moxostoma robustum) since its rediscovery in the 1980s (after over a century of assumed extinction).

The RRCC site has many good photos, tons of information and a very extensive list of publications about the robust redhorse, including many that can be downloaded as pdfs.

It is unfortunately rare to hear of an extinct species being rediscovered and then helped to survive. I hope the work will continue and the fish will survive both because of that work and in spite of the human propensity to do stupid, short-sighted things with unforeseen consequences. It would be the work of a few minutes in some back room to cancel funding for a project like this. After all, when times are tough and everybody wants something, who really cares about some fish no one has ever heard of and no one spends millions of dollars to fish for?

On the other hand, I’m surprised to find myself—against my better judgment—feeling optimistic. I think the robust redhorse has a chance to survive and maybe even thrive.

According to my records, I’ve hooked and landed almost 30 species this year, 9 of which are new additions to my lifelist (sauger, longnose gar, mooneye, silver carp, silver redhorse, yellow bullhead, bowfin, lake trout and warmouth). I also hooked and lost a shovelnose sturgeon that still haunts me (it would have been lifer #10).

During the roughfish.com June species contest I caught 27 species (more than doubling my previous best), including 8 lifers. Even better: my daughter (5 years old) caught 8 species and won the kids’ division of the contest, becoming addicted to fishing in the process.

It’s been a good year, despite an incredibly damaging drought, an unpleasant heat wave, and way too much to do. As the drought lifts and the weather and water cool, I hope to add a lot more fish to my log in 2012. Here are a few of what I’ve enjoyed so far. (Click on any picture and a viewer will pop up.)

]]> http://moxostoma.com/shorthead-golden-silver-and-more-2012/feed/ 6 http://moxostoma.com/racket-squad-anyone-can-be-a-sucker-tv-show/ http://moxostoma.com/racket-squad-anyone-can-be-a-sucker-tv-show/#comments Mon, 06 Aug 2012 18:06:02 +0000 Olaf http://moxostoma.com/?p=687 Continue reading →]]> Consider this a warning: ANYONE can be a sucker! That means you.

From the archive.org description: “A baffling case that has multiple double crosses including a small time crook squealing on his boss to save him from the gas chamber.” It’s here: http://www.archive.org/details/RacketSquadAnyoneCanBeASucker

Not very often.

In April I had one of those days when good planning led to an experience that exceeded the daydreams leading up to it.

Get just a little distance outside Chicago and northern Illinois has far more fish species than I used to give it credit for. One of the main ways I learned this was reading Uland Thomas’s reports—and seeing his photos—from sampling trips to this region’s rivers and creeks.

Uland hoped to find and photograph tuberculate male greater redhorse (M. valenciennesi) in a creek that shall remain nameless. They are listed as endangered in Illinois, and I have never caught or seen them. Because I had mentioned that I’d like to learn a bit about seining, he invited me along. What he didn’t know was that neither of the two experienced seiners he invited would be able to make it. I don’t know if he really thought two of us could do it, especially when one was a complete novice.

Our first locations was a fantastic combination of clear water, rocks, decent gradient and the complete lack of other people. In short order, despite my rookie mistakes, we had seined a variety of beautiful shiners, darters and other minnows. In every single case these were fish species I had never seen outside of books, so it was pretty exciting. Uland did a good job patiently identifying them for me and explaining what traits to look for, but the number of species and the speed at which they were coming made it impossible for me to retain much at all.

In slightly deeper water we picked up a few large buffalo (large by my standards, not Texas standards), a tubed up golden redhorse (M. erythrurum), a beautiful smallmouth bass, a healthy looking hornyhead chub, and probably a few bluegills.

While Uland set up his photo tanks and camera equipment, I fished to an actively feeding school of buffalo (species unknown) with bits of worm. Not one bite.Then I watched the incredibly well-planned and executed photography session and tried to help out when I could.

Later we moved to another location on the same creek but a mile or two upstream. The water was clouded and to be honest I didn’t have a lot of hope that we would find the greaters. We again found a very good variety of minnows, a gorgeous stoneroller (I forget which species, and we did not photograph it) covered in tubercles, a channel cat and probably some sunfish and bass. Then we waded into a pool that was slightly deeper and had big rocks on the bottom for enhanced tripping. A number of red-tailed fish shot into sight and I missed with my end of the seine.

A few moments later, however, we got something large in the net. It was golden and had a red tail. Into a large bucket it went, and we ran through the pool again. A second large, golden, red-tailed fish in the net. A quick look at the redhorse ID cheatsheet to make sure I wasn’t mis-remembering scale counts due to excessive hope confirmed that these were both tuberculate male greater redhorse! (Confirmed later by Robert Jenkins.) We carried them to a flat area where Uland could set up his mobile photo studio and got to work.

We finished the day with stops at another location on the same creek and a visit to my favorite creek about 20 miles away, but we didn’t photograph any more fish. It was a great day: I learned a lot, saw cool fish and discovered new locations for future fishing.

Greater Redhorse (Moxostoma valenciennesi) tuberculate male, 4/2012, IL (photo by Uland Thomas)

Another Greater Redhorse (Moxostoma valenciennesi) tuberculate male, 4/2012, IL (photo by Uland Thomas)

Greater redhorse mouth (photo enhanced)

M. valenciennesi (mouth), Creek, N. Illinois 4-21-2012 (photo O. Nelson)

M. valenciennesi, Creek, N. Illinois 4/2012 (caudal peduncle)

Tuberculate M. erythrurum (Golden Redhorse), 4-21-2012, N. Illinois (photo O. Nelson)

Tuberculate M. erythrurum (Golden Redhorse), 4-21-2012, N. Illinois (photo O. Nelson)

Tuberculate M. erythrurum (Golden Redhorse), 4-21-2012, N. Illinois

Buffalo head, 4/21/2012, northern Illinois

Buffalo, northern Illinois, 4/21/2012 (in the photo tank)

Stonecat, Northern Illinois Creek, 4-21-2012 (photo O. Nelson)

Smallmouth bass, Creek, N. Illinois 4/21/2012 (photo by Uland Thomas)

Just as impressive, if not as toothy, is the new junior world record smallmouth buffalo caught this spring by Austin Anderson. Not satisfied with regularly catching buffalo in the 30-40 pound range (as well as hefty carp and other species—see his spring 2012 synopsis here), Austin went out and got a 50 pound, 6 ounce fish from Lake Fork, TX, during the Lake Fork Carp and Buffalo Challenge in late February.

For more of Austin’s incredible catches, check out his blog: Pondbass.

Cool that David G’s longnose gar and Austin’s smallmouth buffalo have almost identical weights but such different ways of distributing it for maximum food-finding efficiency.

I may have to visit Texas soon.