But this year, two dipnets provided me with about 3 dozen welaka.
Not a bad bonus, but I still didn't have any flagfins. A similar
stream about a mile down the road (BG will remember it as the
notti spot) also disappointed me. Well, I really needed those
flagfins, so, even though it was not in my original itinerary, I drove
down to Angie (across the LA state line) to what we call the "trash"
creek. There being no animal carcasses of recent deposition, I
waded on in. Now, this spot has produced year after year, and I
knew I would not be disappointed. But I was skunked again! Not
one fish did I find. I was at least pleased to see that the golden
club (a really awesome emergent plant which reminds me of Hosta)
was growing quite well. I made an abortive attempt to uproot a
small specimen, and resolved to return another day with a shovel. I
REALLY want a couple of those plants!
Well, anyway, I was 0 for 3, and stopped at one spot just before
crossing back into MS, where I finally hit the jackpot. No adults,
but hordes of juvenile signipinnis and the attendant cherryfins
(Lythrurus roseipinnis, which seem to be found always with
Pteronotropis spp.).
Thus satisfied, I had one more stop to make - you guessed it,
Westville Creek. A couple of people had graciously offered to send
me some silverjaw minnows (Ericymba buccata), which I declined
as I had not really given any real effort to collecting them. Now, it
happened that I was looking for E. stygmaeum (for Klaus) this
time, but I was delighted to net 3 buccata (VERY COOL FISH!), as
well as a couple of Notropis longirostris (common in that drainage,
but an interesting minnow). The stygmaeum were showing more
color than last time, and I kept about a dozen, included two colorful
males. I also lucked upon a big-_at_ss logperch, and a blackside
darter. To top it all off I packed out three nice, solid pieces of
driftwood, suitable for a 20-30 gallon tank. Not a bad day at all. I
found everything I was looking for, and then some.
So, those of you who wanted fish, look for them next week. I'm
shipping Monday. And BG, I did see sheriff one-eye, but he didn't
bother me today :-)
Prost,
Martin
Jackson, MS
-----------------------------------------------------------
Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk,
my first instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if
I was an ant, and she fell on me. Then it wouldn't seem
quite so funny.
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