After we sampled the Little Tennessee River near Dillard, GA, we decided to
split into two groups. Steven led one, along with John Patterson and Paul
Harney, to follow the original path outlined in his proposal, and the other
followed Fritz Rohde to look for some interesting darters in the area
upstream in the Little Tennessee. The party that followed Fritz included
Casper Cox, Chip Rinehart, and myself. After the split, the four of us
stopped by a small BBQ restaurant for Fritz to get his BBQ fix for the
trip. We then headed north towards Franklin, NC and followed Sec. Route
1113 (Needmore Rd.), which was just NW of Franklin and off of GA 28, and
paralleled the Little Tennessee for some time. We made two stops along
this road. The first spot was a darter paradise with a small section of
the larger river being diverted around an island, making a small stream
with lots of rocks and riffles. The second spot was in the main river
channel, including another side stream around an island, this time with
slower moving water, allowing for some rock bass and sunfish. Here we
found the following species:
Site 3: Little Tennessee R. _at_ Needmore Rd(SSR 1113), off of GA 28, NW of
Franklin
Rock bass (Ambloplites rupestris)
Smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu)
River chub (Nocomis micropogon)
Central Stoneroller (Campostoma anomalum)
Northern hogsucker (Hypentelium nigricans)
Mirror shiner (Notropis spectrunculus)
Telescope shiner (Notropis telescopus)
Tennessee Shiner (Notropis leuciodus)
Warpaint shiner (Luxilus coccogenis)
Whitetail shiner (Cyprinella galactura)
Spotfin chub (Cyprinella monacha)
Mottled sculpin (Cottus bairdi)
Gilt darter (Percina evides)
Wounded darter (Etheostoma vulneratum)
Greenfin darter (Etheostoma chlorobranchium)
Banded darter (Etheostoma zonale)
Redbreast (Lepomis auritus)
We had hoped to find the Tangerine darter (Percina aurantiaca) in this area
as well, but none were to be had, but certainly not for lack of effort.
This was my first trip into the mountains to collect and nearly every
species that we caught was a new one to me. I especially enjoyed the
sculpins, which I had never seen in person. Some of the other highlights
included the threatened Spotfin chub(which were all quickly released), some
gorgeous five inch Whitetail (with a nice pinkish body color and very large
and colored dorsal fins) and Warpaint shiners, and the colorful darters.
After a few hours of collecting here, we were all exhausted and soaked from
the constant rain throughout the day, so we decided to part ways. Chip and
I headed on down the mountain back towards SC and Fritz and Casper went to
find a hotel to dry off and make plans for the following day. I would like
to thank Steven Ellis for the effort he put into making this trip happen
and for being such a gracious host, as always. Like I said earlier, this
was my first time up into the mountains, but I know now that it certainly
won't be my last.
Dustin Smith
Newberry, SC
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