Central Illinois micros

[BenCantrell]

Yesterday I visited my parents near Chillicothe, IL and sampled the creek that I grew up playing in.  I was a little worried the orangethroat darters would be past their prime, but they were still fired up and doing territorial things.  I wanted a better photo for my lifelist album, so I caught a few on hook & line first.  Definitely a huge improvement over what I had before!  Second photo is a female (they're boring).





For the remainder of the time I used a dip net.  I'm pretty good at microfishing, but the net is a lot faster, haha.  The number of orangethroat darters in every sweep was impressive.



Western blacknose dace were abundant in the deeper pools, and the males were colored up.





Also abundant were central stonerollers.  Creek chubs were less common, and they were usually tucked up in roots and overhanging vegetation.





In years past, southern redbelly dace have been one of the most common species.  However, on this visit they were nearly impossible to find.  I only caught one, a female.  I looked hard but couldn't find a male for the life of me.



One of the last fish I caught really blew me away.  I present to you the BLUEST orangethroat darter I've ever seen.  Even the tail is blue!



For comparison here is another colored up orangethroat.  This is what I'm used to seeing.



Here are a few bonus scenery and non-fish shots.

[Pinoyfisher]

Those are some purty fish! Love the frog pic. What kind is it?

[BenCantrell]

I gave the task of IDing the frog to my 4 year old nephew, because he has a Peterson's guide.  He came up with "green frog".

[Latimeria]

Looks​ like the Christmas Darters I used to catch. Super cool!

My inner ichthyologist loves this.

[BenCantrell]

I'm just glad the first response wasn't "LOOKS LIKE BAIT".

[BenCantrell]

Went out again on Easter, this time to the creek that my parents' creek flows into.  The species lineup becomes larger with the creek being bigger and closer to the Illinois River.



Smallmouth bass


Green sunfish


Central stoneroller


Sand shiner


Blackstripe topminnow


Southern redbelly dace


Bluntnose minnow


Orangethroat darter male


Orangethroat darter female


Green frog tadpole


I also poked around in some flooded backwaters, but no fish were to be found.



However, there were PLENTY of mosquito larvae.

[Latimeria]

Let me be the first to say it... you are better than KenT in 2 ways.

1) I'm sure you catch more than him.

2) You're NOT Canadian.  LOL

[BenCantrell]

One of those two things is true!