Ugly Fish

[Northwoods Labs]

A lot of folks hate on suckers, thinking they are merely trash fish, good for nothing, etc. I love suckers and fishing for them in the spring:

-they take me back to simpler times. You don't need some glitter boat and fancy electronics to catch these guys.
-They fight and fun to catch. Let's fact it...walleyes are boring (that will rile some folks up!)
-They are a native species, in my opinion they have more right than the brown and rainbow trout around by me
-Underappreciated table fare, especially in a clean river when water is cold. I make fish cakes or pickle them

 

[JohnCushman]

Carp are fun to fish for with a fly rod.

 

[p_ham]

I used to catch some sort of minnow back east that had horns all over its head. Kinda weirded me out the first time I caught one.

Look up razorback suckers, now that's an ugly fish.

 

[MThuntr]

fresh sucker means ling bait

 

[stillkickin]

I agree, suckers are under appreciated everywhere.

They’re great for teaching newcomers how to hook, handle and land fish. We live on pretty darn clean cold water so our suckers pickle, can and smoke up well.

We freeze and save the belly’s for later as they are awesome cut into strip baits.

 

[Sawtooth]

Fresh water tarpoon on a fly rod.

 

[Dougfirtree]

I don't love catching them, but I do enjoy when they run up the rivers. Often I'll see them when I'm salmon fishing and I love how many there are, shooting around the river bed as I wade around.

 

[elkrchr]

I grew up in central Wisconsin and we used to absolutely slay the suckers this time of year. Like you said, no fancy boats needed and they fought very well. Besides that, they were very abundant.

 

[JV842]

I remember when I was young, I would sit on my uncles shoulder carrying a lantern as he would wade n we would spear em along w buffalo fish

 

[JV842]

We pickle them n bbq the big ones

 

[D4570]

The Granddaughter got a nice blue sucker the other day.