Sucker fish

[wolf]

I keep all the white sucker fish I catch ( so far caught two) . I know people throw them back since they are bottom feeders and all. ( the same time they eat other bottom feeder fishs) Do you keep them or throw them back? Because they look ugly or there is a health concern I should be aware? I can not find anything about health concern on the net.

http://www.sfishinc.com/fisht3.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_sucker

Thank you in advance.

[nicemustang]

They are mushy, oily and gross. I always keep them too but because they ruin the lake and through them out. But they taste horrible and IMO are the scum of the lake. Would you eat the algae in the lake too?

[Couleestalker]

People eat Tilapia all the time, those things follow close behind hippos eating dung and then they turn around and eat their own. Worked in the lethbridge aquaculture building and we would clean the tank from young fish and trough it in the brood tanks and they would have it cleaned up in seconds. Can't see why a sucker from a deep cold lake that has been eating fish eggs, small fish and crustaceans would taste that bad if prepared right.

[Izumi]

They are mushy, oily and gross. I always keep them too but because they ruin the lake and through them out. But they taste horrible and IMO are the scum of the lake. Would you eat the algae in the lake too?

:huh: Would you eat flies or larva? How about smelts or minnows?

[Waxy]

but because they ruin the lake and through them out.

Where did you get this info from?

Other than in a few cases where the fish in question are invasive species, "suckers" are an important part of the ecosystem of the lake and killing them for no reason is pretty ridiculous...

I don't want to eat them either, but throw them back.

Waxy

[Donavonszoo]

I wonder if they would be decent smoked or dried.. anybody ever try?

[river_runner]

Just make a fish soup slice and dice a few things and few spices YUMMM :D

[~Octane~]

:sick: I just puked a little in my mouth just from reading this. Whoever eats suckers must not catch much of actual game fish:lol: However I must say i've heard from good sources the red finned sucker or red tailed sucker or whatever its called are good eating. Meh, i'd never try it:lol:

[slingshotz]

In one of the older Barry Mitchell's magazines I remember reading an article on what they actually eat and to much surprise their diet is actually technically better than a trout. It was an article to dispel the myth they are trash and useless fish. I do remember catching them in the bow and some good sized suckers put up a good fight, better that some trout.

If I could find the article again I could shock many fans of trout on what trout will actually eat. I've eaten them from clean flowing waters and they are actually pleasant except for all the little bones. Their meat can be nice delicate and sweet and they are supposed to be good smoked cause of the oil, now that I have a smoker I plan on trying one if I ever catch one accidentally again. I've had some pike that tasted far worse.

I personally don't care if one doesn't eat them but throwing them away is a waste of our resources, unless they were not native to that body of water. The only way big fish like pike and walleye stay big and strong is having things like suckers and whitefish to eat.

[Yellowtail]

Sucker actually has less toxic contaminates in them than pike or walleye. The higher up the food chain you go the higher the concentration of toxins such as heavy metals. I think walleye is one of the worst for mercury contamination.

[goober]

I worked with a bunch of guy's from Oklahoma this winter and they love Sucker fish. They have gigging tournaments to catch them and then have a huge sucker feast. They claim that there is a special way to cook it that included scoring the flesh and then deep frying it. I never tried it but they swore by it, they thought I was crazy when I said we did not eat them.

[Rumtan]

Smoked is how I have tried them....actually quite good. Taste one smoked first before you pass judgement, you will be pleasantly surprised. At first they said lobster was the worst because it was a bottom feeder and look how it caught on.

[sullijr]

:huh: Would you eat flies or larva? How about smelts or minnows?

Smelts are the sign of spring in the east,delicious fried in butter.No limit we used 6' square nets and caught them by the bushel basket full.

[Donavonszoo]

[QUOTE=slingshotz;327263]In one of the older Barry Mitchell's magazines I remember reading an article on what they actually eat and to much surprise their diet is actually technically better than a trout. It was an article to dispel the myth they are trash and useless fish. I do remember catching them in the bow and some good sized suckers put up a good fight, better that some trout.

If I could find the article again I could shock many fans of trout on what trout will actually eat. I've eaten them from clean flowing waters and they are actually pleasant except for all the little bones. Their meat can be nice delicate and sweet and they are supposed to be good smoked cause of the oil, now that I have a smoker I plan on trying one if I ever catch one accidentally again. I've had some pike that tasted far worse.

