Temperature is a relative thing when you are collecting. Most of the time water around this area has at least some springs feeding it and is therefore colder than expected. This is great if it is a hot day outside. Sometimes the water in the streams is cold enough to make your ankles ache. Usually you don't notice though because you are having too much fun. Not all collecting water is cold or even cool though. I once collected some shiners from a stream in Texas that was hot enough to make my ankles burn. It was at least as hot as bath water.
Because of the temperature issue some people like to wear boots when they collect. Boots are ok if you like to carry around several gallons of water. If you want to keep dry, you better get waders. I prefer to wear 'water socks'. You can find water socks at your local Wal-Mart. They come in all kinds of great colors and are usually pretty cheap. When you buy them, buy them one or two sizes too small. This will help keep them on your feet when you are collecting. I usually go through one pair of these per season.
Until Next Time,
Kevin
Collecting Basics
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etheonut
There are several steps required to get a fish from a local stream into your home aquarium. One of these steps invariably requires a container of some sort to put in the car. I guess a person could put their 30 gallon aquarium in the back seat and be ready to go, but that just isn't easy. I am speaking from experience in that one, unfortunately 
. Thankfully the fishing industry has provided us with many gadgets to assist us in this step. Some of them are expensive and some are impractical, but they do exist and a quick trip to the local bait stor, Bass Pro outlet, Wal-Mart or the back shed can get you equipped.
A 5 gallon bucket works fine for most people. Most people find having a lid for the 5 gallon bucket to be very handy. Fish like to jump out of buckets and water sloshes out in a car, so find a cover for it. Don't forget to put a few holes in the cover so the fish don't sufficate. Also, be smart with your fish. Don't try to shove 20 stressed fish into a 5 gallon bucket. I have seen too many 5 gallon buckets full of dead fish. Don't worry though, we will talk later about how many fish to catch and bring home.
There are many variations on the bucket theme if you want to spend a little extra money. My personal favority comes with an air pump built into the base. When it is turned on a stream of air is pumped up from the bottom of the bucket. This allows the bucket to be sealed and also circulates the water quite well. I have kept fish alive in mine for several days at a time. One caution though, make sure your partner knows that the bucket can not be set down in the water. Those pumps are sturdy, but they don't like getting wet. I also own a collapsable bucket. It works fairly well, but it also has a clear plastic lid. On a sunny day it works as a very efficient solar oven
. Unless you are wanting baked fish, I would avoid this one.
So, the moral of this story is, there is no perfect collecting tool for getting fish from the stream to the home. There are a lot of options. If you find something you think might work ask here before you buy it. Chances are I have tested it or seen someone else test it.
Kevin
. Thankfully the fishing industry has provided us with many gadgets to assist us in this step. Some of them are expensive and some are impractical, but they do exist and a quick trip to the local bait stor, Bass Pro outlet, Wal-Mart or the back shed can get you equipped.A 5 gallon bucket works fine for most people. Most people find having a lid for the 5 gallon bucket to be very handy. Fish like to jump out of buckets and water sloshes out in a car, so find a cover for it. Don't forget to put a few holes in the cover so the fish don't sufficate. Also, be smart with your fish. Don't try to shove 20 stressed fish into a 5 gallon bucket. I have seen too many 5 gallon buckets full of dead fish. Don't worry though, we will talk later about how many fish to catch and bring home.
There are many variations on the bucket theme if you want to spend a little extra money. My personal favority comes with an air pump built into the base. When it is turned on a stream of air is pumped up from the bottom of the bucket. This allows the bucket to be sealed and also circulates the water quite well. I have kept fish alive in mine for several days at a time. One caution though, make sure your partner knows that the bucket can not be set down in the water. Those pumps are sturdy, but they don't like getting wet. I also own a collapsable bucket. It works fairly well, but it also has a clear plastic lid. On a sunny day it works as a very efficient solar oven
. Unless you are wanting baked fish, I would avoid this one.So, the moral of this story is, there is no perfect collecting tool for getting fish from the stream to the home. There are a lot of options. If you find something you think might work ask here before you buy it. Chances are I have tested it or seen someone else test it.
