I guess I was the Sucker

[frederickwreid]

So, I went fly fishing yesterday to a small brook, expecting to find a few little trout. So after an hour or so of not so successful fishing, I noticed a bunch of nice sized fish, schooled up in the quick flowing deeper part of the brook. I couldn't tell what they were, but I decided the best way to find out was to catch em. I threw dry flies... no rise. I threw wet flies, nymphs, insect looking flies, scuds, - I emptied my whole fly box on them. But nothing. They wouldn't even turn to take it when it drifted right in front of their noses.

Frustrated, I tied on a black stonefly, and let it sit right in front of one of them. I didn't really feel anything, so I lifted the rod tip to cast again, and there was a fish on. Really soft take - never even felt it.

Anyway, the fight was a bit lazy, even for my 5wt. rod, and I got the mystery fish ashore only to find it had lips. It was one of the weirdest looking things I'd ever pulled out of a brook. I didn't know it right away, (relatively new to the area) but found out it was a white sucker.

But on the bright side, I don't know of too many other guys who have caught them on a fly rod... anyone? Also, what are they any good for? Do people eat them? Are they just kind of a nuisance fish for anglers? I imagine they keep that stream free from algae and stuff...

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[gino]

They're good for eating your worms and roe, ensuring they don't get down to that nice chromer in the deep part of the pool... LOl

[DDT]

I hear rose bushes bloom better if you put suckers around them

[tommycod]

I like to call them whistling trout.

[sherlockbonez]

I caught hundreds of them on san juan worms when i was little.

[jaycee]

I have eaten canned suckers, and must say that they were very good.
Out of clear water there should be no problem with eating them , the early pioneers always canned suckers caught in the spring when water temperatures are still cool, but for some reason as we became more civilized , people turned away from them.

[sabmgb]

My uncle used to can sucker and put a bit of ketchup in with them looked and tasted like canned salmon.

[patvetzal]

A lot of the older families still can them, but few use pressure cookers. Just boil for extended periods.

[boogaloo]

When I was a kid, my Dad would take me to a small stream in the Spring and we would use a rake and a pitch fork to drag Suckers out onto the bank. We would fill a couple of burlap sacks and take them to a bakery where they were turned into fish cakes. Ah........the good old days of the '50's when we were ignorant about conservation.........Daniel

[oldbill]

I've spent all too long throwing dry flies to large suckers that were holding in very trouty waters in one of my childhood tiny brook trout streams.

A fella down at the legion tells the same story about how delicious his sucker burgers are. I haven't had them though.