This is from Kingston Ontario, 44°14′N 76°30′W. I'm trying to find Madtoms but think they're mostly extinct in this area so I'm looking for Whatever. Don't have the courage to try for the "Mudcats, bullheads, Channelcats" yet but after I get some steel-toed wading booties, I'll try. I don't really know what's actually in the waters here but I'll be finding out, the local fishermen just use the common terms and they're all over the map, blue cat, yellow belly, mudcats etc.
Here's part of the reason why I think Madtoms were here : http://penbay.org/cof/cof_1901_12.pdf Other catfish are listed as well. The other reason is that the bait shops have recognized my photos of madtoms and say that they do show up once in a while. Don't know what kind.
This is the water system I started in http://www.rideau-info.com/canal/ecolog ... ology.html
First location I tried was a public fishing area that is part of the trail but collection is allowed. I used a large net on a long pole because I was by myself at the time. The water's very deep in the centre, surrounded by cattails and home to several endangered duck species.
Didn't get a thing aside from some nice plants that I recently paid $4 for
Here's the view from under the bridge.
I followed the trail to the CN Railway overpass and dipped the net in there.
Got myself a fish! Just one but it's my first. It's a Central Mudminnow -Umbra limi
I guess they get to about 4 inches and are an ambush predator that sit with their tail in the mud.
No other critters here, except ducks, the ones in the photo above are Mallard Ducks, Anas platyrhynchos. Stunning green heads on the males.
Moved into the conservation proper where no collecting is allowed but it was a pleasant way to travel to my next stop.
Wouldn't you like a root like this for your tank? It an oak tree.
The next stop was at another railway crossing where there had been a oil spill two years ago. Wasn't hopeful for anything here.
First dip and the net was full of critters but no fish. Here's a crayfish with a baby, some people call them Crawdaddies.
A common frog, maybe a Northern Leopard Frog but I still have to find my frog book to be sure. As I leaned over the bucket to take the pic, he jumped out and scared the hoo-haas out of me. Didn't drop the camera but the cars going by must have wondered...
Also there's something there that looks like ticks or fleas - my socks were tucked into my pants so no Lyme disease worries, I checked myself over anyway.
So the good news here is that there are frog etc after an oil spill but no easy catch of catfish. There were also many beetles, Dragonflies and their larvae, birds, many more frogs and under every rock there was tons of crayfish. I couldn't see any evidence of a spill having occurred there. I go by there all the time and I know that both blue and green herons fish there as well. The green heron is the smaller of the two birds that uses bait to catch fish.
That's all I could get between rain showers but now the seed has been planted and I'll be buying some waders and a better net or bribe the Big Guy to jiggle some rocks upstream
That's the end of the fishing bit. Continue below for the plants bit if you're into that.
Here's a few plants that are kind of boring here but are interesting in their uses.
This is called a Cattail, extremely common but maybe not where some members live. The real name is Typha sp., known to many as Bulrush and some southerners as Corndogs because of the shape of the seed head.
The seedheads look like this and are about 10-13 inches long and feel like velvet.
Once the seedhead is ripe it opens up and the "stuffing" has been used historically and now in winter clothing, mattresses and pillows. It was used as 'down' in baby's beds and in moccasins. It was also used as stuffing for lifejackets in the same manner as the next plant.
The roots are edible and taste a bit like a potato or maybe a yam (Sweet potato)Wonder if the larger catfish use it as such? It also makes lovely tinder to start fires and studies are being done to use the plant to make ethanol since almost no care is needed to grow them.
Here's a seedhead that's already open.
This is another 'weed' that's quite wonderful and grows everywhere here. Similar plants grow in other parts of the world too, about 140 species. It's called Milkweed or Butterfly Plant, Asclepias syriaca from our friend Linnaeus. It's the summer host plant for the wonderful Monarch Butterfly. It's called Milkweed because of the sap, which is partly latex. It also has silky seeds inside those capsules that have better insulating qualities than down and are waterproof. It has also been used to make life jackets. The picture of the open seedhead showing the floss turned out blurry but here's the seed capsules.
Feel free to post pics of your local milkweeds!
Not giving up on the Madtoms yet
It's on my list of things to see (sometime before i croak)
Noturus stigmosus - endangered What on earth would I do if I ever found one!!!