# Sucker fishing



## JohnJH (Feb 3, 2015)

Anyone know anywhere that has a decent amount of suckers to catch? Wanna try ️fishing for them with ultralight gear. Saw a video of it and it looks like fun. If you don't wanna give up a spot you can PM me. Or even just give me an idea as to what to look for to find em. Thanks


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## zimmerj (Oct 17, 2014)

Between now and probably late April the rivers in northeast Ohio from Vermillion to Conneaut get good runs of suckers. If you don't mind wading you can have a good time.


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## Ambitious angler (Feb 19, 2016)

zimmerj said:


> Between now and probably late April the rivers in northeast Ohio from Vermillion to Conneaut get good runs of suckers. If you don't mind wading you can have a good time.


Cascade park in elyria has good runs of them when the steelies come in. Shouldn't be too far off of that. Just gotta fish at the fork in the river where they come in.


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## bountyhunter (Apr 28, 2004)

JohnJH said:


> Anyone know anywhere that has a decent amount of suckers to catch? Wanna try ️fishing for them with ultralight gear. Saw a video of it and it looks like fun. If you don't wanna give up a spot you can PM me. Or even just give me an idea as to what to look for to find em. Thanks


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## bountyhunter (Apr 28, 2004)

where you located? any where along the nim creek off rt 62 and middlebranch rd, is good.


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## FISHAHOLIC85 (Apr 22, 2011)

Rocky River gets a great run of them. Normally mid march-april should kick it off. I've caught em on spawn sacs, gulp minnows, can prob catch em drifting crawlers or salted shiners under a float too. They get THICK in there. good place to start in the beginning is between Emerald necklace marina to Morley ford. They stack up under the dams and fords. Good luck and have fun!


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## laynhardwood (Dec 27, 2009)

When the river is up and muddy suckers will still bite if you find the right spot. It really doesn't matter how dirty the water is at all. I have done plenty of sucker fishing when all else is a no go. The white suckers run first and now is a good time to target them. The red horse suckers run a little later and those can be very large and fun to catch. I prefer the vermilion river because it's my home river but I'm sure they all get good runs.


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## JohnJH (Feb 3, 2015)

bountyhunter said:


> where you located? any where along the nim creek off rt 62 and middlebranch rd, is good.


Im near clinton


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## Doboy (Oct 13, 2008)

Franklin???? South of Alliance.
Your not very far from the Beaver Rivers?
They are chuck full of 'em. One of my favorite places to catch 'em,,, & just the right size for bait
V small bobber, split, #12-#14 hook and a 1/4" piece of worm. Drift through the holes, dragging bottom.
OR, if you fish the Ohio River dams,,,, you can catch the huge ones,,,,, some days, non-stop.
The Bula, Conn & Erie feeder Rivers,,, like someone else said, there will be thousands of 'em in those rivers. 
They come up river after the steelhead run, to spawn & eat all of the steelhead eggs. (so I believe)
Same deal,, drift a red-worm or chunk of nightcrawler.
I have an old friend who loves to eat 'em. He says that they are WAY BETTER than steelhead,,,,,,,
enjoy


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## JohnJH (Feb 3, 2015)

Im laid up do to an ankle injury but as soon as I am off crutches I wanna start fishin again. I have lots of little creeks near me do you think they'd have any? Most of them flow from the tusc or Chippewa creek. But im willing to drive to the afore mentioned rivers up north as well


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## JohnJH (Feb 3, 2015)

Doboy said:


> Franklin???? South of Alliance.
> Your not very far from the Beaver Rivers?
> They are chuck full of 'em. One of my favorite places to catch 'em,,, & just the right size for bait
> V small bobber, split, #12-#14 hook and a 1/4" piece of worm. Drift through the holes, dragging bottom.
> ...


Ya down there. Thanks I'll have to try that!


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## JohnJH (Feb 3, 2015)

So when fishing for suckers use small equipment and bait? and just let it float under a bobber through holes? ive never tried live bait in the river so im not really familiar with the technics


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## laynhardwood (Dec 27, 2009)

I would use small hooks but fish bottom personally. Suckers love night crawlers I use the tail sections first and thread them up the hook. Fish eddies along current seams. Sucker bites are very subtle you will only see your rod tip slightly dancing. Red horse suckers sometimes do run with it but white suckers will just mouth your bait. I have done quite a bit of sucker fishing when the river is blown out and nothing else is doing.


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## creekcrawler (Oct 5, 2004)

Gotten some Red Horse that were HUGE in the 'Hoga. 18"+ easy. They will tear **** up on ultra light!


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## 1MoreKast (Mar 15, 2008)

FISHAHOLIC85 said:


> Rocky River gets a great run of them. Normally mid march-april should kick it off. I've caught em on spawn sacs, gulp minnows, can prob catch em drifting crawlers or salted shiners under a float too. They get THICK in there. good place to start in the beginning is between Emerald necklace marina to Morley ford. They stack up under the dams and fords. Good luck and have fun!


They certainly do get thick in there. You will most definitely get into them!


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## canoe carp killer (Apr 2, 2014)

Anyone have any ideas for suckers in and around Columbus area? Would really like to catch some to use for love bait for cats. Maybe a dozen...


