Alabama Trip report, August 4-7, 2001
by Dave Neely
picture captions by photographer

Sipsey Fork, Winston County, Alabama
Tony (Anuratana Tejavej, visiting from Bangkok, Thailand) and I arrived on site late Friday night.  Unfortunately we'd forgotten Bruce's directions, and after dropping Tony off at a motel on Smith Reservoir, I drove around looking for the gang, finally gave up and set my tent up somewhere off a dirt road in the Bankhead NF. Rained a little that night, but not bad. I was up by 6am, had coffee in Double Springs by 6:30, and was at the site by 7. I snorkelled until 8:30, drove over to the motel and picked Tony up, and drove back to the site. We waited a bit, then started to sample. By 11, most of the gang was there: Patrick Vinas, Casper Cox and son Coby, Steven Ellis, and Bruce Stallsmith.

Click on small photo to display a larger one  Principal figures in the TN Valley Gang & a guest from abroad. L-R standing: Dave Neely (Tuscaloosa, AL), Patrick Vinas (Canton, GA), Bruce Stallsmith (Huntsville, AL). Kneeling: Anuratana Tejavej, or Tony (Bangkok, Thailand), and Casper Cox (Chattanooga, TN). (Steven Ellis photo)

Click on small photo to display a larger one    Steven Ellis (left) with our honorable president, Bruce Stallsmith. ("I had to prove I was really going on all of these trips!", says Steven).  Thanks to Dave Neely for taking the shot..

Click on small photo to display a larger one     Click on small photo to display a larger one  Shots of the Sipsey River where we met and did mostly electroshocking; it runs through a decaying limestone gorge as I hope is evident from the pics.  (Bruce Stallsmith photo)

Click on small photo to display a larger one Members of the trip wading upstream in the Sipsey along an eroded limestone cliff. Left to right: Tony, Dave, Patrick. (Bruce Stallsmith photo)

  Click on small photo to display a larger one Members of the trip wading upstream in the Sipsey, as Dave Neely uses the electroshocker. Left to right: Patrick, Tony, Steven, Dave. (Bruce Stallsmith photo)

Click on small photo to display a larger one   Sipsey River, looking downstream. (Steven Ellis photo)

Click on small photo to display a larger one   Sipsey River, looking upstream. (Steven Ellis photo)

We sampled and snorkelled for much of the afternoon, then headed towards the campsite. Species list included:

Campostoma oligolepis
Cyprinella callistia
Cyprinella venusta
Notropis asperifrons
Notropis stilbius
Hypentelium etowanum
Minytrema melanops
Moxostoma duquesnei
Fundulus olivaceus
Ambloplites ariommus
Chaenobryttus gulosus
Lepomis cyanellus
Lepomis macrochirus
Lepomis megalotis
Micropterus coosae
Micropterus punctulatus
Etheostoma sp. cf. bellator
Etheostoma douglasi
Etheostoma stigmaeum
Etheostoma whipplei
Percina kathae
Percina nigrofasciata
Percina shumardi
Percina sp. "Sipsey darter"

Click on small photo to display a larger one   Patrick kept this warmouth.  Even though the fish is out of focus (sigh), you can still get an idea of how beautiful it is (Steven Ellis photo)

Click on small photo to display a larger one Longear Sunfish electroshocked from the Sipsey River (Bruce Stallsmith photo)

Click on small photo to display a larger one Black Redhorse electroshocked out of the Sipsey River. It's being held by Dave Neely. (Bruce Stallsmith photo)

The campsite was along Borden Creek, in an area of nice-sized secondary growth hardwood forest. While the gang sampled the creek, I got some lunch going, with excellent assistance from Coby. Pork chops, with spiced potatoes, mushrooms, and onions. Steve had brought red-hots, baked beans, and cream sodas. A few illicit beverages were consumed to thumb a symbolic nose at Winston County.

Click on small photo to display a larger one   Borden Creek, where we camped, and collected a variety of interesting fishes; it's in the Sipsey Wilderness. (Bruce Stallsmith photo)

Click on small photo to display a larger one Borden Creek. This shot was taken fron the bridge that we camped beneath, just before nightfall. Casper is barely visible in the lower right. (Steven Ellis photo)

I took Tony back into town to his motel, and met the gang back out by the river. After hanging out by the fire for a while, Casper, Coby and I walked about a quarter-mile of stream, looking for snapping turtles or fun stuff out and about. The full moon made for easy mid-stream walking, except for a couple problematic rocks...

