About time the family of fishes that forms the bedrock of nearly every great North American fishery gets a little respect:

http://blog.nature.org/science/2015/03/02/a-sucker-myth-is-born-every-minute/

That was a good read, thanks for sharing.

Oops, when I read the headline I thought it listed anyone that fished with crankbaits!!!!!
Bwahahahahahahahaha. :)

quote The Great Outdoors: "Oops, when I read the headline I thought it listed anyone that fished with crankbaits!!!!!
Bwahahahahahahahaha. :)"

Ha!

I can't wait for the Sucker run, a sure sign of spring. Blue collar Brook Trout!

fresh sucker patties are always great! Just pulled a few from the freezer the other day and had them Jamaican Jerk style, which turned out great.

quote The Great Outdoors: "Oops, when I read the headline I thought it listed anyone that fished with crankbaits!!!!!
Bwahahahahahahahaha. :)"

Good one!

quote Arlo Pankook: "I can't wait for the Sucker run, a sure sign of spring. Blue collar Brook Trout! "

You are a true multispecies fisherman :-)

I like to catch suckers so I can carve them up and use them for catfish cut bait. Cut them into one inch by one inch squares.Catfish enjoy sucker plus they stay on the hook good.

Now we are talking! Hooking suckers on a 30' cane pole. Some good times and RIP to my sucker fishing buddy Rosco. Usuallly around mid to late April they are running here around Duluth. Get a crew together...maybe a few boxes of Boones Farm and hit the banks!

And some BW sucker fishing...one of the BIG reasons I go up late May. Sucker Whisperer

quote MagicStik: "And some BW sucker fishing...one of the BIG reasons I go up late May. Sucker Whisperer



"

Some day I'll get that secret 'dub sucker spot out of you!!

quote Arlo Pankook: "I can't wait for the Sucker run, a sure sign of spring. Blue collar Brook Trout! "

How do you like the sedona I just bought 2? And just out of curiosity what did you catch those suckers on?

And how do you prepare suckers to eat?

quote dj00140: "

quote Arlo Pankook: "I can't wait for the Sucker run, a sure sign of spring. Blue collar Brook Trout! "

How do you like the sedona I just bought 2? And just out of curiosity what did you catch those suckers on?

And how do you prepare suckers to eat?"

The Sedona is a pretty good reel for the money, especially if you upgrade the drag washers to carbon ones. I almost always use a piece of nightcrawler on a hook with a split shot (TGO sucker method). Suckers are perfect for smoking (hard to light however hehe) or flake up the meat and add breadcrumbs, seasoning and an egg and fry up fresh fish cakes.

This year I would like to try catching some on a fly rod. Anyone do this?..Nymph?..wet fly?

I love when the suckers (and carp) start running on the Sauk River!

A properly scaled, filleted (with skin on), scored and fried sucker is a culinary treat.

@MagicStik - suckers on a 30' cane pole... now we are talking! I've been a die hard sucker angler for probably 20 years and I was just thinking how I wanted to catch some monster suckers this year on a cane pole....

@dj00140 - they are pretty similar to pike but with along string of bones in the tail. We've carefully removed them and made them like any other fish (too much work but good). Otherwise we grind them up and make fish cakes for the skillet or fish balls for the deep fryer. Smoking and pickling works well too. Or scoring and frying.

@Arlo - suckers can be caught on the fly if you get small, weighted nymphs rolling tight to bottom. It is tough going though. Suckers on the fly make carp on the fly seem easy.

quote MagicStik: "And some BW sucker fishing...one of the BIG reasons I go up late May. Sucker Whisperer



"

sucker whisperer lolololol :-)

The river by the portage into Thomas lake is flooded with them

This is a revelation to me! I had no idea there was such a fan base for the sucker.

Where I grew up it was carp fishing!

quote Arlo Pankook: "

quote MagicStik: "And some BW sucker fishing...one of the BIG reasons I go up late May. Sucker Whisperer




"

Some day I'll get that secret 'dub sucker spot out of you!!"

48 03'29.77" N
The 5' stretch of creek is between 91 17'36.25" W & 91 17'36.41" W

I guess we can call it even for 15" crappies. ;)

Magic

quote Hoaf: "This is a revelation to me! I had no idea there was such a fan base for the sucker.


Where I grew up it was carp fishing!"

Carp are fun to catch and all but Suckers are native fish that are important for the well being of lakes and rivers.

Plus suckers taste good... I've cooked carp once, it wasn't terrible but I haven't repeated it...

I know where some carp are trapped in clean trout water, I've toyed with taking a couple more out of there and smoking them. My great grandparents came over from Germany and they were big fans of smoked carp. Hard to give it try when I almost always have Salmon, Trout, Suckers and Whitefish in my freezer

Potential MN state record Longnose Sucker snagged in 90' of water on Lake Superior. It was a 1/4" longer than the current state record...and full of eggs. Didn't know what kind of sucker it was until after we had already smoked it. :)





Magic

Schollmeier...the cane pole didn't work out too well. Any slight breeze and the pole would bend a few feet...when set up in a "Y" stick. It was very hard to tell when you had a bite. Trying to set the hook...and land a fish on a river with any trees was not easy either. I picked up the 30'er as a joke for the annual Sucker Fest. It now sits in the corner of my garage...I will probably donate it to the Sucker Fishing Hall of Fame some day. ;)

Magic

Lots of big Longnose in Superior. I've gotten a few that would have threatened the MN record (but they were caught in WI). Major runs of those on all the tribs if you time it right, but it can be a super short run - hundreds one day, all gone the next

I was wondering about that... 30' is a lotta stick... I have an 11' and a 13' - which is a bit more manageable (though obviously with a lot shorter range).