QUOTE]

I dont remember who wrote the article but i read something of the same nature..i was going to mention it but i didnt have a referance to go by.:p

[Donavonszoo]

[QUOTE=~Octane~;327255]:sick: I just puked a little in my mouth just from reading this. Whoever eats suckers must not catch much of actual game fish:lol: QUOTE]

Try hooking a 5 pound sucker on an ultralight rod and then say they arnt game fish:p

[wolf]

Thanks guys,

Chain lakes has suckers and I do not think they ruin the lakes. We usually catch one-two sucker every season, and yes I do keep all my legal fish.
I was thinking salt dry them and smoke.

BTW white sturgeon is a bottom feeder, and it is a best fish to me.

Thanks again everyone, I was not sure if it was a health concern.

[WayneChristie]

main reason I missed using worms in the Bow in Calgary, we used to catch dozens of suckers, some quite big and always had a lot of fun. the settlers used to can them and called them prairie salmon because you couldnt tell the difference when they were canned

[Jorg]

I've tried canned sucker in sask. It was very good. They also make great bait any 5 lb.+ walleye will take on a foot long sucker no problem.

[Izumi]

It's interesting a lot of people reaction to Suckers today is a lot like the way people reacted to Burbot in times past...

I personally still have not tried one and wont knock it until I do.

[hit1987]

used to catch lots of suckers on Bow and chain lake.
always find some white color tape-type worms inside sucker belly. wondering what they are and concern about eating them. now playing catch & release all suckers.

[bsnyder]

They fight hard and Carp( sucker ) fishing down east and in Europe is realy popular. They even have tournys :huh:They can get real big.I personaly wont even touch one , they look so GROSS:rolleye2:( kinda girlish eh?) ILL stick with walley:wave:

[~Octane~]

[QUOTE=~Octane~;327255]:sick: I just puked a little in my mouth just from reading this. Whoever eats suckers must not catch much of actual game fish:lol: QUOTE]

Try hooking a 5 pound sucker on an ultralight rod and then say they arnt game fish:p

lol. I'm well aware of how they fight, quillbacks especially..I am supposedly the Alberta record holder for quillback, and would probably be in the record book if it was a game fish. I think the largest reported in the NSR was 44cm. I landed this 24in quillback a few years back dragging a jig along bottom. Took a good 15 minutes to land. Thought it was a carp at first because of the size of it.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y295/perchfisher2/Openwater%202007/Edited_NSR_Carp.jpg

But ya, I'd much rather go for huge trout pike or walleye ;)

[Jetski]

About 40 years ago I stopped and talked with a native family camped beside a pond along a road south of Sundre about this time of year. The fellow had a dozen or so large whole suckers spread open on sticks in front of a green willow smudge fire and another 50 or more in coolers already smoked. When asked how he caught them we walked down to where the water was dammed up just in front of a culvert crossing under the road and there were several dozen big suckers swimming which he said he was catching with a dip net.

He explained that smoked spring sucker was something his grandfolks had shown him and was traditional food for their family for as long as any remembered. As I recall he said that he brined them for a short time in some salt water before smoking. The piece of smoked fish he gave me to try was as good as any other I've had since and about the same texture as smoked marlin.

Somewhere I read that smoked suckers are the state fish of Minnesota. :rolleyes:

[Donavonszoo]

I am supposedly the Alberta record holder for quillback, and would probably be in the record book if it was a game fish.



I stand corrected! Congrats on the "record", I think? LOL

[slingshotz]

On the weekend I smoked a bunch of the goldeye and the one sucker we caught in the RDR and I have to admit that the sucker tasted better than the goldeye. It was really clean tasting, firm white meat, just a bit annoying with the little bones but as long as you took your time it was ok. The goldeye was actually a bit mushy and not as firm or tasty.

I'd bet if I served that to people 99% of the time no one would have guessed it was a sucker.

[MrDave]

I have had suckers smoked, canned, and fried. It is like anything else, if you know how to cook it, its good; but a bad cook can turn anything into dog food. When they come out of cold water they are nice and firm. Same as every other fish, if they come out of gross water they taste gross.

