Suckers

[rockinmichigan]

Hey, how's everybody been? Sorry I haven't been posting on the site much lately, been fishing and busy with other things. To find out how the fishing has been, check out my Yahoo group. If you go there you'll see in my fishing reports that I've been hitting a local river aiming to catch some bass, which I have been getting a hold of. I've also been able to hook into suckers, which is surprising to me because I'd figure the more likely places to catch them would be at a couple places I fish along the shoreline of Lake Erie, in Monroe and Luna Pier, MI. I've been catching longnose and white suckers, ranging anywhere from 5-7" or so. Now, me passing this along leads me to a couple questions for y'all that have fished and caught suckers, whether accidental or on purpose. What would be ideal sizes for keeping suckers, like what's too small or too big? Are they good eating? Most importantly, how would you clean them, any different then cleaning catfish?

[Timotha7]

Great to have you here posting again
I have personally never tried suckers, have used them for bait for pike an
catfish though
Are you going for smallies up there by Erie, I here those rivers around there
are some incredible small mouth water, have never had the chance to get there and fish them
Tim

[Timotha7]

RockinMichigan
I got curious about your question and got to looking around found this
site here
http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/greatlakesfish/whitesucker.html

Says the white sucker has a firm good tasting meat an is good
Fresh or smoked an can be used in chowder or fish stick

Not sure how you would go about cleaning one though

[gofish]

rockinmichigan theyre really good eating.i can em and smoke em. anything under 14 inches or so is bait though.best bait in the world for flathead.make good cutbait too.

[rockinmichigan]

Tim, the rivers out here have some real good smallmouth AND largemouth fishing. Lake Erie along the shoreline where I fish has some good white bass fishing in the summer. One spot in the summer when night fishing you can get a hold of some nice channel catfish and white bass, and in the early morning around sunup can get a hold of some nice largemouths. At that spot, Luna Pier, MI a friend of mine caught a 18" largemouth, one of the bigger bass I've seen caught there. The Raisin River in SE Michigan where I've been fishing, at least the stretch where I was fishing, has quite a few little smallies, but have been able to get close to the legal minimum (which in Michigan is 14"). I've caught a 10.5", and two a hair over 12", and a 9", and have seen some better sized ones caught there, as well a few nice rock bass.
gofish, have you ever cleaned them and if so how do you do it? Do you pretty much clean them like you would catfish, skinning them and being careful of a mudvane, if suckers even have mudvanes?

[Timotha7]

Joe(gofish) above, need some "how to" getting sucker ready for table

Rockinmichigan sounds like you are in good area, an a river full of smallies
even if they are 10 an 12 inches with a UL pole would keep me happy for
days an days specially when they are hitting on topwater stuff they are
a blast

Do you have area up there by you the steelies run through??
Have caught them out west an they are AWESOME, might even be dead
heat with big wipers as best fight on end of rod, both are strong an both
got very little quit in them

Tim

[rockinmichigan]

A good sized white bass will rock your rod. I've had them bite me and you'd swear you'd have a sheephead or carp biting you. They tug on the line really good. Sheephead are fun to catch too, they pull on your line, but it seems the bigger ones don't fight as well as your one to two pounders. Just feels like dead weight when you have those five pounders on. Hard to say what the best tugger is though. Steelies run through the Huron River I know that much, not sure if they go through the Raisin River where I fish. I know there's a couple dams, at least a couple, so maybe not. I hear they catch quite a few biggie steelheads where the Huron River runs through Flat Rock, MI.

[gofish]

timotha7 around easter the smelt start runnin good on the southern ill.side of lake michigan.used to fish the hotwater discharge at waukegan years back for browns,steelhead and the occasional king.all that open water all three were a ball.steelheads make a wiper seem slow in comparison if you can imagine that.course i was usin lots lighter tackle.lightest striper rod i got is a 7 1/2 ft flippin rod lol:D as far as preppin the suckers .....for canning just dehead ,degut,scale and steak out.same for sturgeon (allmost).for smokin just scale and gut real good.put on smoker whole with garlic cloves in the belly cavity.try to maintain 150 to 175 degrees.hickory gives a standard smoky flavor but im partial to sassafrass for this one

[Timotha7]

Make a wiper seem slow? Now that is serious fast!

Sassafrass huh?? That is one I have not heard of for smoking..thinking on it though, I bet that is an awesome smoking wood!

I usually use apple or cherry, somtimes get hold of some pecan when little brother goes to visit his in laws, but sassafrass sounds real interesting

You use it for everything?

[rockinmichigan]

Man, I wish I had a smoker. Some freshly smoked fish sounds really good right now. Would y'all happen to know if suckers are any good fried or pan-grilled?

[bamabass]

i smoked some ribs just yesterday for the Alabama game and uses sassafrass and pecan. they give a real good flavor to food. used that when i smoke boston butts and my uncles uses that for smoken deer sausage.

[rockinmichigan]

Ribs and college football, don't get much better then that? How did 'Bama do by the way?

[bamabass]

they won. john parker wilson did a good job for his 1st start. i believe he is gonna be a good QB.

[rockinmichigan]

That's cool, I like watching SEC ball. You got some good games down there, no matter who's playing who. Glad to see Michigan beat Vanderbilt. The offense wasn't great but good enough to win the game, and Michigan's defense looked damn good. Then again, its just Vanderbilt.

[gofish]

timotha7 i like hickory or maple the best for beef.i like fruitwoods for pork or poultry. sassafrass is my favorite for fish.more sweet smoke flavor than fruitwood with a touch of that tea flavor.best with a white fleshed fish instead of salmon or when you want a touch of distinctive sweet smoke.can ya tell i love my smoker yet?:cool: just got back from the football games,took my smoker and did a whole pork butt with a real coarse rub,stuffed with about 20 whole cloves of garlic for all us coaches.had so many people want to buy im gonna start next sat.eve and do 5 or 6 whole ones to sell sandwiches for fundraisers.all real close games today our game was scoreless to the 4th quarter then we lost 8 to 6.had a touchdown called back on a block to the back.(hell be runnin tues.lol)
rockinmichigan never panfried or baked it but should be able to treat it like pike and cut thru the skin side in a crosshatch pattern every 1/2 inch or so,1/2 inch deep and that will let hot oil to those y bones to dissolve em cookout yesterday i did 4 beef and 5 pork rib slabs and a ham.think im gonna let my wife cook tommorrow.lol

[Timotha7]

We are in agreement on the smoking woods
Mesquite for beef (can get it with sap in it through friend:D )
Cherry an apple for chick an pork, have not smoked any fish yet

will use pecan for bout anything it is a real good wood

Sounds like you had a great weekend all the way around!
Tim

[wewamohawk]

in cold water they are real good fried or pan grilled