For a variety of reasons(mostly my being out of commission for 10 weeks) my native tank was having issues.  I've gotten things back under control, so it was time to restock the tank!  So Susan(schambers) and I went a'gathering today!  I haven't been out fishin' in a LOOONG time, and I missed it, and I miss haning out with Susan, so this was fun on a couple of levels.

We started out on the Maumee, and one of the first things we caught was a beautiful, large, flat rock. WOO HOO!  Go us!   It would have been perfect in my tank, so I threw it on the bank to bring home with me, and of course forgot the stupid thing.

We collected some just gorgeous orange spot sunfish right off the bat. Those guys are so colorful!  You'd think by now the wonder of these natives would have worn off some for me, but it really hasn't.  Each time I go out-- heck, each time I stare at my tank even--I'm just as delighted with them as I was in the beginning.

The Maumee was up today, so we were not finding log perch where we expected to, but we DI D catch ourselves a catfish that was literally at least 2 feet long. Susan's seine is 4ft, and he was a least half the length, if not a bit more.  I thought we'd snagged another rock this guy was so heavy!  We almost immediately caught another fish that was over a foot long when I inadvertantly stuck my toe under a rock ledge and scared it out into our net.  That second one was caught just as a group of kids was coming along with their teachers.  We came in closer to the bank so we could show the kids the fish.  They really dug that, and had some questions for us, so that was cool.

From there we went to this little drainage ditchy sort of place to get mud minnows, which Susan and I both really like.  They're not flashy fish, but they are neat little dudes to watch. I like 'em.

The slope down into this ditch was steep enough I was pretty sure I was going to ski down it. But there were rasberry bushes!  Lots of cool insects too.  When finally we got down in there was so much vegetation it was hard to get the seine down to the bottom, which made things tricky.  But we did catch several baby grass pickerel, and some seriously HUGE tadpoles(whose presence might have something to do with the scarcity of fish!).  The heads on these guys were easily golfball sized.  BIG, fat fellows.

Anyhow, we finally did get our mud minnows, but not after each of us getting calf deep in muck holes at one point or other. 

I've got my guys in the tank, and am really liking the sunfish in there.  Pretty fishes!

Sounds like you had a successful trip! I lived right on a river when I was younger, so I recall all the fun times we had with the seine net. At that time I had a native tank, as well, so it was like having a fish store right in my back yard.

Would love to see some updated pics of the tank and inhabitants if you get the chance!

The Maumee is just too high right now, every time it begins to go down we get another deluge.  The water temperature is getting too high to collect, too.  It was fun, though!  Except getting leeches at the last spot.  I forgot how allergic I am to them. 

I haven't lost any yet!

I've been supplementing their diet with the caterpillers and slugs that I pull off the lettuce I get out of my garden.

The sunfish still have that gorgeous coloring.  They're really beautiful.

I am sorry about the allergic reaction to the leech!  I had the itches all night even though I knew I didn't have one on me.  EWWWW.