Kevin
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pinkrblu
- Posts: 1380
- Joined: Sun Mar 18, 2007 12:23 pm
- Location: Pierce City, MO
- Contact:
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etheonut
I often refer to what I do as 'collecting', but it isn't very often that I define what I mean. Collecting implies bringing things home or storing things in shoe boxes because they may be worth something in a few years. At least when I say it, that is what it means to me. I guess I need to find a new word to use to describe what I do then, because my definition sure doesn't fit what I do.
So, what do I do? Usually if I am out in a stream with a net, I am looking for something. Sometimes I don't what that is until I find it. For instance I have been known to go out in the cold waters of the spring and just start turning over rocks with my dipnet downstream. I am looking for darters in breeding color. I usually don't realize that until I scoop up my first one. It has almost become a spring ritual, and one I have not completed this year. Honestly though, you don't need a net to enjoy 'collecting'. Most of what you see in a stream you aren't going to take home, at least not physically. What you collect when you are in a stream are memories and impressions. I can still vividly remember a stippled darter that Michael caught in a stream around Branson. It was gorgeous, probably one of the best looking stippled I have ever seen. I can also remember very vividly the 4'+ alligator gar that we pulled out of a little creek in Texas. It wasn't particularly pretty, but man is it ever a memory. My first breeding male cardinal shiner will always be with me. The memories go on forever.
That leads me to another discussion about what to bring when you collect. One of my new favorite things to do while collecting is to snorkel. I say it is a new favorite. I have been snorkeling the local streams since 1995 so I am not new to snorkeling, but it has sure grown into one of my favorites. Here are a few hints if you want to try it out. Buy your snorkel and mask in the spring before you would even consider snorkeling in your local creek. There won't be any in the store when you go to buy one in July. Find a few people to go with you your first time. Like most things, it is more fun to snorkel if you are with friends. Feel free to ask me. I can usually make time to snorkel. Don't forget to snorkel the shallow riffles. It is very easy to sit in a riffle for 20 minutes and watch a crawdad work. Be safe while you snorkel. If you really want to investigate those fallen trees, thats fine, but make sure someone knows where you are going and is watching. There are currents that will surprise you sometimes. Also, I like to use scuba flippers when I snorkel. It makes it a whole easier to swim back upstream or to stay in place to watch a fish. Yes, a small mouth bass will sit there and stare at you as long as you can hold your breath. It is an amazing sight.
Until Next Time,
Kevin
So, what do I do? Usually if I am out in a stream with a net, I am looking for something. Sometimes I don't what that is until I find it. For instance I have been known to go out in the cold waters of the spring and just start turning over rocks with my dipnet downstream. I am looking for darters in breeding color. I usually don't realize that until I scoop up my first one. It has almost become a spring ritual, and one I have not completed this year. Honestly though, you don't need a net to enjoy 'collecting'. Most of what you see in a stream you aren't going to take home, at least not physically. What you collect when you are in a stream are memories and impressions. I can still vividly remember a stippled darter that Michael caught in a stream around Branson. It was gorgeous, probably one of the best looking stippled I have ever seen. I can also remember very vividly the 4'+ alligator gar that we pulled out of a little creek in Texas. It wasn't particularly pretty, but man is it ever a memory. My first breeding male cardinal shiner will always be with me. The memories go on forever.
That leads me to another discussion about what to bring when you collect. One of my new favorite things to do while collecting is to snorkel. I say it is a new favorite. I have been snorkeling the local streams since 1995 so I am not new to snorkeling, but it has sure grown into one of my favorites. Here are a few hints if you want to try it out. Buy your snorkel and mask in the spring before you would even consider snorkeling in your local creek. There won't be any in the store when you go to buy one in July. Find a few people to go with you your first time. Like most things, it is more fun to snorkel if you are with friends. Feel free to ask me. I can usually make time to snorkel. Don't forget to snorkel the shallow riffles. It is very easy to sit in a riffle for 20 minutes and watch a crawdad work. Be safe while you snorkel. If you really want to investigate those fallen trees, thats fine, but make sure someone knows where you are going and is watching. There are currents that will surprise you sometimes. Also, I like to use scuba flippers when I snorkel. It makes it a whole easier to swim back upstream or to stay in place to watch a fish. Yes, a small mouth bass will sit there and stare at you as long as you can hold your breath. It is an amazing sight.
