After the flood

Now our point might harbor the ultimate secret spot.  Along comes a huge event, that 100 year flood. The whole river is in a raging flood many times higher than normal floods. And the raging river knocks the end off our point. The very biggest material that isn't completely swept away is now directly downstream from the new tip of the point. So you now have a deep instead of gradual slope off the end of the point. This creates a really strong seam downstream sometimes for thirty or forty yards. And for extra good measure all kinds of really big rocks under the seam for bass to stage under and ambush stuff. (C thru D) Hole run seam point and cover rocks all together. The key is to recognize a point that doesn't seem to taper off correctly and to realize you need to fish straight downstream of the tip of the point.  Just upstream of the bar (A)  is now deeper with flow a great spot to find a big saugeye or channel cat. Now strong current flows off the end of our shortened point and a seam might set up all the way from A to D. If this seam is anywhere near a deeper wintering hole for smallmouth it might just be the best spot in the entire rivers length to catch a trophy every fall. The flood event which  knocked the end off the point has probably deepened the hole (D) even more than usual if any wood cover is present in the hole you can be sure a trophy flathead has set up housekeeping there for the summer also. Points and bars thrown out into the river by tributaries are also candidates to have this same situation occur. No matter how they are caused any seem that has a line of big boulders strung along it's length is the destination spot on any river that has one.

Lateral Sort and Point Bars

This illustration shows a point bar on the inside of a bend in a typical stream. This constriction in the rivers channel makes the current speed up as it goes around the point. As you know a spot close to the center of a wheel is turning slower than a spot on the rim of a wheel. The water curving around the point also has to do the same so the faster swifter water on the outside of the bend digs out the bottom and far bank creating a hole off the end of the point. As the hole is eroded over time there is more pressure by the faster water on the outside side of any material dislodged. Also often a secondary current right on the bottom is often set up. These result in dislodged objects being moved slightly towards the point every time they are moved by high waters. In multiple high water events the bigger material is moved closer to the point while smaller material is swept away. Over the course of many many years this can sometimes result in a lateral sort of the rocky material off the point. With the biggest stuff that has stayed on the point after repeated events being right at the tip of the point and steadily smaller and smaller stuff laid down in strips as you go farther from the point. What's this got to do with fishing? Well crayfish and darters love rocks. Stuff the size of a grapefruit especially. So somewhere along the width of our point and pool of sorted rocks is a strip of bottom that is ideally suited for them creating a mini city of smallie food. (B in our diagram) While the outside side of the hole might be swept bare of bigger rocks and is just a layer of fine gravel deposited between big events. In other words NOT crayfish and darter cover. (C)  Now sometimes shiners will use this fast water pouring over bare gravel too so you do need to throw a cast or two there too.
But what happens is a guy comes along fishing beaches his yak or canoe and walks out to the end of the point. He then makes a nice average cast to the center of the hole and fishes his lure downstream thru the hole. He reels in repeats and does this a dozen times. If he doesn't catch a fish he moves on. Well he cast over top of the sweet spot and his lure was barely in in it. Sometimes we are reeling in and catch a fish seemingly right at our feet. When this happens make sure its not a lateral sort situation. Cover the holes off the ends of points laterally with each cast following a different path that the previous. Right along the steepest banks in bend pools if there is any cover is the ideal habitat for a shovelhead to make his home. (D) Below the bar (A), if the bottom is hard enough can be spawning habitat as well as a place for fish to move up shallow at night and feed.

Some shiny lil fishes

For a complete list of all fish species in the Great and Little Miami as well as the Whitewater check out this link

 http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CD4QFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Foh.water.usgs.gov%2Freports%2Ffishspecies5.pdf&ei=4Hy8VMfvBMSzggTKvISgDQ&usg=AFQjCNHaOqaX2i4xZCMotjgPvLKM83GzNQ&sig2=KfsKpRzWdz58FvGirrQRlA

Here are some highlites of some of my favorites:



Emerald Shiner

The emerald shiner, like most shiners, is laterally compressed, which means they are taller than they are wide. Their sides are a shiny silver color and can also have an emerald green hue. I like to use crystal flash when tying jigs or flies to imitate shiners because of their metallic shiney sheen. Emerald shiners are broadcast spawners which is a fancy way to say they are lousy parents and just spray out eggs willy nilly and give no care to their young. Pool dwellers, they are usually found in open water and stay near the surface.  They feed on zooplankton, insect larvae, and small flying insects such as midges.

Spotfin Shiner

Spotfin shiners are one of the two most common minnow species (second only to the bluntnose minnow) found in Ohio. They are solid silver, sometimes with a bluish cast. Spotfins also have, you guessed it, one or two elongated spots on their dorsal fins. Able to thrive in reservoirs, spotfins often inhabit the pools of our streams. They tend to eat a variety of aquatic invertebrates. These guys  spawn in crevices between rocks or in bark on limbs of submerged fallen trees.

