Did a backpack trip to an alpine lake in East Kootenays last weekend and found thousands of Suckers in the lake. They were mainly schooled up in large groups all the same size - about 3 inches. It was almost like they had been stocked as I've never really noticed Suckers in high alpine lakes like that. We did see a couple others around 5-6 inches but there were thousands around 3. I am sure they were Suckers or something like that as we caught one.
Caught lots of little trout too but seems this has fallen off from last trip. Would be a shame if they were introduced.
Yes, I have seen schools of suckers and other introduced species on remote lakes in BC from 30 years ago. Why someone would want to carry live bait into backpacking lakes is beyond me. Some of the suckers were not small, over 12" and in schools of hundreds. Another location was over run with introduced dace, which destroyed the trout habitat by eating all of the insects. The dace were so thick in the shallows that you would scoop up hundreds in a landing net.
I have a picture that I will upload later although quality is horrible. Not 100 % it was a Sucker but definitely had Suckers lips. Lake was Hourglass Lake in East Kootenays. Sad as it definitely seemed fishing was much worse than other times I have been and nothing of size.
Suckers in Alpine BC lakes
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