Until Next Time,
Kevin
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pinkrblu
- Posts: 1380
- Joined: Sun Mar 18, 2007 12:23 pm
- Location: Pierce City, MO
- Contact:
-
etheonut
In the winter months (Dec, Jan, Feb) many of our springs could be considered hot springs. The water temperature coming out of them (~60 F) is well above the ambient temperate (~30 F). I haven't tried this particular approach myself yet. I usually rely on the cool water of the spring to cool me off in the summer rather than warm me up in the winter.
Kevin
Kevin
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etheonut
When you go to a pet store to buy fish it is usually pretty obvious how many cory cats the store has to sell, but when you are wading in an Ozark stream you generally have no idea how many Ozark madtoms are available. This can be a real problem for novice collectors and experienced collectors both.
It is hard to decide when to stop putting fish in a bucket to take home to grace the fish room. There are many things that need to be considered when you are trying to decide how many to take home. First of all, how many do you have room for at home? Some natives are voracious predators. I once heard about a collector who lost many fish to a pirate perch that he mixed with fish that would fit in his mouth. Also, many fish require fairly specific water conditions from temperature to flow. If you don't have a tank ready for these fish, don't collect any. How many fish do you have room to transport? I have seen this too many times, a five gallon bucket with fifty dead fish in the bottom. Fish collected from the wild need much much more space than a fish from pet store. Being collected from the wild causes a lot of stress so make sure as you put fish in your collecting bucket that you don't get it too full. Which would you rather have 50 dead darters in a bucket or 5 live ones? Another question to consider is, can you feed the fish you are collecting? I have two words for you, live food. Finally, and definitely an important question, can the habitat handle the number of fish you are removing? Sometimes when you have searched for a species of fish for two years it is hard to stop collecting it when you find it. Or maybe those rainbow darters are in breeding color and you simple can't get enough of them. It is important to remember that there are only so many fish in the stream. My own rule of thumb is to only take 6 of any particular fish species. If you have dreams of breeding fish this should be plenty for most species, and if you just want to show them off to friends in your show tank this is a good number for a school. Keep in mind if you with a group of 20 other people and each of you takes 6 slender madtoms from the stream that is 120 fish. I doubt you can even find 120 slender madtoms in a section of any particular stream. Collecting can be a very efficient way to remove fish from a stream. It is very important as a collector that we never take more fish from a stream than it can replace in a years time.
I apologize if this sounds a little preachy, but I have seen a lot of fish die for the greed of the collector. I am guilty of it as is every collector I have ever worked with . It is easy to forget this simple thing.
The next installment: How to find fish, or The Many Uses of Dynamite
It is hard to decide when to stop putting fish in a bucket to take home to grace the fish room. There are many things that need to be considered when you are trying to decide how many to take home. First of all, how many do you have room for at home? Some natives are voracious predators. I once heard about a collector who lost many fish to a pirate perch that he mixed with fish that would fit in his mouth. Also, many fish require fairly specific water conditions from temperature to flow. If you don't have a tank ready for these fish, don't collect any. How many fish do you have room to transport? I have seen this too many times, a five gallon bucket with fifty dead fish in the bottom. Fish collected from the wild need much much more space than a fish from pet store. Being collected from the wild causes a lot of stress so make sure as you put fish in your collecting bucket that you don't get it too full. Which would you rather have 50 dead darters in a bucket or 5 live ones? Another question to consider is, can you feed the fish you are collecting? I have two words for you, live food. Finally, and definitely an important question, can the habitat handle the number of fish you are removing? Sometimes when you have searched for a species of fish for two years it is hard to stop collecting it when you find it. Or maybe those rainbow darters are in breeding color and you simple can't get enough of them. It is important to remember that there are only so many fish in the stream. My own rule of thumb is to only take 6 of any particular fish species. If you have dreams of breeding fish this should be plenty for most species, and if you just want to show them off to friends in your show tank this is a good number for a school. Keep in mind if you with a group of 20 other people and each of you takes 6 slender madtoms from the stream that is 120 fish. I doubt you can even find 120 slender madtoms in a section of any particular stream. Collecting can be a very efficient way to remove fish from a stream. It is very important as a collector that we never take more fish from a stream than it can replace in a years time.