[kinwahkly]

I always keep2 or 3 in the spring and bury them under my trees, they make great fertilzer for youre trees just make sure youre dog doesnt dig them up on you, but i always throw them back.

[raised by wolves]

Suckers are part of the ecosystem. They have been part of it longer than we have so I find comments regarding the destructive behaviour of suckers quite hilarious. That tidbit of info probably came from that old, fat guy that sits on a bucket along the shoreline and complains about coloured folk having the vote.

If I am starving and not capable of finding a cutthroat, there would be no hesitation on grilling and dining on a sucker. They taste OK and they live in the same water from which I harvest other fish. They are bottom feeders, but so too are freshwater burbot, catfish, sal****er cod, lingcod, flounder, sole, halibut, (etc.) but we pay big bucks to eat them.

I recall reading an article about a cannery near Fort William that processed suckers as a canned product for both export and local grocery stores. One of my Cree buddies says his father and some of the other old boys from his band always eat the suckers that end up in their whitefish nets.

[Sundancefisher]

I keep all the white sucker fish I catch ( so far caught two) . I know people throw them back since they are bottom feeders and all. ( the same time they eat other bottom feeder fishs) Do you keep them or throw them back? Because they look ugly or there is a health concern I should be aware? I can not find anything about health concern on the net.

http://www.sfishinc.com/fisht3.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_sucker

Thank you in advance.

This is kinda to some of the replies also.

I have never eaten sucker so I can not personally comment on the taste. I know I can't stand goldeye and northern pike minnow though...

Anyways...depending one where you fish, suckers are an important part of the ecosystem and are a necessary part of it. In a pike and walleye lake, suckers feed many, many juvenile predators and in fact nature designed the spawning times for suckers to benefit the likes of pike and walleye. In a stocked trout lake they are not so good. In a normal river the suckers often feed the predators.

I worked with some poor biologist/technicians that killed every sucker and whitefish they saw when working. Short sighted to say the least.

Now whitefish are becoming seen as important for the health of the rivers include bull trout, brown trout, cutthroats and rainbows.

I had a buddy once who almost dry fly fished primarily for suckers in the river. He said they tasted fine from the clear mountain streams. I find trout caught in pot holes lakes often taste muddy or sulphury and I tend to not eat them either.

To each there own but I would strongly suggest think before you indiscriminately kill suckers just cause of what they look like.

I would love to see F&W include in their regulations and inforce protection for indiscriminate killing of suckers. There should at least be a reasonably low limit set.

Once people thought all sharks should be killed. Now whole ecosystems and fisheries are at risk because of the needless slaughter.

Sun

[Sundancefisher]

[QUOTE=Donavonszoo;327369]

lol. I'm well aware of how they fight, quillbacks especially..I am supposedly the Alberta record holder for quillback, and would probably be in the record book if it was a game fish. I think the largest reported in the NSR was 44cm. I landed this 24in quillback a few years back dragging a jig along bottom. Took a good 15 minutes to land. Thought it was a carp at first because of the size of it.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y295/perchfisher2/Openwater%202007/Edited_NSR_Carp.jpg

But ya, I'd much rather go for huge trout pike or walleye ;)

I had one great day for Quillbacks a number of years ago. Best fighting fish in Alberta. In was within the Edmonton city limits. Reminded me of a small Chinook salmon the way it tore out line. I probably caught close to 20 that day all on jigs. Put them all back also. Some were huge. Wish I would of taken pictures. Also caught a redhorse.

Great photo...brings back memories!

[fish-man]

I can vouch for the fighting ability of suckers... I used to catch them all the time at the river; I remember one 6 lb plus fish that put up more of a battle than most of the pike I've caught.

I don't particularly want to eat one, but I wonder if a big sucker- or perhaps 1/2 of one- would be a good bait to catch huge pike. Anyone tried it?

[WayneChristie]

I remember reading in old outdoor life magazines about people swearing by big "up to 2 feet" suckers for huge pike and musky bait, I thing they were using them live tho.

