Everything Else in Deboullie (PT. 1)

Though blueback trout were the main reason Noah and I had gone to Deboullie, they weren't the only species in the area we hadn't caught before. Lake trout, burbot, longnose sucker, threespine stickleback, lake chub, northern pearl dace, northern redbelly dace, and fathead minnows all existed in close proximity. Even if we didn't get an Arctic char, we were very unlikely to leave empty handed. 

Right by our camp was the outlet of Pushineer, and it was loaded with micros. I had no doubt that some of them were new species. Of course, as is so often the case, we had to dig through things we've caught plenty of to get something new. In this case it was creek chubs and common shiners. 

Creek chub, Semotilus atromaculatus

The first new species Noah and I got was a dace. They kind of threw us for a loop. I knew there were, as of 2001, only Northern redbelly dace and pearl dace in this lake. These clearly were not pearl dace, but they didn't really look like the classic redbelly dace either. Mainly the ones that appeared to be males lacked the classic red belly altogether. They had the double lateral line and the spotted lines on the back though. Eventually we both caught a female in classic yellow coloration and I was confident to call the rest Northern redbellies too.

Lifelist fish #135, Northern redbelly dace, Phoxinus eos. Rank: species

Sanity had long sine been left behind.

Below is the picture perfect female Northern redbelly dace. Isn't she a beauty?

The next lifer came through luck. I happened to look at the dorsal of one fish I'd have just as soon assumed was a creek chub and noticed it lacked the spot that creek chubs have I immediately put it in the photo tank and got as many shots of it as I could in the waning light. It had a more pointed snout than creek chubs. It didn't fit the profile of a fathead minnow. The best candidate seems to be pearl dace. Some of the taxonomic drawings and photos I've found of the species match it almost perfectly, some look significantly different. But really there is little else there that it could have been.

Lifer #136: pearl dace, Margariscus margarita.  Rank: species

Throughout the first two days, I was occasionally seeing schools of maybe 3-30 fish that looked like some sort of killifish. Being that nothing of the sort had been documented in these ponds, at least to my knowledge, I had to catch one. Unfortunately they turned out to be something I'd already caught many of. banded killifish.

banded killifish, Fundulus diaphanus

Within the first three days we'd each knocked out some new species right by camp and handled plenty of fish we'd already caught hundreds of. Days of microfishing, paddling around windy lakes, and long portages can build an appetite. Catch some yellow perch though, fry them up, and those stomach pains go away. There is nothing more satisfying than obtaining your own food. Thank you perch, for being so easy and so damn delicious. 

Until next time.
Fish for the love of fish.
Fish for the love of places fish live.
Fish for you.

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