falcon
Well-known member
Suckers were ground and made into fish cakes. They were typically caught, speared, trapped in the winter to very early spring when their meat was firm. That being said I never tried one
I may have caught a state record fallfish
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coyoterahn
Well-known member
I met an older gentleman at Coburn a few years ago, I believe it was in February. He was fishing for suckers. He told me he grinds them up and makes fish cakes. He said they were delicious. I’d imagine if you know what you’re doing, they’re probably pretty good if taken out of a clean creek. Thinking about it, ’d be more willing to try those than a stocked trout.
dc410
Well-known member
Grinding them up would certainly help with the millions of bones in them, that would certainly make them a bit more enjoyable to eat.
wildtrout2
Well-known member
Channel cats are one of the most delicious tasting fish I've ever eaten! My dad was from down south, and he really knew how to cook them. I used to catch them from right below the Flat Rock Dam on the Schuylkill. I would catch them one after the other using chicken livers. I'd wade out to the rocks just past mid way, and cast to the Philly side of the dam. They were mostly 18"-22" fish, great eating size. Great fighters too! Ahhh, the good old days.
rustbeltwilds
Well-known member
When suckers are ground and made into fish cakes.... Sure ...all ya taste probably is all the breadcrumbs and seasoning anyway......so in that case i would bet a ground up cardboard box would taste fine also... Just like the guys who say erie steelhead are greeeeat lol... Sure anything smoked n properly seasoned is good. Lol. Just my 2 cents
My grandfather caught a lot of suckers when I was a kid and made them into fish cakes. I really enjoy eating them, once the water warmed though, he would stop fishing for them.
Bamboozle
Well-known member
While not a fan of eating suckers, I do like fishing for them and have a LOT of fond memories fishing for them in SEPA. 🙂
falcon
Well-known member
I have heard of sucker drives back in the 60s and maybe into the 70s. When rivers used to freeze up in very cold weather, a group of people would gather on the frozen section and bang on the ice moving toward the open section of the river where others ewaited with gigs. I know they did this on the Paulinskill R.in Blairstown.
5footfenwick
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I couldn’t agree more. They are incredibly good. I think a fair amount of people who have a bad experience eating channel cats are eating one’s that are too large. 14”-20” taste amazing. 24” plus, not so much.
falcon
Well-known member
In the middle Delaware R which is somewhat clean some channels taste like mud ( probably the larger ones) and some are good.
falcon
Well-known member
I remember a article in the Fur Fish and Game magazine about catching early season suckers for fish cakes.
Not very long ago I saw about a 4lb hatchery Brown Trout set up behind a school of suckers .... probably taking sucker spawn and dislodged nymphs. I tried drifting sucker spawn and nymphs to that fish to no avail. A sucker would intercept my fly. Eventually the commotion drove that fish under a tangle of bankside brush.
Not very long ago I saw about a 4lb hatchery Brown Trout set up behind a school of suckers .... probably taking sucker spawn and dislodged nymphs. I tried drifting sucker spawn and nymphs to that fish to no avail. A sucker would intercept my fly. Eventually the commotion drove that fish under a tangle of bankside brush.
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tomgamber
Well-known member
I ate a sucker once. Was delicious. Big one from Willow creek. Took it home. Split it down the middle. Meat side down on the grill. My dad and I got forks an just ate it right off the carcass. Sweet , white, clean. It's all about the "wooder".
Several years later, at Pymatuning, I was taking a class and another student and I were fishing just south of hhe spillway. Kid had 4lb test On his ultralight. I had a flyrod, of course, that would have been destroyed had I actually hooked a carp. luckkly we were crushing bluegills. There was a friendly Hispanic man fishing next to us who noticed my friend fishing his "little" rod in proximity to the spillway. In his best Tony Montana dialect he looked at my friend and said, in the same breath as he flopped a split carp of about 12 lbs over the coals of a portable Weber grill, " Hey Meng, you can't catch a carp in 4lb test". He seemed angry that we were trying (even though werent). We lost it. Then he lost it. Laughing. Good big laugh.
Several years later, at Pymatuning, I was taking a class and another student and I were fishing just south of hhe spillway. Kid had 4lb test On his ultralight. I had a flyrod, of course, that would have been destroyed had I actually hooked a carp. luckkly we were crushing bluegills. There was a friendly Hispanic man fishing next to us who noticed my friend fishing his "little" rod in proximity to the spillway. In his best Tony Montana dialect he looked at my friend and said, in the same breath as he flopped a split carp of about 12 lbs over the coals of a portable Weber grill, " Hey Meng, you can't catch a carp in 4lb test". He seemed angry that we were trying (even though werent). We lost it. Then he lost it. Laughing. Good big laugh.
I ate a sucker from Lake Towhee, Bucks Co or else it was from Lake Ontelaunee. I caught it through the ice on a jigging rod. It was quite good. Flavor may be somewhat dependent upon where you catch them as various and probably numerous naturally occurring and man-made compounds and chemicals will taint fish flesh.
Tomgamber, I assume you were taking a class at Pymatuning Lab. Which course, which prof(s)? Great place to study.
Tomgamber, I assume you were taking a class at Pymatuning Lab. Which course, which prof(s)? Great place to study.
bigjohn358
Well-known member
I've always heard stories about the people back in the day catching suckers out of Fishing Creek and Little Fishing Creek and then canning them. Thats when eels also romed those waters and was a big thing I guess.
Striperbobby
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I enjoy catching fallfish, I call them Brandywine Bonefish and I refer to carp as Perkiomen Puppy Drum. Some of the most fun you can have is catching big channel cats on the susky when the white Miller hatch is happening and they take bass poppers when all the spent mayflies are floating on top at night!
DomR
Active member
That's the story I've always heard going back to when I was a kid. If you caught them early in the year from cold, clean waters their meat was firm and didn't taste gamey/muddy. Never had the urge to try out that theory but I do remember older gentlemen targeting them intentionally, I usually see them in the 1st few weeks of trout season then not again until the same time next spring.
tomgamber
Well-known member
Kodrich, research statistics. We fished a lot. "sample collecting"
My Dad used to tell me an old story about how to eat carp. Clean the carp and put it on a cherry plank, fill the carp with oregano, basil, fennel, all kinds of spices. Bake at 350 degrees for an hour. Discard the carp and eat the cherry plank. As a kid I used to enjoy him telling me this old saw. He was a great friend.
redietz
Well-known member
That's very similar to old Isaac Walton's suggestion in The Compleat Angler on how to cook chubs. (He stuffed it with all the above spices plus sausage. You then threw away the chub and ate the stuffing.)
Bamboozle
Well-known member
I heard the same "plank" cooking instructions for shad when I first started fishing for them in the Delaware... 😉
