Too Kill or not to kill a Suckerfish, That is the qustion?
 

Alright,
My dad told me if I ever caught a sucker fish to ether Kill it or throw it into the bushs for the bird to eat..

His reasoning,
They eat all the trouts eggs. Bad for the trout fishery.

I want to know what you guys think?



I have done it in the past like when I was 13 years old. LOL

But I havn't caught a sucker since then,

Thoughts?

we need someone to confirm the trout eggs thing. i thought they just suck the bottom and clean the lake. in some parts they are vital to the health of the lake

I'm sure that trout eat sucker eggs and young too

why to waste fish just because somebody said to do so???????? sucker is not a sport fish, but it`s still a fish fun to catch....so why waste it??????

suckers eat the same food as trout, they dont eat garbage. they are an important food source for predator fish as well

Let them live....

.....if I ever see someone toss one in the bushes for the birds... I'd kick their arse so hard that their teeth would bleed:):sHa_sarcasticlol::fighting0030:

Only thing they're good for is bear bait, I say rid our waters of them.

Not sure about here in Alberta, but we used to kill off certain types of suckers and other nasties when we caught them in the great lakes. They ended up being bird and turtle food.
Then along came the gobies and those you had to kill. Them suckers were just plain NASTY.

in alberta we have an INVISIBLE line where suckers stop and trout start...... i dont see a problem..... lol.....that being said, all kidding aside..... if god put a sucker fish there, its there for a reason....

Like it or not suckers have been around longer than most species of trout in AB. They serve an important role in all aquatic ecosystems where they are found. Will they eat the eggs of other fish? yes...but so do other trout. Brookies are a large part of the reason our bull trout populations are doing so poorly. Killing them is pointless and stupid. People kill them because they are ugly...and because there is some redneck myth about how they destroy fisheries...its all BS. They are there for a reason so C&R, or fish with hardware if you dont want to catch them.

If I see anyone killing suckers, im taking a page out of the Best Guide fishing manual and throwing them and their gear into the water.....:sHa_shakeshout:

You and bigbore dont want to fish with me then. Coyotes, birds and bears need to eat to.....

oh..... i dont think they would feed you to the bears.....maybe....

No point in killing them, other than sadistic self satisfaction.

As mentioned they fill a niche which has been around a long time, and help stabilize the ecosystem.

That said, I don't release them nearly as gently as I do a 4lb trout.

Old habits (prejudice) die hard.

Been picking up some suckers lately on the upper bow using a beadhead and single maggot.

Some of them fight better than the browns.


Maybe we need to rename the sucker fish too??

Liberalis Majoris?

Back in the day we killed them, we know better now.

Use to kill burbot and leave them on the ice when we caught them too. See above

I have yet to catch a sucker but when I do it will be going back alive. Earlyer this yeah I had a guy tell me to do the same with any pike I caught in the bow river because they eat the trout.

we use to kill a ton of them in the irrigation ditches by Ft. Macloed when i was young. Grandpa gave us 10 cents a piece for them to feed to the pigs. The irrigation canals were full of them! It would be nothing to catch 20 - 30 a day walking up and down the canals filling your bucket then run back to the farm to get paid.

Oh the good old days!

Sucker belly makes great lake trout bait in the winter.

Rollmops. :)

Wow...threats of physical violence over a fish so disgusting most people cant touch it.
Some of you must have not ever fished Chain or Bevauis lakes.
The worm you catch the sucker with, does way more good for the enviroment and mother nature than the sucker you catch killing a worm.
I understand they may play a role in some waters but we have lakes in southern alberta right now......where a dead sucker is the only good sucker.
When you see walleye on their spawning grounds and they are out numbered by suckers-sucking up their eggs.....you'll do the right thing and jam a knife between its eyes and bush toss that SOB.

I relase them , they are good fighting fish on light tackle.

if you don't want to waste them then keep them for bait or smoke them and eat eh

They make great bait!...

Forgot to mention in my previous post...if suckers over-run a lake or are illegally introduced...kill the buggers. If overfishing has removed their predator fish (pike) and they start to take over...by all means a good reason to kill them. But without any knowledge of the waterbody your fishing...killing them could be a stupid, stupid move.

x2 We used to put them on the train track when fishing the Bow....chain lakes comes to mind about what these critters can do.......in the bush u go:argue2:

let them live...they serve as a major food source to many preditors including pike and bull trout.
Take a look at the lower K lake its doing great with suckers in there. the bull trout as fat and healthy not to mention big.

Doesnt anyone believe in reincarnation? You may come back as a sucker !

The proper release for a sucker is turn clockwise 2 1/2 times gaining momentum and hurl it and the rod it's attached to as far as possible into the tree's. Then apply liberal amounts of gasoline to your hands and ignite.

My $0.02 worth.

Dodger.

Suckers
 

Suckers are fish too and good for the sport LET THEM LIVE. There is nothing worse then going down to your favorite fishing spot to enjoy a nic afternoon and not being able to fish because of the smell of the rotting fish let alone all the flies because someone felt it was his choice to leave a pile of fish on the shore i think they should not allow this as i feel it is wrong.

If you kill a suker, kill it but dont tourture it.