Steven Ellis (Kennesaw, Ga), John Patterson (Lillington, NC) and I (Chip 
Rinehart of West Columbia, SC) went out Saturday, June 15 with plans to do 
some fish collecting in the Edgefield, SC area. Our target fishes were 
Christmas Darters and Yellowfin Shiners. Our group had plans to meet at the 
Burger King in Edgefield, but, when we first arrived we found that the BK 
that was supposed to be there was 20 miles down the road. John and I parked 
at McDonalds, as this was on the main road entering and leaving town, to 
wait for any others that came by. Soon after we arrived, Steven Ellis came 
riding by but no amount of waving could distract him from his driving chore 
so, on by us he went. Jumping into the truck, off we went after him, 
finally catching up a short distance down the road as he was turning around. 
We went back to the McD's and ate breakfast, waited until 10:00am for others 
that might arrive, then headed on to our first site. 
Our first stop was at Beaverdam Creek at SSR 35. When first stopping at 
this spot, we got out and walked over to the bridge, looked down into the 
water and saw small fish swimming everywhere. We were all getting a little 
anxious to get down to the water. Little did we know things would only get 
better as the day went along. This site was a small creek that had very 
little flow. Mostly sandy bottom with some rocks scattered around. In the 
water on one side of the road there was a beaverdam so this creek was aptly 
named. The water depth was around knee to hip deep. Most fish were caught 
with our seines here. We found these fish: 
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Eastern Mosquitofish - Gambusia holbrooki 
Yellowfin Shiner - Notropis lutipinnis 
Bluehead Chub - Nocomis leptocephalus 
Tessellated Darter - Etheostoma olmstedi 
Redbreast Sunfish - Lepomis auritus 
Pirate Perch - Aphrododerus sayanus 
We left this spot and headed on to the next spot. This was on Beaverdam 
Creek at SSR 51. At this area, a few miles downstream of the first spot, we 
could again see many fish swimming in the water. The water was much 
shallower here, rarely getting to knee deep, with a better flow than the 
last. We seined a little here and got some Yellowfin, Dusky and Coastal 
shiners but the many rocks here made it difficult. We decided it was dipnet 
time. We started kicking upstream of our nets, letting the current push 
anything into our nets and started getting darters and madtoms. In the 
pools we could see chub nests with shiners all around them. Lots of shale 
was here and we took some back with us as well. In this location we got the 
following 16 species: 
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Whitefin Shiner - Cyprinella nivea 
Yellowfin Shiner - Notropis lutipinnis 
Dusky Shiner - Notropis cummingsae 
Coastal Shiner - Notropis petersoni 
Bluehead Chub - Nocomis leptocephalus 
Christmas Darter - Etheostoma hopkinsi 
Tessellated Darter - Etheostoma olmstedi 
Redbreast Sunfish - Lepomis auritus 
Redear Sunfish - Lepomis microlophus 
Bluegill - Lepomis macrochirus 
Pumpkinseed - Lepomis gibbosus 
Largemouth Bass - Micropterus salmoides 
Redeye Bass - Micropterus coosae 
Pirate Perch - Aphrododerus sayanus 
Margined Madtom - Noturus insignis 
Channel Catfish - Ictalurus punctatus (juv.)
We rode back into Edgefield and ate a late lunch at a local country diner 
on SC 25. Great food, especially the peanut butter pie for dessert. 
Heading on to our last collection site, we made our made our stop at Stevens 
Creek on SC 23. This was a larger stream than either of the last two 
creeks. More water flow along with sandy and rocky areas made this a great 
place to dipnet and seine. There were many small fish swimming around as 
well as an ample supply of leeches. Very little vegetation was found in the 
water here but there were some really nice rock formations crossing the 
stream at a slight angle. This was a good place for snorkeling and Steven 
jumped right in. This was very fitting, seeing that the name of the stream 
was Stevens Creek! Steven saw a Hog sucker, Stoneroller, and a Redhorse and 
many other fish while snorkeling. The fish that we caught here are: 
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Whitefin Shiner - Cyprinella nivea 
Yellowfin Shiner - Notropis lutipinnis 
Sandbar Shiner - Notropis scepticus 
Spottail Shiner - Notropis hudsonius 
Bluehead Chub - Nocomis leptocephalus 
Christmas Darter - Etheostoma hopkinsi 
Tessellated Darter - Etheostoma olmstedi 
Blackbanded Darter - Percina nigrofasciata 
Flat Bullhead - Ameirus platycephalus 
Largemouth Bass - Micropterus salmoides 
Bluegill - Lepomis macrochirus 
Pirate Perch - Aphrododerus sayanus 
Eastern Mosquitofish - Gambusia holbrooki 
By now it was getting late, after 6:00pm, and Steven and John both had 
pretty long drives ahead of them, so we started loading up for our rides 
home. We all agreed we should come back to these spots again. 
Special thanks to Fritz Rohde for providing information and possible areas 
where we might find our targeted fish. 
Chip Rinehart 
West Columbia, SC