 

 

 

Chubs


Chubs are one of the most common fish in most streams. They are even abundant in  very small trickles where they are often the top predator. They feed on a wide variety of aquatic and terrestrial insect larvae and other invertebrates. Large chubs will even eat small crayfish and fish. Chubs can even be caught on a little piece of worm under a tiny float and many caught this way end up as shovelhead bait. Catching a chub or two is also a byproduct of any trip spent fishing small flies on the fly rod.

Central Stoneroller

One of the most common fish in the smallmouth streams of the Midwest is the central stoneroller. I like to think of central stonerollers as solar batteries for smallmouth. You see central stonerollers are the champions of algae eaters and  may consume up to 27 percent of their body weight in algae per day. The algae thru the miracle of photosynthesis converts sunlight into energy. The algae in turn is eaten by stonerollers and then eaten by smallmouth bass. Nice direct line, simple is always better right? Well, except that according to Wikipedia there are over 72,500 algal species worldwide in most recent estimates and maybe more than a 1000 in a single river like the Little Miami. But that's a topic for another day, back to central stonerollers. Central stonerollers have a lower jaw with a flat, shelflike extension used to scrape algae from rocks. Omnivores, central stonerollers eat detritus, animal matter, and terrestrial vegetation besides the algae that makes u almost half of their diet. Adults range in length from 3 to 5 inches, but they can reach 7 inches. Males are generally larger than females.
 It takes one to four years for central stonerollers to reach maturity. Breeding males begin building nests in late winter and continue throughout midsummer, creating large, bowl-shaped depressions   just upstream or downstream of riffles by rolling stones along the bottom with their noses . Which is where they get the name stonerollers. The males aggressively defend their nests against rival males. Spawning occurs in early spring and summer. Females remain in deeper water outside the nesting site, entering only briefly to produce up to 4800 eggs in a nest. The male fertilizes the eggs, causing them to stick to the gravel of the nest, preventing them from being carried away by the currents.
When it comes to their appearance, it seems every source I find uses the word stout to describe them so I'll go with that that. Stout brownish minnows with breeding males that have some orange and black on their fins, large pointed tubercles (horn like bumps) on their head, and reddish orange eyes.
That's a pretty wild description and also accurate.

A little bit about Darters

With winter upon us, I'm trying to bone up a bit on the complicated food chain in our rivers. Today a bit on darters...
Darters are among the most ecologically important  fishes found in found in the  streams of the midwest. In many sections of stream up to a third of all fish species will be some kind of darter. But most fishermen that wade and fish these same streams know little or nothing about them.
Darters are also an important piece of that big puzzle we are always trying to put together when we are out on the water. So here is a mini primer on these cool little fish.
Each species of darter has evolved to occupy a specific slot or niche in the food chain. That is why there are often several species in the same section of riffle. Some may occupy bigger rocks and rubble than others. Some species may live in more current or shallower or deeper water than other species. In my favorite river, the Little Miami, there are a dozen species alone.  Darters prey on insects and crustaceans, and in turn are preyed on by species such as smallmouth bass and saugeye. Darters are an indispensable  link in the food chain. The presence of darters in a stream reflects good water quality and diversity of healthy habitats.
A darter is built to maneuver in, around and under rocks and gives it an advantage as a bottom forager. Fast swift riffles provide protection for darters because few predators can live there and must move in and out even if they do forage there. In nature, it is usually true that "form follows function."  Many darters do not even possess a swim bladder. This lack of buoyancy allows them to stay near the bottom in swift currents. Many bottom-dwelling darters possess flattened, downward-sloping heads. This feature lets them take advantage of water flowing to help plane or push down on the fish's head, thereby helping the fish to remain near the bottom. Some darter species that live at mid-water depths do possess a swim bladder to help them remain suspended in the water column.
Darters are small. However, there is considerable variation in length among the species found in  our rivers, anywhere from an inch or so up to six inches long.
What darters eat varies with the lifestage of the fish. Juvenile darters chomp on small crustaceans such as water fleas, plankton and zooplankton . Adults prefer midge larvae, blackfly larvae, mayflies  and caddisflies. Larger darters species  may also eat amphipods freshwater shrimp, isopods sowbugs and crayfish. Darters do not compete with most minnow species because the minnows often occupy the upper levels of the water column. Food availability and water velocity help to determine the activity levels of darters' foraging. For example, in pools or areas of slower current, darters range farther to procure food. Similarly, when flow rates are high, travel is reduced. The presence of large crayfish which will prey on darters as well as predatory fish such as smallmouth bass will affect how much darters move also. It turns out that in nature crayfish, while smallmouth prey themselves, benefited from darters being forced to hide underneath the rocks to avoid smallmouth predation. While at the same time the crayfish crawling around hunting in the rocks evicted the darters which made them become more active and available for smallmouth to prey upon. At the same time big darters will eat small crayfish, It is, as the saying goes a fish eat fish world down there.

Photos are from the great ODNR Species Guide Index, a great source on information on all wildlife.