I usually sneak up on the pools to see what is in them before the fish startle. I did see a large red eared slider happily munching away on the FA in the creek. I didn't know they ate that!
I then checked the best pools for minnows. All of the big minnows were gone! The pools are now full of fat sunfish and 5" long bass. The only minnows I could see were a species that was too small to be caught in my trap.
I think there are still some large minnows in the riffles. That is the only safe space from the predators in the creek. I really need to get better at my trapping, because I suspect the minnows that live in the riffles are a different species than the ones that prefer living in the pools.
A lot of the minnows in our creeks are Red Shiners and one with a lateral stripe I haven't identified yet. These typically hang out behind riffles. In the riffles I catch a lot of darters. It appears the minnow spawn I over locally.
