Short and sweet: I'm looking for
1) ponds with active fish and clear water
(not necessarily big fish. Just fish)
and/or
2) ponds with LOTS of chain pickerel. (again, not necessarily big)
More details:
For my dissertation I'm studying how fishes' body shapes and patterns of muscle activation affect swimming performance--specifically, are particular body shapes optimal for different kinds of swimming behaviors. To do this, you need either (1) closely related fish with disparate body shapes, or (2) distantly related fish with similar body shaped. Ideally, you'd get both.
I'm using a family of Neotropical fishes to satisfy #1, and since I've started fishing, I've realized that I may be able to get #2 from nearby lakes. For instance--there are fishes in the group I'm studying that look a lot like pike and pickerel. So why not compare them to pickerel, and see if they use their bodies to swim in similar ways?
To do that, I need to go out and catch some pickerel to bring them back to the lab (using a seine... my collection permit doesn't cover hook and line--though I suppose my fishing license could) --or, even better, film the swimming behavior in the pond/lake itself using high speed video.
So, can anyone help me out? Where are all of the pickerel hiding? Or, is there somewhere with water so clear that I could film it at 500 frames per second. (And if you know where I could find a high speed camera... my advisor has qualms about letting me take one of the lab's cameras into the field. Unsubstantiated qualms.)
1) ponds with active fish and clear water
(not necessarily big fish. Just fish)
and/or
2) ponds with LOTS of chain pickerel. (again, not necessarily big)
More details:
For my dissertation I'm studying how fishes' body shapes and patterns of muscle activation affect swimming performance--specifically, are particular body shapes optimal for different kinds of swimming behaviors. To do this, you need either (1) closely related fish with disparate body shapes, or (2) distantly related fish with similar body shaped. Ideally, you'd get both.
I'm using a family of Neotropical fishes to satisfy #1, and since I've started fishing, I've realized that I may be able to get #2 from nearby lakes. For instance--there are fishes in the group I'm studying that look a lot like pike and pickerel. So why not compare them to pickerel, and see if they use their bodies to swim in similar ways?
To do that, I need to go out and catch some pickerel to bring them back to the lab (using a seine... my collection permit doesn't cover hook and line--though I suppose my fishing license could) --or, even better, film the swimming behavior in the pond/lake itself using high speed video.
So, can anyone help me out? Where are all of the pickerel hiding? Or, is there somewhere with water so clear that I could film it at 500 frames per second. (And if you know where I could find a high speed camera... my advisor has qualms about letting me take one of the lab's cameras into the field. Unsubstantiated qualms.)
Chestnut hill reservoir has lots of pickerel but it will start getting weedy there fairly soon.
All Pickerel are solitary fish, they don't school up because they are cannibals.
You may wish to search iceshanty.com for guys who post fishing videos taken on Aqua view or MarCum cameras.
Seining for pickerel will net you a lot of weeds and by catch fish. Seining will also disturb the structure that the fish need or rely on in the area that you fish.
You can fish in Mass. 365 days a year So it is possible that you could continue your studies into the winter by ice fishing.
All Pickerel are solitary fish, they don't school up because they are cannibals.
You may wish to search iceshanty.com for guys who post fishing videos taken on Aqua view or MarCum cameras.
Seining for pickerel will net you a lot of weeds and by catch fish. Seining will also disturb the structure that the fish need or rely on in the area that you fish.
You can fish in Mass. 365 days a year So it is possible that you could continue your studies into the winter by ice fishing.
Thanks Sam and Thorn for the suggestions.
Thorn, I know pickerel are solitary, and was leery about using the seine to begin with--in my old lab I did all of my collections by hook and line (and probably with greater success/less bycatch). In this instance, it probably makes more sense for me to push for my advisor to add hook and line to the collection permit. It's a fairly broad permit as it is, so that really shouldn't be an issue. (Also, good to hear that other folks are up on their habitat conservation precautions.)
I'll probably end up pursuing this one aspect of my work into the winter, so ice fishing is a good option... However, I'm an invited speaker at the World Congress of Biomechanics in July, and thought even preliminary work in this direction would add to my talk.
So even a few high speed videos would be plenty. I'll look into the iceshanty videos--but I'm concerned about frame rate. It looks like the systems you suggested are standard frame rate (otherwise I think they'd cost ~10 - 20x more.) For anything I do, I need a minimum of 500 fps, with 1 Mpx resolution. That being said-- those systems would be perfect for some work I have planned in a year or two on daily energy budgets
If anyone out there has one a MarCum or Aqua Vu set up, and wouldn't mind taking a guest out--I'd love to see what they're capable of.
Might also be worth talking to the MarCum and Aqua Vu people themselves... I'm sure if we teamed up we could convince my advisor to lend me/us one of our cameras and get some REALLY cool slow motion videos.
