G
greywolf
Member
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2013
- Messages
- 69
Caught a 22 inch one on Spring Creek 3 years ago. Biggest fish I have caught on Spring.
The_Sasquatch
Well-known member
Dude come on. #keepemwet #ffvirtuesignal
jifigz
Well-known member
I mean, if we are transitioning this thread into a thread on fishing for suckers, primarily the white sucker, I will add this. Most all large, limestone influenced streams have large white suckers in them. Bigger rivers like the Juniata, Clarion, etc all have large white suckers in them. I have caught some bigguns and they fight pretty hard.
There is one very simple reason that they are not a "preferred gamefish." They are too tough to target and catch reliably. They are harder to catch than bass and trout. Their feeding patterns aren't easily deciphered by the angler and they don't just key on to a hatch or a certain baitfish, so to speak. They are just too darn challenging. Obviously they are down there sucking nymphs and other critters up but.....
I don't know if White Suckers have the pharyngeal teeth like the common carp, but hopefully they learn to crush and eat mudsnails. Carp are able to crush and eat hard shelled critters which would most likely make them be able to successfully consume the NZMS. If suckers can, too, that would be amazing. Maybe it could keep the snail count lower in Spring, raise the numbers of white suckers, and grow some monsters......
There is one very simple reason that they are not a "preferred gamefish." They are too tough to target and catch reliably. They are harder to catch than bass and trout. Their feeding patterns aren't easily deciphered by the angler and they don't just key on to a hatch or a certain baitfish, so to speak. They are just too darn challenging. Obviously they are down there sucking nymphs and other critters up but.....
I don't know if White Suckers have the pharyngeal teeth like the common carp, but hopefully they learn to crush and eat mudsnails. Carp are able to crush and eat hard shelled critters which would most likely make them be able to successfully consume the NZMS. If suckers can, too, that would be amazing. Maybe it could keep the snail count lower in Spring, raise the numbers of white suckers, and grow some monsters......
R
Roofin' Trouter
Active member
Nice fish!😁
Back some time, I was working up the crick and heard the " stringer jingle jangle" coming down towards me. After a few minutes this guy pops out of the brush with what looked like 2 nice browns and a smaller rainbow on the stringer. As he got closer I became certain that those browns were suckers. Guy says," Need two more for my limit."
Back some time, I was working up the crick and heard the " stringer jingle jangle" coming down towards me. After a few minutes this guy pops out of the brush with what looked like 2 nice browns and a smaller rainbow on the stringer. As he got closer I became certain that those browns were suckers. Guy says," Need two more for my limit."
jifigz
Well-known member
Suckers are an extremely popular fish to eat in certain parts of the country. They even have a spawning run, so to speak, in Missouri and they are popularly targeted there for their flesh.
Swattie87
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 3, 2011
- Messages
- 5,768
You should try tasty Brown Trout. Mhmmmm.
Swattie87
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 3, 2011
- Messages
- 5,768
You need to practice holding your rod with your neck. This is the preferred pose for native minnow/sucker photography.
R
Roofin' Trouter
Active member
I ate trout once a week for probably 5 years. My Dad put me and my two brothers to work filling the freezers. After that I lost the taste. I won't eat them smoked, I will not eat them even if I was cold,hungry,and soaked. I won't eat them filleted and fried, I couldn't stomach them if I tried.
Fish Sticks
Well-known member
Fall fish can also fall into the huge native category. They are an under appreciated game fish on fly. It can stay that way quite honestly because I am ok with having countless river miles of 5-18” hard fighting fish that you can swing wets, strip streamers, nymph, and occasionally throw dry flies to.
jifigz
Well-known member
I am a big fan of fallfish and catch a lot of them every year in the Juniata. Sometimes I even target them on dry flies and a 4 weight. Good times.
krayfish2
Well-known member
Nope. This goes back to a thread from months ago. Consensus was Instagram hero shots with the rod and the teeth or rod balanced over the shoulders were super annoying. I remarked that I didn't hold the the rod in my teeth to pose with the fish but I actually hold the fish in my teeth to pose with the rod. He said I wouldn't do it, I said I would and I'm not looking forward to it. The vent will have to be facing outwards for obvious reasons if it's a chubb 🤣
Schaefer406
Active member
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2021
- Messages
- 250
I never complain when catching suckers (although it is rare for me), they give a great fight and some funny pictures. I see TONS of them on Spring, specifically just below Fishermen's Paradise, you will see huge pods of them going up/down or sitting underneath bridges.
Fish Sticks
Well-known member
I don’t think anyone will touch that now infamous golden rainbow fly rod over the shoulder photo that broke the internet from the stylishly dressed young man sporting the “blue steel” look from Zoolander. I can’t find the photo but that is the bar that none of us on this forum will ever surpass.
DomR
Active member
From what I've been told (never tried them) suckers are good eating if you catch them where the water is cold and clear. They supposedly get gamey in warm or muddy water. I do remember people targeting them as well as eels in the early part of trout season.
coyoterahn
Well-known member
This past February while fishing Penns, I spent some time talking to an old chap around Coburn. He was targeting suckers in a big hole. His bait of choice was worms. He keeps them and makes fish cakes. Said they are one of his favorites to eat. Told me he guts the fish, cuts out the big bones and grinds the rest up in a blender.
Fish Sticks
Well-known member
I lived in Hawaii for a time a while ago and what the Hawaiians there would do for bonefish(very very boney) was gut them, cut fillets, then get a dough roller and roll the fillets until the meat was separated off the bones and make fish cakes. Never ate one but should have. I used to fish for bonefish, ladyfish, tilapia, and barracuda in an old brackish water Japanese graveyard with a canal system and had the opportunity hist never the patience to actually process them.
ryansheehan
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2015
- Messages
- 2,516
I've been waiting patiently!!!
krayfish2
Well-known member
It's going to happen sometime between Easter and 5/5. They don't start to get real active until that water temp is mid 50's. I'm dreading it and better have a beer handy to wash that native fish taste out of my pie hole.
Latest posts
-
LJuly/August trout - what central PA streams stay cold?
- Latest: lycoflyfisher
-
-
A
-