I was really surprised to catch my first Utah sucker accidentally while fishing for smallmouth. The river was kind of high and murky, and I was fishing a white paddle tail swimbait on a jig head. The fish absolutely crushed it. I caught a glimpse of the fish and saw it was long and slender, so I thought it might be a walleye or brown trout. I'll admit I was slightly disappointed at first when I saw it was a sucker, but it really did hit and fight hard. I can't complain, all fish are fun.

Nice fish! I'm a fish nerd so I'd love to catch a Utah Sucker (or anything else I've never caught).

I've caught suckers on jigs but only rarely. Usually late winter into early spring, they sometimes act a little more aggressive when they get in that pre-spawn state.

I'm the same way, I love adding new species to the list. We don't always have the variety of species out here, that's one thing I miss about living back east.

The weird thing was that it was mid September, the water was high from irrigation output from the dam upstream. I was swimming the bait pretty steadily. It was very odd, but that bait was definitely in the mouth, and it hit like a ton of bricks.

Interesting... sometimes fish forget what they are and act weird. I've seen 45" Musky caught on a crawler. My biggest Flathead was 47" and ate a 2" long nub of worm. I've caught walleyes chucking giant musky topwaters over weedbeds

I caught a nice white sucker with a little cleo on Tuscarora a few years ago. Lost my collapsible net in the process.

I didn't think it was special at the time.

I set my rod down on the bank on Brule once, a baby (maybe 8") rainbow took a shine to my bait and I ended up in the river in the process. I didn't that was special at the time either, though I did get the rod back.

I lost a rod to a Channel Cat once, but got it back shortly after dredging the bottom with a heavy jig. That was pretty special.

I was wading in the shallow run-up to a rapids trying to catch a sucker while in the heat of spawning passion. I was standing in about 8" of flowing water when the female sucker drifted backwards into a groove in the rock where the fastest water was flowing about three feet from me. She flayed her fins out and started vibrating, like a strong buzzing. It was so strong it tickled my feet and I could hear it. As she buzzed, four males backed down the stream to join her in the slot and they spawned in a tight cluster. It was so cool to experience I didn't even try to catch one.

I'll never forget that buzzing!

Anyone finding any suckers yet? The run should happen soon here around Duluth. Planning to head out next weekend with a crew and pound the dirt roads in search of some early runners.

While checking up on one of my sucker holes I see Google Earth was interested in how the fishing was also. Our crew was fishing off the bridge a couple years back. Some folks will do anything to get the low down on a good sucker hole! :)

Very few so far. My main river is about 43* - it doesn't get any major White Sucker runs so it will be a while. About 50* and I should be seeing lots of Shorthead Redhorse.

Good White runs in the local trout streams but those are artificial only until May, which makes things tougher...

At least the Sturgeon are keeping me company while I wait for the Suckers

Hey Arlo,

I catch suckers on the fly every spring while steelheading. Also see spinning/drift rod guys get them on eggs. They seem to really like prince nymphs as well. Especially as its rising at the end of a drift.

Moonman.

Ha! I had no idea sucker fishing was a thing?! I may have to check out some locla streams and give it a whirl.

I was fishing with a Mepps spinner for Brookies in Quebec about 45 years ago and thought I had a huge Brookie, but it turned out to be a 4-5 lb sucker. I let it go. At the time I had no idea that you could eat them!

quote Saberboys: "Ha! I had no idea sucker fishing was a thing?! I may have to check out some locla streams and give it a whirl."

Hard to go wrong with fun to catch, tasty natives. Popularity seems a bit localized, often in larger river valleys. Most people only fish the spring spawning run but they can be caught all year long.

If you give it a go, words of advice - keep it simple and keep it light. Generally a small piece of crawler (or a red worm / trout worm) is best, not a whole nightcrawler. Smaller hooks are usually best (use 4s-8s most often). Fish holes and current breaks with the least weight you can get away with and light rod as the bites are often light. Usually best to ignore an suckers you see actively spawning, the fish upstream/downstream in the closest deeper water will be more willing to bite

We saw what must have been hundreds in the flowage between Seagull and Alpine in late May one year. We didn't know what we were fishing for at the time...

quote MeatGun: "We saw what must have been hundreds in the flowage between Seagull and Alpine in late May one year. We didn't know what we were fishing for at the time..."

Spring time in the BWCA,it is quite common to see bear activity at these spawning sites.

quote Arlo Pankook: "

quote MagicStik: "And some BW sucker fishing...one of the BIG reasons I go up late May. Sucker Whisperer




"

Some day I'll get that secret 'dub sucker spot out of you!!"

I can point you in the direction of some sucker in the BWCA, we saw a bunch of them last year.

quote Arlo Pankook: "

quote MagicStik: "And some BW sucker fishing...one of the BIG reasons I go up late May. Sucker Whisperer




"

Some day I'll get that secret 'dub sucker spot out of you!!"

I can point you in the direction of some sucker in the BWCA, we saw a bunch of them last year.