Native Fall Fish: Mission Critical for Stream Ecosystems

From Finsylvania · 45:32

Show by cmxrhbt65h

Native Fall Fish: Mission Critical for Stream Ecosystems Have you ever noticed that striped bass anglers are very in tune with the health of Menheden populations. Well why aren’t smallmouth, trout, and musky anglers keyed in on the importance of native Fall Fish populations? Virginia DNR biologist Mike Pinder joins me to educate anglers on the importance of the this species! As the latgest predatory minnow species east of the rockies Semotulus Corporalis(Fall Fish) are not only an awesome chrome colored game fish, they’re also a nest mound builder for 9 other species of native fish that serve as important forage for stream ecosystems. It’s a native predator that literally makes its own forage base for streams and provides an excellent angling opportunity with no need for a hatchery. There are endless reasons we need to pay more attention to Fall fish. They transfer energy upwards in the food web to predators, theymKe instream habitat for other species, they make healthier less silty substrate, and bring terrestrial energy into stream food webs. Join us as we talk about all the answered and unanswered questions about this species and how healthy sport fish populations depend on this keystone species and ecosystem engineer. We also talk abo it the awesome angling culture that exists for these fish in Virginia thanks to awesome biologists like Mike who helped make anglign awards for them and wrote Fall Fish:Little Tarpon of The Commonwealth. We also talk about Fallfish tubercles and how your next angling achievement might be catching a 10-point fall fish this spring. We talk about how important it is in april-June to not step on fall fish and other minnow species nest mounds. Trout have “ don’t tread on the redd” fallfish now have “don’t pound the mound!” We talk about “chub confusion” where people confuse semotilus corporalis(fall fish) with semotilus atromaculatus(creek chub). Mike tells us the secret to telling a juvenile fall fish from a creek chub. We talk about the unknowns due to lack of reseach like threats to fall fish from introduced non-native predators and water temperatures/thermal tolerance maximums. I detail my anecdotal accounts of seeing non-native stocked tiger musky eat native fallfish holding at the mouth of a spring creek. This fish is a flyfishing angler’s dream. It takes nymphs, streamers, dry flies, and swung wet flies. It feeds heavily at night and can be caught by fly fishing after dark/mousing. It is accessible to many urban fly fishermen and women as well as conventional anglers. Its great for getting children into fishing and teaching them the value of wild and native fish. #fallfishing #conservation #flyfishing #nativefish #streamerfishing

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