[Dark Wing]

Our local rod & gun club use to trap them by the thousands out of the Grande Cache and Victor lake canal. In the early 70's the lake was poisoned and then stocked with bows and the lakes are still thick with them. Every sucker caught is left for the coyotes and birds. Their brutal on the stocked rainbows released so every one I catch gets the football treatment. From what I've been told their pretty wormy and the thought of eating them makes me gag:sick:.

[Freedom55]

Several years ago we stopped for a weekend at Ressor Res. near Elkwater. We had taken the kids there a lot of times to still-fish for the stocked rainbows and had always caught a fine feed of fresh trout. As we put in with the car-topper we were greeted by the Fish and Wildlife officer at the dock. He told us that the trout population had declined to near zero due to the illegal introduction of suckers, which had taken over the pond, and that perhaps we could present a dry fly if we wished to try for the few remaining tiny trout.
He went on to tell us that F&W planned to poison the lake the kill the "bottom-feeders" before they re-introduced the rainbows. I don't know if that ever happened but I have heard that fishing has improved there.
That seems to me to be the problem with suckers in a fishery and I don't hesitate to kill the big lippers and toss them to the birds when I fish a trout lake.
Dave Si

[fish-man]

How do suckers harm trout? Do they eat eggs? they don't seem particularly predatory.

[Dark Wing]

They compete for the same food sources. I've caught suckers so loaded with eggs that their bellies were grossly distorted, so I'm guessing their prolific breeders. The lake I used as an example was poisoned many years ago and still has a huge population of suckers. If you want an improved trout fishery remove as many suckers as you can.

[1/2 oz Bucktail]

Seriously, you are in Grande Cache, arguably some of the best Bull trout fishing and I dare say the best Grayling fishing in Alberta.... Who cares about a stocked lake. Let the suckers stay and dump in some Bull trout to help control the population. Have you seen the numbers of brook trout fingerlings that are stocked in Victor Lake each year? It is ridiculous. And where do you figure that all of those thousands of fingerlings are going??? Yup you guessed it, they are feeding the larger brook trout and rainbows in the lake. If the idea is to enhance the fisheries at both Victor and Grande Cache lakes, the answer is a major decrease in trout stocking rates, not the complete elimination of a native fish species.

The whole idea of giving the suckers the "football" treatment sounds very disturbingly similar to previous attitudes towards Pike, Burbot, and Bull trout, hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Keep the suckers as they are a natural part of the system.

[Dark Wing]

Seriously, you are in Grande Cache, arguably some of the best Bull trout fishing and I dare say the best Grayling fishing in Alberta.... Who cares about a stocked lake. Let the suckers stay and dump in some Bull trout to help control the population. Have you seen the numbers of brook trout fingerlings that are stocked in Victor Lake each year? It is ridiculous. And where do you figure that all of those thousands of fingerlings are going??? Yup you guessed it, they are feeding the larger brook trout and rainbows in the lake. If the idea is to enhance the fisheries at both Victor and Grande Cache lakes, the answer is a major decrease in trout stocking rates, not the complete elimination of a native fish species.

The whole idea of giving the suckers the "football" treatment sounds very disturbingly similar to previous attitudes towards Pike, Burbot, and Bull trout, hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Keep the suckers as they are a natural part of the system.


SRD doesn't have any problem with it and neither do I. There's talk of putting the old sucker trap in the canal again. Talk to a fishery biologist and maybe you'll have a different take on things.

[BigBow]

SRD doesn't have any problem with it and neither do I. There's talk of putting the old sucker trap in the canal again. Talk to a fishery biologist and maybe you'll have a different take on things.

Back in B.C. I ran into a few fish and wildlife officers at one of my favorite spots on my favorite river, he said if I caught and suckers or squaw fish to kill them. I caught about 100 squaw fish and suckers that day. The birds loved the feed lol. Sad thing I only caught about 10 trout. I am friends with a fisheries biologist and he said squaw fish and suckers can take over a lake faster then most people think and he kills them when hes fishing and catches them.

[addicted]

anyone have any receipes for suckers, I caught a huge one last year up my fort mac it had to be at least 5lbs. thought i hooked into a monster walleye at first I thought about wasteing it but then changed my mind and let it go .... It took right off it was a really good fight though:lol:

[Private Ear]

Smoke them.

