A chance to ponder a darter among other catches from the Fox River

Provided

The unknown fish Vince Oppedisano caught in May from the Fox River stopped me.

Plenty of other things also impressed me when he sent a list of the fish he caught fishing the Fox River from April through November, primarily from Elgin to Montgomery. It was his most productive year by the numbers.

His meticulous records are a treasure.

But the unknown fish made me reach out to biologists.

As it turned out, Oppedisano’s guess that it was a darter was right, even though he had “never seen the species before.” He caught it in May when it hit a small crankbait in 65-degree water.

Illinois Natural History Survey’s Phil Willink emailed that he thought it was a logperch, one of the bigger darters, noting, “Logperch are cool.” INHS’s Jeremy Tiemann concurred.

Steve Pescitelli, streams biologist for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, added a clip from a much-anticipated field guide to Illinois fishes, which he, Willink and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Frank Veraldi have coming out within a year or so: “Logperch. Percina caprodes. Percina, Latin, diminutive for `perch’; caprodes, Greek, for `pig-like,’ referring to snout.”

On habitat, the upcoming book includes, “In rivers, it has been observed in fast flowing rocky riffles, but is more common in moderately flowing sandy runs with woody debris, and sluggish areas with some aquatic vegetation.”

At some point, I hope to discuss what logperch may indicate locally.

Back to Oppedisano, who emailed, “Looking back on the past year, I’d say conditions on the Fox River in 2023 were more difficult than the year before. Water levels stayed pretty low where I was fishing for most of the season other than spring and a week or two in July after some heavy rains. Fall was a little bit disappointing overall. After the shallow sections started losing weed growth, levels dropped even lower while temps continued to drop and the water started running ultra clear.

“Still, it was the most productive year I’ve had (and probably ever will) in terms of numbers because I put in the time.”

He was primarily targeting smallmouth bass. It showed in his totals of legally hooked and landed fish: 972 smallmouth bass (92%), 17 walleye, 16 quillback carpsuckers, 13 largemouth bass, six channel catfish, five white bass, five bluegill, four freshwater drum, three muskie, three redhorse suckers, three flathead catfish, two northern hog suckers, two shad, a northern pike, a river shiner, a white sucker and the darter.

“Besides the ones that were landed,  I lost a good number of fish and foul hooked a lot, too—especially channel cats,” he emailed. “Two of the many things I learned this year: (1) there are a LOT of crayfish in the river; and (2) it’s true - watch the birds, they’ll give you clues.”

Provided

Illinois hunting

Illinois hunters harvested 76,232 deer during the two parts of Illinois’ firearm season, down from 76,854 in 2022. The second part harvest was 22,884, down significantly from 24,500 the second part of 2022. . . . When harvest totals come for muzzleloader season, I will post at chicago.suntimes.com/outdoors. . . . Duck season in the north zone ends Tuesday.

Meeting change

Biologist Seth Love talking to the Fox River Valley chapter of Muskies, Inc., at 7 tonight has changed venues to Moretti’s in Bartlett because of a schedule conflict.

Wild things

Christmas Bird Counts begin tomorrow and run through Jan. 5. The most noted locally is the Chicago lakefront count on Christmas Day, but there are counts all around the area. A how-to-participate is at audubon.org/conservation/join-christmas-bird-count.

Showtime

The master list of outdoors shows, swap meets, classes and major ice-fishing events is at chicago.suntimes.com/2023/11/22/23972227/outdoors-shows-master-list-2024-season-chicago. There’s been two updates.

Stray Cast

Major League Baseball becomes to baseball what tournament tuna fishing is to fishing.