The Fishes of Tennessee

[dbradyh]

Checked out a copy of "The Fishes of Tennessee", by Etnier and Starnes from the Nashville Public Library and found it on Amazon for $75. The authors break down all river drainages and describe the geology behind their formation before listing the species. The key images are mostly high quality photographs and a few drawings.
This book won't necessarily make one a better fisherman, but will make one a more knowledgeable angler.
Facts like this make the book worthwhile: discovery of muskie fossils in caves along the Duck river, a 1937 confirmed bull shark capture on the Mississippi in Illinois, and the complete disappearance of the harelip sucker( a once plentiful food fish in Tennessee) sometime before 1930.
Lots of surprises in the book and it might turn one on to overlooked rivers and species nearby.
Thanks to gasperou for mentioning this book in an earlier post!

[grumpy]

That sounds like an interesting read for sure.

Grumpy

[gaspergou]

Glad I brought it up! There's also pretty good books out there for Alabama (Boschung & Mayden 2004) and Virginia (Jenkins and Burkhead 1994)-- both worth checking out of the library, too!

[bd]

Does it go into the smaller species like the different darters and creek minnows?  I'd like to get better at identifying some of those tiny, colorful fish that show up in the cast net occasionally when I'm catching stonerollers for bait.

bd

[dbradyh]

Yes, there are excellent photos of darters, chubs, and shiners along with the specific drainages that each species occur.
The book is now on my to buy list.

[bd]

Great!  Get me one too.   

bd