[Jetski]

Deep fried;

http://www.valdosta.edu/library/find/arch/folklife/findingaid/suckerfish/suckerfish.htm

[Sundancefisher]

Deep fried;

http://www.valdosta.edu/library/find/arch/folklife/findingaid/suckerfish/suckerfish.htm

I hear you can deep fry an old sock and it tastes delicious...:D

[baitfisher83]

remind me never to let you cook for me...lmfao

[Cal]

I ate a sucker once and will not do it again. My problem with suckers is not that they are bottom feeders or anything silly like that, they simply taste as much like sh*t as anything I have ever eaten. This is not second hand info here. In the eastern US they can them and smoke them which must taste better than pan frying them or nobody that was not starving to death would go to the trouble. I would bet dollars to doughnuts that the common house cat, dog, horse, or human fetus would taste better than suckers, and would not heasitate to try all but the last befor I eat another sucker.

[leloinjunior]

I lived with a guy from Northern SK (Buffalo Narrows - Way North). One time he brought back some smoked/scored fish that he fried - some of the best fish I'd had. I asked what kind it was & almost fell off my chair when he said it was sucker. These were from northern cold water - other southern fish may not be as good?

The Northern Pike, Walleye, Burbot & other sportfish we all love to catch get large from eating 1lb, 2lb sucker fish - they are a native, natural, & healthy part of the lake ecosystem.

As for bones you can score them in a checkered pattern & when fry them you don't really notice the bones. I rarely catch suckers, but I've always wanted to try canning them as this takes care of the fine bones & many people say the canned meat is delicious.

[AK47]

Long nose suckers tastes the best from all suckers, redhorses pretty good and white suckers are the worst. So if you want to try one go for long nose sucker.

[Red Bullets]

If you ever see mullet on the menu or in the fish stick store... it's another name for white sucker.

[pinelakeperch]

If you ever see mullet on the menu or in the fish stick store... it's another name for white sucker.

Yes, but it's also the name for a ton of marine species as well.

[Cowtown guy]

Welcome to the forum. It's always a newbie when a 6 year old thread resurfaces.

[KegRiver]

Welcome to the forum. It's always a newbie when a 6 year old thread resurfaces.

Is there a rule against posting on older threads ?

[YeeHaw]

main reason I missed using worms in the Bow in Calgary, we used to catch dozens of suckers, some quite big and always had a lot of fun. the settlers used to can them and called them prairie salmon because you couldnt tell the difference when they were canned

Granny use to can them with tomatoes. Yum yum

[Glenstr]

Used to catch suckers in the Fraser & Coquihalla rivers in BC - never tried eating them though because they were always thought of as too bony. Canning them would take care of that though, and not just the small bones. They were good fighters though, same as the Carp, Chub & Sqawfish we'd catch on occasion.

When we were kids fishing in some of the BC lakes and slower running creeks we'd sometimes fish for sculpins (bullheads) when the trout fishing was slow. They were so easy to catch because they'd bite right down on the worm and not let go, so you could pull them out of the water even when not hooked. We always threw them back though because they were thought of a coarse or garbage fish. Years later I remember reading about them actually being one of the tastier fish you could ever eat, with very sweet tasting pinkish & bone free fillets.

If you're ever in the Fraser Valley in the late summer take a short drive to the end of #3 road (towards the Fraser) just west of Chilliwack. There is a river/slough there that drains in to the Vedder and you'll see lots of people (mostly oriental when I was there) fishing for Carp with really long one piece super sensitive rods. There is no reels on the rods just a length of line as long as the rod, they fish with a small bobber & dough balls just off the shore. Looks like pretty tricky to hook these guys because the Carp seem to be experts at gumming the dough off without getting hooked. I think I saw about one hooked for every 5 or 6 dough balls used - but it looked like pretty fun fishing.

[SD1797]

I have been eating sucker my entire life. I make what I call sucker salmon. It's basically like the stuff u buy in a can.

[KegRiver]

I wish I knew how to catch suckers. I know there has to be thousands of them within ten miles of my place, but I've never fished for them.

I think I've caught two in my life, while fishing for other species.
Dad used to catch hundreds with a net.
Mom canned them using a pressure cooker to soften the bones. Or she would fry them then grind them and make fish patties, kinda like a small thick pancake. We couldn't get enough of either. They were delicious !