Thorn, I know pickerel are solitary, and was leery about using the seine to begin with--in my old lab I did all of my collections by hook and line (and probably with greater success/less bycatch). In this instance, it probably makes more sense for me to push for my advisor to add hook and line to the collection permit. It's a fairly broad permit as it is, so that really shouldn't be an issue. (Also, good to hear that other folks are up on their habitat conservation precautions.)
I'll probably end up pursuing this one aspect of my work into the winter, so ice fishing is a good option... However, I'm an invited speaker at the World Congress of Biomechanics in July, and thought even preliminary work in this direction would add to my talk.
So even a few high speed videos would be plenty. I'll look into the iceshanty videos--but I'm concerned about frame rate. It looks like the systems you suggested are standard frame rate (otherwise I think they'd cost ~10 - 20x more.) For anything I do, I need a minimum of 500 fps, with 1 Mpx resolution. That being said-- those systems would be perfect for some work I have planned in a year or two on daily energy budgets
If anyone out there has one a MarCum or Aqua Vu set up, and wouldn't mind taking a guest out--I'd love to see what they're capable of.
Might also be worth talking to the MarCum and Aqua Vu people themselves... I'm sure if we teamed up we could convince my advisor to lend me/us one of our cameras and get some REALLY cool slow motion videos.
If you didn't have your option #1 covered I would say there is a lot of disparity between a bass and something like a bluegill.
Pickerels are quite common in all shallow lakes around here, as mentioned above Chestnut Hill is filled with them. A gopro on a long pole may be what you want for you video.
Pickerels are quite common in all shallow lakes around here, as mentioned above Chestnut Hill is filled with them. A gopro on a long pole may be what you want for you video.
If you didn't have your option #1 covered I would say there is a lot of disparity between a bass and something like a bluegill
Oh man, Mike/thelucky--I hope you know how scientifically on the money you are! Just READING your reply made me so happy!!!
The family I'm working on right now is Cichlidae--only because they're even more morphologically diverse than Centrarchids (bluegill and bass). BUT, Centrarchids are largely seen as the northern hemisphere ecological equivalent of cichlids. For my research--which is ultimately about Teleost fishes--I have every intention of following up my dissertation work with a parallel study in Centrarchids... I'm even using bluegill and bass to check my experimental set up for cichlids, given that my advisor has worked on centrarchids since the stone age. I even worked on centrarchids as an undergrad.
I'm probably not going to get around to working formally with bluegill and bass for years though... *sigh*. Have to save it in my back pocket for a post doc.
Also--GoPros would be ideal, but they're still too slow. I need a higher frame rate. As an example, I think these are the newer versions of the slightly older cameras I usually work with: http://www.photron.com/index.php?cmd=product_general&product_id=28&product_name=FASTCAM+SA4
Oh man, Mike/thelucky--I hope you know how scientifically on the money you are! Just READING your reply made me so happy!!!
The family I'm working on right now is Cichlidae--only because they're even more morphologically diverse than Centrarchids (bluegill and bass). BUT, Centrarchids are largely seen as the northern hemisphere ecological equivalent of cichlids. For my research--which is ultimately about Teleost fishes--I have every intention of following up my dissertation work with a parallel study in Centrarchids... I'm even using bluegill and bass to check my experimental set up for cichlids, given that my advisor has worked on centrarchids since the stone age. I even worked on centrarchids as an undergrad.
I'm probably not going to get around to working formally with bluegill and bass for years though... *sigh*. Have to save it in my back pocket for a post doc.
Also--GoPros would be ideal, but they're still too slow. I need a higher frame rate. As an example, I think these are the newer versions of the slightly older cameras I usually work with: http://www.photron.com/index.php?cmd=product_general&product_id=28&product_name=FASTCAM+SA4
What about NH? I've never been on a BoW in mass that can rival the clearness of some of the lakes up there. Although fishing northshore/central most of the fishing I'm doing is in rather stained water. Bow lake comes to mind, not sure about the pickeral in there though.
Good luck! You may want to contact the Friends of Quabbin Reservoir and they have done work with local Universities at Quabbin. That water is ULTRA clear and they may have some videos you could use. You may look into a tiger muskie hatchery. I am sure they have some fingerlings they could donate for your study. Best wishes.
Breakheart reservation in saugus MA has surprisingly clear water. It is loaded with pickerel; it's quite possible to burn through an entire package of rubber worms in one outing. Bass are moderately numerous, observable, and tricky to catch; te former two making the latter all the more frustrating. Notwithstanding those thingsit is not a bad place. The fishing pressure that makes some ponds tough keeps one from getting complacent. There are two ponds at breakheart. Pearce lake and silver lake are also known as the upper and lower ponds respectively. The lower would be my choice if I were seeking pickerel. If you are strictly looking at body mechanitcs, teasing them in with a lure and subsequently shooting some footage wouldn't be unscientific. Would it? I suppose that is your department.
