Seining

   

Atlantic Silverside

   Yesterday I got a call from my friend Dave about 4 pm. He asked me if I was fishing, birding, or looking for snakes. I said "Well, I'm sort of fishing". I'm sure this answer confused Dave until I explained. You're either fishing, driving to fishing, or not fishing, right? What the hell does sort of fishing mean? 

   I explained that I was down in Newport with my friends Charles and Louise and we had used a seine to catch small fish. So we were sort of fishing. Charles had invited me to meet him to use his seine and see if we could find small fish. I invited Louise because she lives so close and likes nature. Charles and Louise have known each other far longer than I've known either of them.

   Charles and I walked a hundred hard of shoreline stopping every twenty yards or so to see what we had in the net. In case you don't know what a seine is I'll explain. It is a net in the shape of a rectangle. At each end is a pole. From top to bottom they mostly seem to be four feet high. In length you can buy them in 20, 30, or 40 foot lengths that I know of. You stretch it out, each person holding a pole, and walk along to catch small fish. I had only done this once and that was last week at BioBlitz. That was in a muddy pond. Charles and I walked along a beach today.

   

Nine Spined Stickleback
A close up is at the end of the post

   We ended up with three species. The first haul landed us some Sand Lance or Sand Eels if you prefer. This is the species that Humpback Whales eat by the ton everyday on Stellwagen Bank. Our last two hauls we got Silversides and a surprise, a Nine-Spinded Stickleback. Both the Silversides and Sand Eels are favorite foods of Striped Bass. It is no exaggeration for me to say I've seen tens of thousands of each. They school in huge groups and I've seen bass blitz them numerous times.

   The Stickleback on the other hand was a lifer. Not only had I never seen one, I never heard of them. Charles said they are fairly common and he sees them a few times a year. We put our finds in a bucket and brought them up to where Charles has some aquariums set up. 

   The coolest thing was Charles had a photo tank for us to put the fish in. The photo tank was about a foot tall and ten inches wide. Its depth was about an inch at the top but it gets narrower at the bottom like the letter V. You put the fish in the tank so for photos. Because of the width of the tank, they aren't very mobile. This way you can get quality photos of the fish without taking them out of the water. All three of us took photos of the fish. I used my phone and my camera. I took photos with both my 70-300mm and my 18-55 lens. I don't know if either made a difference but I figured the more options I had the better my chances for good photos. For background we put a piece of wood that had been painted a light blue. We tried multiple other things but they all created a glare or a mirror. 

 

Sand Eel

 The coolest fish was the Silverside for photos because it was big. It was almost six inches and easily the biggest Silverside I have ever seen. The Stickleback is such a weird looking fish the photos look like a painting of an ancient fish. I like how they came out. When we were done we released all of the fish back unharmed.

   I'm going to need to buy a seine. I had so much fun with Charles and Louise and at BioBlitz. Between BioBlitz and yesterday I got four lifers. I may have found a new hobby! This was basically a photo shoot, so  more photos below.

When the sun came out it created a shadow below the Silverside. We all thought that was pretty cool and got photos of it

You can see the photo tank in the photo below. See how it is shaped like a V You put the fish in the top and it gets stuck so you can take photos of it unharmed and, most importantly, in the water.

Close up of the Stickleback. This isn't a painting and other 
than a small crop, I did not enhance the photo.
Just a weird looking fish