I apologize if this sounds a little preachy, but I have seen a lot of fish die for the greed of the collector. I am guilty of it as is every collector I have ever worked with
. It is easy to forget this simple thing.The next installment: How to find fish, or The Many Uses of Dynamite
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Sundance
- Posts: 594
- Joined: Sat Mar 24, 2007 8:13 pm
- Location: Bella Vista
- Contact:
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etheonut
So, I promised, "How to Find Fish, or The Many Uses of Dynamite"
Finding fish in the wild is always a great challenge. It can easily be the hardest part of any collecting trip. Michael and I have driven many hours to find a particular fish and come back empty handed on more than one occassion. It took us three years to find some species that we were searching for. It wasn't a total waste though, Michael and I both added many species to our list of fishes just in the process of searching. I also got to add a few snakes to my list
The proper attitude is a great place to start when you start looking for that special fish. I would say that the proper attitude is, "I am going to have fun whether I find this #$$%#$# little @#$%$% or not." Some people might disagree with me on the finer points of my philosophy. The general concensus though is that you have to go out realizing that you may not find that special fish, but you will have fun looking for it. You will probably get frustrated in your searches. You may even yell at your collecting partner until he starts crying uncontrollably (sorry about that Michael).
Once you have the right frame of mind then you need to do things that will improve your chances. I recommend reading books and searching the internet. Most fish species have been collected by someone else at some point in time. If you can find out where they collected them at then a good place to start is to go there. If you can't do that, then learn what the habitat was like where they were collected and find similar places that you can get to. It helps if you are looking in a body of water that has that species present in it. No matter how hard I look, I can't seem to find Red River Pupfish outside of the Red River drainage, you know what I mean? Many books will include a map with dots representing where the fish have been found historically. Keep in mind that those dots are just reference points and the also that the fish move. Books and the internet will get you in the right general area though.
Then you have to learn where to look for the fish in the stream. This can be tricky. Fishes of Missouri used to state that checkered madtoms were most usually found in slow backwater areas of Ozark streams where debris had accumulated. I personally have never found a checkered madtom in habitat that even remotely resembles that, and believe me, I have looked. Until you start catching the fish, keep in mind that the books and internet sites are just a suggestion.
Finally, you need to figure out when to look for the fish. Some fish are much easier to catch at night. Most fish are easier to catch on an over cast day. All fish are easier to catch if someone else is telling the story.
Someone remind me later, and I will go over the finer points of Night Collecting. Until then though, the next installment will be, "A Fish in the Net is Worth a Thousand Words."
Kevin
Finding fish in the wild is always a great challenge. It can easily be the hardest part of any collecting trip. Michael and I have driven many hours to find a particular fish and come back empty handed on more than one occassion. It took us three years to find some species that we were searching for. It wasn't a total waste though, Michael and I both added many species to our list of fishes just in the process of searching. I also got to add a few snakes to my list
The proper attitude is a great place to start when you start looking for that special fish. I would say that the proper attitude is, "I am going to have fun whether I find this #$$%#$# little @#$%$% or not." Some people might disagree with me on the finer points of my philosophy. The general concensus though is that you have to go out realizing that you may not find that special fish, but you will have fun looking for it. You will probably get frustrated in your searches. You may even yell at your collecting partner until he starts crying uncontrollably (sorry about that Michael).
Once you have the right frame of mind then you need to do things that will improve your chances. I recommend reading books and searching the internet. Most fish species have been collected by someone else at some point in time. If you can find out where they collected them at then a good place to start is to go there. If you can't do that, then learn what the habitat was like where they were collected and find similar places that you can get to. It helps if you are looking in a body of water that has that species present in it. No matter how hard I look, I can't seem to find Red River Pupfish outside of the Red River drainage, you know what I mean? Many books will include a map with dots representing where the fish have been found historically. Keep in mind that those dots are just reference points and the also that the fish move. Books and the internet will get you in the right general area though.
Then you have to learn where to look for the fish in the stream. This can be tricky. Fishes of Missouri used to state that checkered madtoms were most usually found in slow backwater areas of Ozark streams where debris had accumulated. I personally have never found a checkered madtom in habitat that even remotely resembles that, and believe me, I have looked. Until you start catching the fish, keep in mind that the books and internet sites are just a suggestion.
Finally, you need to figure out when to look for the fish. Some fish are much easier to catch at night. Most fish are easier to catch on an over cast day. All fish are easier to catch if someone else is telling the story.
Someone remind me later, and I will go over the finer points of Night Collecting. Until then though, the next installment will be, "A Fish in the Net is Worth a Thousand Words."
Kevin