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## exide9922 (Aug 9, 2010)

bountyhunter said:


> where you located? any where along the nim creek off rt 62 and middlebranch rd, is good.


where are some public areas you can fish off of middlebranch for these? do you mean that park area right by middlebranch and martindale? never knew what the creek was called


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## baitguy (Dec 17, 2013)

there's a lot of spots in Rocky River, the sttetch to those first couple riffles can get popular, but they get quite a ways up ... I'm partial to being right on the bottom for suckers, seems like that's where they usually hang out ... small hook, 6-8-10 w/a long shank ... like's been mentioned, they aren't a real heavy biter, they can swallow the hook pretty easy, the long shank makes it easier to get it out ... if you run into a big ole carp that light tackle will get a workout ...


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## baitguy (Dec 17, 2013)

Doboy ... how does your friend clean them to eat? is there a way to fillet them and get anything worthwhile, they have a lot of bones ... I knew an old timer many years ago that used to grind them up and make sucker patties ...


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## canoe carp killer (Apr 2, 2014)

baitguy said:


> Doboy ... how does your friend clean them to eat? is there a way to fillet them and get anything worthwhile, they have a lot of bones ... I knew an old timer many years ago that used to grind them up and make sucker patties ...


Is that like a even poorer version of those salmon patties that come in the can with the little circular bones u could eat? Used to eat those all the time as a kid lol


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## Carpn (Apr 5, 2004)

I shot a few a couple springs ago . Fileted them and score the filets , breaded and fried them. They were OK . Mild tasting but kinda soft


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## laynhardwood (Dec 27, 2009)

I watched an in fisherman episode years ago and they were catching red horse suckers and keeping some for the table. I don't know how they prepared them but apparently they may not be that bad


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## ratherbe..... (Apr 14, 2014)

The ground up fish patties are pretty good also.


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## percidaeben (Jan 15, 2010)

ratherbe..... said:


> The ground up fish patties are pretty good also.


The patties are wonderful.


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## Doboy (Oct 13, 2008)

baitguy said:


> Doboy ... how does your friend clean them to eat? is there a way to fillet them and get anything worthwhile, they have a lot of bones ... I knew an old timer many years ago that used to grind them up and make sucker patties ...



Yep,,, sucker patties,, he did that too, with the small ones.
Now, he puts them in the microwave with skin on. 
Bury them in butter, onions & spices,,, cook 'em till they start to fall apart. The bones will pull out easily,,,, he cooks 'em like a trout,,,, 
I think that they would taste like a trout,,,,, Yuck!

But, in a pinch, we do the same thing with fresh sheephead & white bass, & they taste quite good.
To-each-his-own


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## StarkFisherman (May 17, 2008)

I have never cleaned a sucker, but I would imagine it would be like a carp.... A lot of work! The easiest way that I have found is to use an electric or carvers knife to cut the skin and scales off before filleting. Once you do that, fillet it like a normal fish. Lay it down and you will see the bloodline, mud vein, whatever you want to call it... in the middle. It will be a long strip in the middle. Cut it out by simply cutting parallel on each side. This will leave you with two strips of clean meat. Discard the red strip. Your two pieces of meat, score it really good. The little bones between the meat will disintegrate during frying.


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## HappySnag (Dec 20, 2007)

baitguy said:


> Doboy ... how does your friend clean them to eat? is there a way to fillet them and get anything worthwhile, they have a lot of bones ... I knew an old timer many years ago that used to grind them up and make sucker patties ...


make pickled harings


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## Doboy (Oct 13, 2008)

Thanks for those videos,,, interesting for sure.
I guess we'll have to give 'em a try.

BTW,,, here's a video that shows how we catch the small ones for bait, down the 'Beavers',,,,
but 90% of the time we, we fish/drift the fast water rapids, above the holes. Doesn't matter if the water is only 12" deep,,,, they will be behind every rock!
Time to go fish,,,
Later


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## JohnJH (Feb 3, 2015)

Doboy said:


> Thanks for those videos,,, interesting for sure.
> I guess we'll have to give 'em a try.
> 
> BTW,,, here's a video that shows how we catch the small ones for bait, down the 'Beavers',,,,
> ...


Thanks for the videos. Very helpful. I started fishing for creek Chubs last year after seeing a post on here and it is pretty fun. Just lookin for somethin to fish for in early spring and suckers look like fun. Thanks for all the help. Greatly appreciated


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## Martink (Jan 29, 2021)

Idk if anyone is still interested in this but. Fillet them you can score the fillets and when they cook the bones disolve or pickle them the bones dissolve or grind them and make sucker balls


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## HappySnag (Dec 20, 2007)

Martink said:


> Idk if anyone is still interested in this but. Fillet them you can score the fillets and when they cook the bones disolve or pickle them the bones dissolve or grind them and make sucker balls


when you pickle them cut onion in 1/4" rings,put in jar 1" layer onion,layer fish,leyer onion.after 5 days redy to eat.
you can take the pickled juice and mix with sour cream and mix with portion what you eat.very good with bake potatos.
after eating that,the cheepest beer taist like 5 star beer.


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