The Official North American Native Fish Collecting Thread

[divemaster99]

At the advice of divemaster99 I took a trip up to Geneva Marsh in PA, to search for my all time favorite fish, pickerel- of which I had NO idea we had any native populations. Turns out the marsh is loaded with grass pickerel which is awesome because now I don't have to rely on buying online for 20 bucks a shot haha. My first trip, despite the fact that I have the biggest damn phobia of walking in swampland and marshes (you got no idea whats comin' at you from under all the lillies and water grass!) I caught 2 at keepable (is that a word? I doubt it) size, one at 2.5" and the other at around 6". Pics to come after work!

Can't wait to see the fish! I've got to remember my seine next weekend, I need some ore mudminnows and I've got an empty 10 I could use for little pickerel . I was the same way getting in that place, especially if you walk to far to the left of the launch and the substrate is 12" of silt and decaying plants that spits up methane gas and odd looking bugs when you step in it lol.

 

[predatorkeeper87]

Can't wait to see the fish! I've got to remember my seine next weekend, I need some ore mudminnows and I've got an empty 10 I could use for little pickerel . I was the same way getting in that place, especially if you walk to far to the left of the launch and the substrate is 12" of silt and decaying plants that spits up methane gas and odd looking bugs when you step in it lol.

yup that was a big ride to nopeville for me haha, I stayed literally hugging the concrete launch hahaha. the furthest I went was to the right of the guardrail on the right side haha. I didn't even see any mudminnows!!! I caught a million fish fry that I couldn't even begin to tell you the species, I assume a minnow or shiner of some type but they were only about 1/2" long. By the way I tried fishing the dam too but there were to many people on the bottom side, and the top side has literally no fish from what I found lol.

 

[divemaster99]

yup that was a big ride to nopeville for me haha, I stayed literally hugging the concrete launch hahaha. the furthest I went was to the right of the guardrail on the right side haha. I didn't even see any mudminnows!!! I caught a million fish fry that I couldn't even begin to tell you the species, I assume a minnow or shiner of some type but they were only about 1/2" long. By the way I tried fishing the dam too but there were to many people on the bottom side, and the top side has literally no fish from what I found lol.

Yeah the launch is probably the safest area to collect, I prefer not to sink in a foot of soft substrate where the top of the water is literally 100% duckweed. I'd like to bring up some sort of shiner from there but I haven't found any species yet, if I do I'll probably make a biotope tank for the marsh since adults mudminnows and pickerel probably shouldn't be kept together. I never expected the dam to be that crowded the first time I fished there either, guess more people like Bowfin fishing than I thought.

 

[predatorkeeper87]

Yeah the launch is probably the safest area to collect, I prefer not to sink in a foot of soft substrate where the top of the water is literally 100% duckweed. I'd like to bring up some sort of shiner from there but I haven't found any species yet, if I do I'll probably make a biotope tank for the marsh since adults mudminnows and pickerel probably shouldn't be kept together. I never expected the dam to be that crowded the first time I fished there either, guess more people like Bowfin fishing than I thought.

They must haha, did you use live bait for that bowfin you caught?

Where did you find mudminnows at in there? I may need to man up and go further into the cattails and lilies haha

P.S. when you gather watch for the snakes in there lol, I had to push 3-4 of them away with my dipnet, they had zero fear of me lol. They were just water snakes but I have no idea what other species we have up that far north lol.

 

[divemaster99]

They must haha, did you use live bait for that bowfin you caught?

Where did you find mudminnows at in there? I may need to man up and go further into the cattails and lilies haha

P.S. when you gather watch for the snakes in there lol, I had to push 3-4 of them away with my dipnet, they had zero fear of me lol. They were just water snakes but I have no idea what other species we have up that far north lol.

I caught my Bowfin on a big nightcrawler on a bottom rig with lots of weight. Although after fishing there twice I've noticed that they feed heavily on insects at the surface and jump out of the water a lot so I'll probably bring my five weight fly rod with some big dry flies next time.

Weird you couldn't find any Mudminnows. The first time I collected there we couldn't make one sweep without producing a half dozen of them or more. We were also collecting them everywhere including the boat ramp.

 

[fishmastermike]

Went fishing today and caught the perfect size yellow perch for my tank. Only problem was I didn't have a bucket to bring him home in. Maybe next time

 

[Anthony Nolet]

Went fishing today and caught the perfect size yellow perch for my tank. Only problem was I didn't have a bucket to bring him home in. Maybe next time

I never go out to the river without a container lol. But I hope to go get some perch or some pumpkinseeds this week too

 

[divemaster99]

Went fishing today and caught the perfect size yellow perch for my tank. Only problem was I didn't have a bucket to bring him home in. Maybe next time

Always make sure I have a water bottle on the creek if I see a nice Darter or Shiner

 

[fishmastermike]

I always have a bucket and my bushel in there just in case I decide to crab a little and I ended up using the bucket for crabs and forgetting to put it back in the car. Still had the bushel tho lol

 

[fishmastermike]

Went out collecting today and found a small container in my trunk. It actually hurt when I saw it crammed in a corner. I could have had my perch :'(