#38: Mr. Stripy Falls

As night was closing in on the weedy headwaters of the Taylor River in Hampton Falls, doubt crept in as well.  Research on the web clearly indicated that this acidic, brown-stained water should hold banded sunfish. But so far, Mr. Stripy was no where to be found.

Earlier in The Quest we had caught our redfin pickerel at this spot. It also holds numerous golden shiners and pumpkinseeds, and we have seen creek chubsuckers.  All of these are known habitat mates of the banded sunfish.

The good news is that this spot is close to Dave's house, which lends itself to repeated tries.  Tonight's attempt was probably number 15 or 20 for the banded sunfish. At first we fished in the open water, in the channel, thinking that the fish would seek the coolest, deepest water. But the water is at most 4 feet deep in this section and there is probably not much temperature difference.  Plus the open pools are dominated by golden shiners - voracious packs of glinting wolves that attack any small bit that lands in the water.  We were now changing tactics and fishing as tight to the weeds as possible.

In hindsight, we should have known banded sunfish were still water fish.  First clue is their shape - small, round fish with a rounded tail. In general round tails are not the best for speed.  Compare it the tail of a tuna and you can get a quick lesson in hydrodynamics.  Banded sunfish have wide round fins that are great for maneuvering in still water.  Also, according to our research banded sunfish are big mosquito predators. Most mosquito larvae need still water. Where the prey live, so live the predators.

Using a 10' fiberglass cane pole, 2 pound line, a small float and a #22 hook tipped with the front half of a garden worm, we plied the waters near a patch of pickerel weed.  The water was about 8 inches deep.  The yellow float laid motionless on the surface for a minute then began to orient in the water as if on a Ouija  board.  With a lift of the pole the fish was airborne.  Immediately we knew it was a candidate - about three inches long, sunfish shaped, living in the weeds.   Once in hand we knew we have finally caught Mr. Stripy.

Banded Sunfish, Enneacanthus obesus (f)

Round tail, no color on gill flap, dark line through eye.

Classic habitat in the upper reaches of the Taylor River in Hampton Falls, NH

Small fish, big success - #38

Voted the worst fish to hide behind.

A trophy for sure

Maybe Dave is a little too happy to catch this fish. 

Banded sunfish are a species of concern in NH. They are still legal to catch, but biologist are concerned because their habitat is so vulnerable to development and pollution. They are only found in the Southeastern parts of NH, however they range all they way down to Florida.

After so much effort and study, Dave felt pretty bad about killing this fish. But that is one of the lessons of The Quest: Things died when we eat them.  After he filleted the fish using a razor blade, he noticed that it was a female with eggs.  Ms. Stripy, Bummer.

Fish number 38 is cataloged.  Stay tuned, 'cause word on the street is that Clay bagged #39.

Happy Father's Day!

Fish Monger, Where have you gone?

It's Friday, which means fish monger day at the Boston Haymarket.  But alas, he was no where to be found.  Sad day for sure.

Here is a picture from last week to tide our readers over.

Name this fish!

Haymarket Fish Monger Quiz

One of the best things about working in Boston is seeing the open air market that appears on Fridays on my walk to work.  All year this market is packed with mostly fruit and vegetable vendors that are unloading truck loads of produce to sell to Bostonians. From this sea of commerce, my favorite vendor is the fish monger.  I don't know much about him or where he gets the fish he sells, but I plan to learn more and chronicle my discoveries on the Catch-M-All blog. I will need Catch-M-All fans to help to figure out some of the species that he is selling.

The Haymarket Fish Monger

Every week he seems to have new fish and some others that may have been around since the last week.   The new ones usually look really fresh, no fishy smell, and have crystal clear eyes.  It is a true street market with people haggling for price and negotiating for quality.  I could spend an entire day just talking to all the customers from different countries to learn how they are preparing these fish. 

For the first time, carp have shown up in the market. These are easily 15 pound fish. I forgot to ask how much they cost (next week I will ask). 

Here is a fish that has me stumped. Last week a worker told me that it was a barracuda (wrong). This week the owner called it a gar.  This is not the gar that I know. I caught many long and short nose gar in Indiana and they have much different scales. These fish have almost smooth skin.    

They have the toothy grin of a gar.

What do you think?  What kind of fish is this?  Where is it from?

