Seining

 

Smallmouth Flounder

   If you know me then you know that I love being in nature and it is not just birds that gets me excited. I did a blog post (July 2022) about the reptiles and amphibians I had been chasing. While I have spent a good deal of time looking for snakes again this year, I haven't taken any adventures looking for "lifers". Besides seeing birds, fishing, and looking for snakes I've been spending a lot of time trying to catch small fish with a seine. 

   A seine is a long net that you drag along the bottom of either a lake, stream, or the ocean. The object is too catch small animals for closer inspection. I've been using a 20 foot seine. While they make much bigger, the twenty footer is perfect for me and I can maneuver it easily with another person or I can make small circles by attaching one end to a tree in the water.

   I've been a fisherman all of my life so I know most of the "gamefish" in New England in both freshwater and salt. I know much of the predominant bait that those fish eat. However, I have to admit there are a lot of minnows and small fish I had never heard of.  

  One thing I learned quickly, unlike birding, I really am at the mercy of another person to help. In ponds, I can leave one end in a tree at the waters edge and work a small piece of the shoreline. To be effective in saltwater and any large stretch of shoreline, I need help. So I want to thank Allison O'Conner and Louise Ruggeri for being regulars and always willing to help. Also, Sue Palmer, Dick and Marge Bradley, and Jan St. Jean went with me once or twice. As I said, I need help, so much appreciated. 

   An interesting fact is that during the warmer months tropical fish get caught up in the Gulf Stream from Florida and the Caribbean and end up here. These juveniles are too weak to fight the current and can get dragged up the coast and end up in our salt ponds and coves. I am not an expert so every new fish is a learning experience. Usually I have to ask experts what they are. 

   Below are some photos I have taken of fish I have caught seining  this year. Enjoy

Crevalle Jack

Menhaden

I'd say this is the prize of the summer...
Striped Seahorse

Needlefish

My friend Carlos found these guys in Ninigret Pond
so  we caught them. They are Short Bigeyes. The 
adults live at 600 feet on the
Continental Shelf

One of the freshwater fish I 
caught. Common Shiner

This is the smallest
Bluefish I've ever seen. It was
only an inch long

My favorite freshwater catch. An
Eastern Chubsucker and a lifer

The front fish is a Swamp Darter

Sheepshead Minnow

Needlefish

Beautiful Banded Killifish

I worked all summer 
to catch this guy, a Banded Sunfish

One of my favorite 
tropical fish I've held
Pompano

This little fella is a very small
Permit