Dad would always take some of the days catch and pickle them in a salt brine and then smoke cure then till they were the consistency of leather.
Those didn't last either. We'd sneak them for trail snacks. It took all day chewing to consume one but we like them better then candy.

I need to ask mom what spices she used. I think some of my sisters know the recipes too so I'm not in a rush. I need to find out how to catch them first. Nets are illegal in the rivers around here.

I have a boat and the time, if anyone in this area wants a fishing trip and knows how to catch Suckers or Perch, give me a shout, we'll do a trip or two.

[leloinjunior]

Manitoba is ahead of the gang, pdf article on how to prepare Sucker Fish.

Its all about trying something new, obviously you don't have to, but sometimes you'll be pleasantly surprized if you do. Reminds me of Burbot - first time I caught one, I kicked it off the hook with my boots, I was horrified of that curling mass of ugliness. Me & Ex went to Nakusp BC one time & locals were fishing exclusively for Burbot. Had a few brewskies with an old guy who showed me how to hang / skin / fillet them, which was pretty cool. Came back, caught some Burb's, battered them up & deep-fried them. We were all blown away at how good it was, my dad was the most surprized & said it was the best deep-fried fish he'd had.

https://www.gov.mb.ca/conservation/fish/images/sucker.pdf

[Big Red 250]

I have been eating sucker my entire life. I make what I call sucker salmon. It's basically like the stuff u buy in a can.

Lots of people still do this. When I lived in Manitoba, people would dip net them in the spring when they would swim up the river's to spawn. They would haul them home by the 1/2 ton load, or 5 gallon pail full, I even saw them by the trunk load. The rivers would be so full, all you would see were fins sticking out when looking across. We would go down to the popular fishing spots and watch the people. Lots were being caught by hand. Was entertainment for us on a sunday afternoon. They are a very boney fish so mostly they are canned as it softens the bones, some people add a bit of tomato juice to give it a reddish colour.
I was told by a CO that they eat a lot of fish eggs.

[drhu22]

anyone have any receipes for suckers, I caught a huge one last year up my fort mac it had to be at least 5lbs. thought i hooked into a monster walleye at first I thought about wasteing it but then changed my mind and let it go .... It took right off it was a really good fight though:lol:

Mom made a really good fish chowder with sucker once. This is pretty close except I think hers had corn and carrots as well, and I would use more potato (to each their own)...

Potato Fish Chowder
Ingredients

2 tbsp (30 mL) butter
1 small leek, (white and light green parts only), diced
1 onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 bay leaf
1 clove garlic, minced
half sweet red pepper, diced
1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt
1/4 tsp (1 mL) paprika
3 tbsp (45 mL) all-purpose flour
2 bottles (each 240 mL) clam juice
1 Yukon Gold potato, peeled, quartered and sliced 1/4 inch (5mm) thick
1-1/2 cups (375 mL) milk
12 oz (340 g) cod or halibut fillets, cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm) chunks
(substitute sucker obviously)
2 tbsp (30 mL) chopped fresh parsley
3 strips bacon, (optional), cooked and crumbled

Preparation
-In large saucepan, heat butter over medium-high heat; fry leek, onion, celery, bay leaf, garlic, red pepper and salt, stirring often, for about 5 minutes or until leek and onion are softened. Stir in paprika.
-Add flour; cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Stir in clam juice; bring to boil. Add potato; cover and simmer over medium heat for about 10 minutes or until tender.
-Add milk; return to simmer. Add fish; simmer for about 5 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested. Discard bay leaf. Sprinkle with parsley, and bacon (if using).

[anthony5]

Lots of people still do this. When I lived in Manitoba, people would dip net them in the spring when they would swim up the river's to spawn. They would haul them home by the 1/2 ton load, or 5 gallon pail full, I even saw them by the trunk load. The rivers would be so full, all you would see were fins sticking out when looking across. We would go down to the popular fishing spots and watch the people. Lots were being caught by hand. Was entertainment for us on a sunday afternoon. They are a very boney fish so mostly they are canned as it softens the bones, some people add a bit of tomato juice to give it a reddish colour.
I was told by a CO that they eat a lot of fish eggs.