Father's Day Photo Contest!

Just in time for Father's day, we're having a Facebook photo contest.

Here are the rules.

Go to our Facebook page

Just click on this word FACEBOOK

Hit the "like" button!

Post a picture of your kid fishing, catching a fish or doing anything fishing related.

We will put all of the pics in an album. 

Once we do that, share the album with your friends!  Tell them to LIKE our Facebook page.  Then to COMMENT ON or LIKE your cute kid's photo.

The picture with the most comments and "likes" will win a Catch-m-All hat in any color...

Good Luck!

Herring Therapy.....Fish Number 37!

Herring Therapy

The herring are running in Exeter, NH! We love this time of year when the alewives return from the sea to visit the town.  There are two species of migratory herring in New Hampshire: alewife and bluebacked herring.  In Exeter the run is primarily alewife. Honestly we can't tell the difference, but we have faith in the odds and are going to claim that we caught an alewife.  Collectively they are called river herring.

It has been a long time since we added a fish to our list.  The last time was in February when Clay caught a northern pike through the ice in Hanover, NH.  

The alewife is fish number 37 in The Quest

Counting the alewife in our freshwater effort is only slightly cheating.  We caught it near the head of tide in the Squamscott River, just before it turns into the Exeter River. At that point the water is essentially fresh.  The fish was on her way upstream to lay her eggs on freshwater plants and rocks.  Also herring are stocked in Bow Lake in New Hampshire, far from the ocean.  These freshwater examples in the Granite State is good enough for us to count it. 

The alewife is the official mascot of Exeter, NH.   Appearing in the town seal.

It was a female. Has anyone heard of eating herring roe?  Probably not much different than  shad roe. 

Herring were easy to see in the shallows

There were plenty of other anglers there, like this Herring Gull

Camping With Zoe

Managed to get a little one on one time with my kid Zoe this weekend.
Not a big story to tell but I thought I would share it anyway.

Made Zoe cook her own supper

We went camping on a piece of property I own on Pequawket Pond in Albany NH.

Zoe and I had a blast, the plan was to fish well into dark and try to catch a huge American Eel (I have caught 3 foot eels there before)

But Zoe is 5 so we didn't make it past 8, had a great time anyway and Zoe caught a nice yellow perch.

Flying Bucket Mouths

Hey Kids, wow it's been a long time since we've last blogged and we miss you too!

Yesterday I (Clay) was poking around the North Country Angler fly shop in North Conway and talking to Bill the owner. I mentioned that I have not done nearly enough fly fishing. He asked me what I was fishing for next and I said I think I want to catch some rock bass on my way to work in the morning so he sold me a couple of flies. I don't remember what they were called!

 So this morning on my way to work I stopped in Center Harbor and tied on the fly and went to after the fish. I bounced this fly all over the rocks that usually produce large goggle eyes and saw nothing.

 Then to my right just a few few from the dock I was fishing from I saw a couple of Large Mouth Bass sitting on their spawning bed.

Look closely for the bucket mouths

 I am not a romantic person so I had no trouble deciding to break up their tryst for my entertainment. So I started bouncing these flies around their heads. They completely ignored me because they were in the throws of passion. But I kept going, and going until finally they had enough and lashed out at my fly in anger. FISH ON!

 I have never caught a large fish on a fly before, or even a small trout, I was so happy to be fighting this fish and I had no clue what I was doing. After a 5 minute battle I wrestled this fish out of the water, took a few pictures and a minute later he was back with his best girl doing naughty fish things. If you have never caught a bass on a fly before I think you should give it a shot. It was one of the most fun fish I have ever caught!

The Hunt for the Mighty Long Nose Sucker

Spring is in the air and soon the Long Nose Sucker Catostomus catostomus will begin it's spawning run. I had the chance today to work in Lincoln New Hampshire and drove over the scenic Kancamagus Highway. Locals refer to it as the Kanc and so I will too.

Longnose suckers can be found in most waterbodies in New Hampshire but prefer faster water than it's cousin the white sucker.

 Both spawn when the water temperature crests 50 degrees, today was a little cold for the spawn but I went looking anyway.

I brought my trusty sucker spear and Abi the Wonder Dog. We didn't see a single fish but it was fun to climb around the mountain streams and check out the falls.

Here is a picture of a white sucker that we speared last year.