(2.1) FLORIDA: Other FL and OK Freshwater Fish Photos

The Paul Nosca

OTHER FLORIDA and OKLAHOMA

FRESHWATER FISH

Photo Memory Gallery

An Information, Opinion, & Photos Report

Compiled by Ocklawahaman Paul Nosca

With the assistance of Captain Erika Ritter

Created: 01 February 2013

Last Revised: 30 May 2015

Bluegill Sunfish and "Speckled Perch" a.k.a. Black Crappie (Ocklawaha River, Florida)

NOTE: Click-on individual photos to enlarge them!

Black Crappie a.k.a. Speckled Perch (Ocklawaha River, Florida)

Speckled Perch (Ocklawaha River, Florida)

White Catfish (Ocklawaha River, Florida)

Channel and White Catfish (Lake Talquin, Florida)

Channel and White Catfish (Ochlockonee River, Florida)

Brown Bullhead Catfish (Withlacoochee River, Florida)

Brown Bullhead Catfish (St. Petersburg, Florida man-made pond)

Chain Pickerel (Ochlockonee River, Florida)

Chain Pickerel (Orange Creek, Florida)

Redfin Pickerel (St. Marks River, Florida)

CATADROMOUS Striped Mullet

CATADROMOUS Striped Mullet (Ocklawaha River, Florida)

Camp catch from a flooded North Withlacoochee River, Florida (Suwannee River basin)

Redbreast Sunfish (Ocklawaha River, Florida)

Bluegill Sunfish (Ocklawaha River, Florida)

Bluegill Sunfish (St. Petersburg, Florida man-made pond)

Blue River, Oklahoma

Bowfin a.k.a. "Mudfish" or "Blackfish" (Ocklawaha River, Florida)

Longnose Gar (Ocklawaha River, Florida)

CATADROMOUS American Eel (Ocklawaha River, Florida)

Captain Erika Ritter with CATADROMOUS Atlantic Needlefish (Ocklawaha River, Florida)

EXOTIC Sailfin Catfish a.k.a. "Pleco" (Ocklawaha River, Florida)

Gizzard Shad (Ocklawaha River, Florida)

"GATOR TROUT" Spotted Seatrout (Indian River, Florida)

NATIVE FISH SPECIES OF THE ENTIRE OCKLAWAHA RIVER BASIN

"Fishes of the Ocklawaha River, Florida", a 2002 special report for the Florida Defenders of the Environment by James P. Clugston (1972-1973 Southern Division President of the American Fisheries Society), documented all previous fishery studies dating back to 1899 and reported that specimen collections from the entire Ocklawaha River Basin have verified the historical existence of 69 different NATIVE fish species. Of those, 59 are considered freshwater fishes and 10 are brackish or saltwater (several being anadromous or catadromous).

FISH SPECIES OF THE MIDDLE OCKLAWAHA RIVER

Approximately 50 different fish species exist in the free-flowing Middle Ocklawaha River between Silver River and Rodman Reservoir. About 1/2 of them are small minnow-sized varieties. Grass carp, longnose gar, and channel catfish are the 3 longest (and heaviest) fish. Only about 2.5% of the Ocklawaha's pre-Rodman flow is available (through Buckman Lock) for migration of fish between the St. Johns River and the Ocklawaha, which has had a negative impact on the abundance here of these five native highly migratory fish species: channel catfish, white catfish, American eel, striped mullet, and STRIPED BASS.

The endemic "STRIPERS" of the St. Johns-Ocklawaha River basin, without any doubt, have suffered the most because STRIPED BASS must have access to approximately 50 free-flowing, uninterrupted miles of large, swift-moving stream (current) during the late winter or early spring of the year in order to naturally reproduce successfully. Replacement stocks of St. Johns River basin STRIPERS have been hatchery produced for over 40 years now and are not stocked into the Ocklawaha upstream of the dam that created Rodman Reservoir. The free-flowing (before Rodman Dam was built) 56-mile Silver-Ocklawaha River system was the only suitable spawning (and hatching) habitat of STRIPED BASS in the entire St. Johns River drainage. All the way back in 1961 it was determined by fisheries biologists that only two river systems in the whole state of Florida contained native breeding populations of STRIPERS: those two drainages were the Apalachicola-Chipola and the St. Johns-Ocklawaha. It troubles me greatly that an excellent conservation and fishing organization--BASS--which has done many noble things for both bass FISH and anglers--continues to support the retaining of Rodman a.k.a. Kirkpatrick Dam for the production of largemouth bass ("largemouths" reproduce naturally in lacustrine or riverine freshwaters of all 67 Florida counties). Rodman Dam is the structure that prevents the natural reproduction of STRIPED BASS in the St. Johns-Ocklawaha Rivers. I ended my BASS membership decades ago to support the restoration of stream-bred Florida native STRIPERS.

The following is a list of the 25 verified larger fishes (that are more likely to be caught while fishing or

observed in the river during clear-water periods) that live in the Ocklawaha upriver from Rodman Reservoir:

NATIVE FRESHWATER WARM-WATER GAME FISH

Largemouth bass, black crappie ("speckled perch"), bluegill, redbreast sunfish, redear sunfish ("shellcracker"), spotted sunfish ("stumpknocker"), warmouth.

NATIVE FRESHWATER WARM-WATER NONGAME FISH

Bowfin, brown bullhead, yellow bullhead, channel catfish, white catfish, chain pickerel, Florida gar, longnose gar, gizzard shad, threadfin shad, golden shiner, lake chubsucker. Channel and white catfish schools migrate many miles in river systems.

EXOTIC FRESHWATER NONGAME FISH

Grass carp, sailfin catfish ("pleco"), blue tilapia ("Nile perch").

NATIVE SALTWATER (MARINE) NONGAME CATADROMOUS FISH

American eel, striped mullet, Atlantic needlefish (possibly may be able to spawn in fresh or brackish water).

For Ocklawaha River native STRIPED BASS a.k.a. STRIPER (Morone saxatilis) information see:

https://sites.google.com/site/ocklawahaman/striped-bass-of-the-ocklawaha-river

REFERENCE AS: Nosca, P. 2015. "The Paul Nosca other Florida and Oklahoma freshwater fish photo memory gallery" webpage report. "Paul Nosca's bass fishing photos" website. Paul Nosca, Eureka, FL.

https://sites.google.com/site/paulnoscasbassfishingphotos/other-florida-fish-photos

Email: ocklawahaman1@gmail.com

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