In NW Ont we would get into the creeks as early as the lake ice would let us, usually 1st or 2nd week of May. Suckers spawn after the walleye and get into the creeks and eat the walleye eggs. We would chase the suckers down the creek to a pool with a net or chicken wire stretched across and throw as many onto the bank as possible. This was in the late 60's and early 70's,to try and save as many walleye eggs as possible and get ready for the spring bear hunt, 2-300 lbs of suckers attracts a few bears. Nothing like standing in waist deep water in early may throwing 2 to 8lb suckers on to the bank, either with a dip net or bare hands:mad0100: Dad grew up in MB and said canned suckers were known as Manitoba Salmon:thinking-006: Best part was boating into the shallow water where the creeks entered and seeing 30 to 40 lb pike waiting for the suckers to leave the creek. Still miss that area.

[Red Bullets]

Canned sucker with tomato is yummy. A local woman I knew used to can suckers regularly.

Manitoba gov't has a canned sucker prep and recipe at the end of the article on canning fish.

https://www.gov.mb.ca/conservation/fish/images/canning.pdf

[Red Bullets]

I wish I knew how to catch suckers. I know there has to be thousands of them within ten miles of my place, but I've never fished for them.

I always seem to catch the most suckers using a pickeral rig with worms. Move the hooks lower on the rig so they are closer to the bottom. Alot of times they will be sucking on your worms and it helps to give a little set to the hook.

[Big Red 250]

We called the spring sucker run "The Ukranian Trout Festival". LOL, That was way back in the 70's and 80's.

[muzzy]

Ive caught suckers while trolling for walleye with spinner and minnow. We used to net and spear them by hundreds when I was a kid in Ontario and manitoba. They are delicious smoked or canned.

[bubba 96]

Smelts are the sign of spring in the east,delicious fried in butter.No limit we used 6' square nets and caught them by the bushel basket full.

Yup we'd catch bucket loads out of Niagara river in the 70's clean em roll em in flour fry and bunch of vinegar, mmmmm.

[drake]

We called the spring sucker run "The Ukranian Trout Festival". LOL, That was way back in the 70's and 80's.

That is hilarious....holly smokes. Thanks for the chuckle!!!!

[schmedlap]

I worked with a bunch of guy's from Oklahoma this winter and they love Sucker fish. They have gigging tournaments to catch them and then have a huge sucker feast. They claim that there is a special way to cook it that included scoring the flesh and then deep frying it. I never tried it but they swore by it, they thought I was crazy when I said we did not eat them.
On WFN a while back that went sucker fishing in a great lakes tributary and showed how to fillet and cook them. Scale, leave skin on, fillet like a pike. But they have 2 sets of "y bones". He scored the fillets to the skin through the bones, coated them in whatever fish coating, cut into smaller chunks and then deep fried the chunks. It was said that this crystallizes the bones - he and his 2 companions were eating them up and exclaiming how good they were so ...?

[schmedlap]

People eat Tilapia all the time, those things follow close behind hippos eating dung and then they turn around and eat their own. Worked in the lethbridge aquaculture building and we would clean the tank from young fish and trough it in the brood tanks and they would have it cleaned up in seconds. Can't see why a sucker from a deep cold lake that has been eating fish eggs, small fish and crustaceans would taste that bad if prepared right.

Any Tilapia that come from California fish farms are raised in the clean out canals from the Striped Bass (or probably other fish as well) tanks/ponds. All the crap from the other fish is recycled to the Tilapia, and they are harvested from the canal. Very efficient system - I gather the Tilapia is just a very efficient scavenger in terms of more efficient digestion of what the other fish leave behind (?). Not a Tilapia fan at all, but I imagine the average sucker has a much less "disgusting" diet.

[FlyTheory]

Any Tilapia that come from California fish farms are raised in the clean out canals from the Striped Bass (or probably other fish as well) tanks/ponds. All the crap from the other fish is recycled to the Tilapia, and they are harvested from the canal. Very efficient system - I gather the Tilapia is just a very efficient scavenger in terms of more efficient digestion of what the other fish leave behind (?). Not a Tilapia fan at all, but I imagine the average sucker has a much less "disgusting" diet.

I'd say a sucker is better than a tilapia any day. But I've only eaten the latter.