2camp2b.jpg (2370 bytes)   Campsite beside Borden Creek (Saturday evening). L-R: Coby Cox (celebrating his 13th birthday), Casper Cox, Dave Neely, Bruce Stallsmith, & Tony from Thailand.  It turns out that our friend Dave is also an excellent cook. (Steven Ellis photo)

Species List for Borden Creek, Winston County, Alabama:
Campostoma oligolepis
Cyprinella callistia
Cyprinella venusta
Notropis asperifrons
Notropis stilbius
Phenacobius catostomus
Fundulus olivaceus
Ambloplites ariommus
Lepomis macrochirus
Lepomis megalotis
Micropterus punctulatus
Etheostoma sp. cf. zonistium
Etheostoma douglasi
Etheostoma stigmaeum
Etheostoma whipplei
Percina kathae
Percina nigrofasciata
Percina shumardi

Click on small photo to display a larger one  A nice shadow bass that I took home. (Steven Ellis photo)

Click on small photo to display a larger one   Dave Neely (right) imparts some ID tips to Patrick Vinas. (Steven Ellis photo)

Next morning, I drove into town and picked up Tony, then brought him back to the campsite in time for omlettes with fresh chanterelles, courtesy of Casper. Excellent! We headed out, deciding to try a fun cold-water site a
bit to the south first... crystal clear water, and minimal silt- it's amazing how an intact watershed will retain sediment, leaving the stream's gravel silt-free...

Hendricks Mill Branch at mouth, Blount County, Alabama
Campostoma oligolepis
Cyprinella callistia
Luxilus chrysocephalus
Notropis chrosomus
Notropis stilbius
Cottus sp. cf. carolinae
Etheostoma douglasi
Percina nigrofasciata

Click on small photo to display a larger one Here the camera also seemed interested in something else, but you can still see good detail on these 3 Tuskaloosa darters. (Steven Ellis photo)

Tony and I parted ways with Casper and Coby, and headed east on I-20...
The first site was deep and turbid with lots of debris to catch the seine on, but still some fun stuff...

Tallapoosa River at CR 21 SSE of Heflin, Cleburne County, Alabama
Campostoma oligolepis
Cyprinella callistia
Cyprinella gibbsi
Cyprinella venusta
Luxilus chrysocephalus
Notropis stilbius

Second site here was shallow and fast, with better gravel...

Tallapoosa River at CR 18 WNW of Bell Mills, Cleburne County, Alabama
Campostoma oligolepis
Cyprinella callistia
Cyprinella gibbsi
Cyprinella venusta
Luxilus chrysocephalus
Notropis stilbius
Phenacobius catostomus

Click on small photo to display a larger one    A young Alabama shiner. These guys were very tame around snorkelers. I had one nibbling at my open palm in Borden Creek as Casper & I studied him. (Steven Ellis photo)

Click on small photo to display a larger one Another Alabama shiner. Even though the camera chose to focus elsewhere, I included this one to give an idea of how well decorated the adult males were. (Steven Ellis photo)

After a successful expedition, we hit classic southern BBQ for dinner, which was superb.

Monday morning, we braved the remains of the tropical storm and headed north out of Tuscaloosa... first site was shallow, sandy, but with pretty good diversity for such a small stream...

Tyro Creek at CR 55 ESE of New Lexington, Tuscaloosa County, Alabama
Ichthyomyzon gagei
Campostoma oligolepis
Luxilus chrysocephalus
Lythrurus alegnotus
Nocomis leptocephalus
Notropis baileyi
Notropis stilbius
Semotilus atromaculatus
Erimyzon oblongus
Moxostoma poecilurum
Ameiurus melas
Noturus leptocephalus
Fundulus olivaceus
Lepomis cyanellus
Lepomis megalotis
Etheostoma stigmaeum
Etheostoma swaini
Etheostoma whipplei
Percina nigrofasciata

Not enough redfin darters here, so we headed back north, winding up at Natural Bridge, where the weirdest thing was all the pirate perch- this site is really close to the Fall Line (the edge of the old Mississippi Embayment), so there was an interesting mix of upland and lowland stuff here.

New River at Natural Bridge, Winston County, Alabama
Ichthyomyzon gagei
Campostoma oligolepis
Lythurus alegnotus
Nocomis leptocephalus
Semotilus atromaculatus
Erimyzon oblongus
Aphredoderus sayanus
Lepomis cyanellus
Lepomis megalotis
Etheostoma lachneri
Etheostoma nigrum
Etheostoma stigmaeum
Etheostoma whipplei
Percina nigrofasciata

We then headed west, to try a site I've hit several times before. It's normally better than this, but we were both getting pretty tired by this point.

Buttahatchie River at US Hwy 43 S of Hamilton, Marion County, Alabama
Campostoma oligolepis
Cyprinella callistia
Cyprinella venusta
Notropis ammophilus
Notropis stilbius
Pimephales vigilax
Etheostoma rupestre
Etheostoma stigmaeum
Percina kathae
Percina vigil

And so it ended. I had a busy morning on Tuesday, and it took longer than anticipated to prep his fish, so despite a desperate drive to the airport, Tony missed his flight, and opted to stay at a motel near the airport.

All in all, a hectic trip, but many cool fish were captured and observed. Thanks to all who participated, and especially Tony for being such a patient ichhyologist-in-training.

        --Dave Neely
        Tuscaloosa, Alabama

I apologize to our viewers for the poor quality of my photos. I'm still learning how to use the digital. It finally occurred to me (duh!) on the way home to take a piece of light-colored posterboard next time as a backdrop for the fish shots. Then the camera won't be as likely to get confused about what the subject is. If that fails, I may leave the photography to someone who really knows what they're doing. (-:

        --Steven A. Ellis
        Kennesaw, GA