# Suckers



## sbreech (Jun 6, 2010)

While fishing for smallmouth and trout, wading streams and rivers, I always see a lot of redhorse suckers. I can never entice them to bite, and a lot of these look to have some size to them. I'll bet they would be a blast to catch on UL fly equipment. Do they ever eat?  Does anyone have any tips or tricks for getting them to take?


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## fishinnick (Feb 19, 2011)

They can be very hard to catch, tougher than the pickiest of trout most of the time. I've caught(along with a million foul hooked) just nymphing for trout, but I've also caught a few actually sight fishing for them. There's two rivers near me that both have very good carp and sucker populations and in the summer they're fun to target. The suckers are much harder than the carp. Much harder. Small nymphs and tiny light colored egg patterns seem to work the best. If they're not actively feeding they're very hard to catch, this goes for carp as well. 

I've even caught a few redhorse suckers before nymphing with woolly buggers fishing for trout and they hit the flies pretty hard too. All the times were in March and April it seemed. Weird, never thought they'd hit streamers. Don't go and target them with streamers though, just saying it can happen. Good luck, and be sure to post pics if you get some!


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## fishinnick (Feb 19, 2011)

Oh and the flies need to be RIGHT infront of their mouths as they won't chase them more than an inch or so, that is if they eat your flies at all.


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## sbreech (Jun 6, 2010)

Thanks for the tips Fishinnick! I have literally been standing smack dab in the center of big schools of these things. They look like little rockets - totally built for speed and fighting current. I'm stoked just thinking about it.


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## Flymaker (Jan 24, 2013)

Ive gotten a few of them and carp on the mad......all of which fell to nymphs...Ive never try'd to target them ..... Most of the ones Ive gotten where when I was fishing deeper slower water looking for trout still in there "winter pattern " early in the spring before they move into the ripples and such.....they are a ball to catch but as previous poster stated are very picky and you seem to have to put the fly right on there nose....I suppose if I was going to target them I would use small nymphs and believe egg patterns would work if some other fish in that river system is spawning........I think its on of those things where to be successful at it your gonna have to 
" Match the Hatch" insect larva .....aqautic worms.....spawn.....just my opion I cant back it up with facts.....good luck


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## swinzenread (Mar 29, 2013)

My buddy and I just fished the Mad on Saturday and caught a couple on large streamers. We were sight fishing and would let the fly sit on the bottom and then strip it and let it sit again. This was all in about 2 feet of water and we could see the take. It was a fun break from chasing brownies.


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## swinzenread (Mar 29, 2013)

Here is a photo. You can see how big the streamer is....


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## sbreech (Jun 6, 2010)

swinzenread said:


> Here is a photo. You can see how big the streamer is....


Sweet! How was the fight?


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## swinzenread (Mar 29, 2013)

Haha I was wondering if someone would ask. I have a 8 weight for Steelhead that I threw in the car as an extra rod to keep a streamer tied up. So that fish on a 8 weight/1x tippit was a pretty short fight! I would love to try it again on ultra light tackle soon


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## Flathead King 06 (Feb 26, 2006)

swinzenread said:


> Here is a photo. You can see how big the streamer is....


Looks more like a creek chub than a sucker to me... the mad is full of chubs. I'm from springfield and fish the rt 55-36 strecth quite often and its nothing to find some deeper or slack water and pound the daylights out of chubs. Once they get so big they often grow little "horns" on their snouts and become a vibrant shade of salmon or orangish-pink during their spawning period and are frequently referred to as "horny-heads" They make great catfish bait!!!


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## fishinnick (Feb 19, 2011)

I agree with Flathead King that's definitely a creek chub. They're a LOT easier to catch than suckers. Another species of chub that's fun to catch are river chubs. They are on average bigger than creek chubs, are lighter colored, and the males get really big heads and get the horns on there heads. Creek chubs get them to, but not as much as river chubs. And then there's horny-head chubs. They tend to be less common, but they're in our streams as well. There mouths are kinda on the bottom of their heads unlike river and creek chubs. I think there's a few other chubs species out there, but those three are the most common from my experiences.


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## Shad Rap (Nov 10, 2010)

Flathead King 06 said:


> Looks more like a creek chub than a sucker to me... the mad is full of chubs. I'm from springfield and fish the rt 55-36 strecth quite often and its nothing to find some deeper or slack water and pound the daylights out of chubs. Once they get so big they often grow little "horns" on their snouts and become a vibrant shade of salmon or orangish-pink during their spawning period and are frequently referred to as "horny-heads" They make great catfish bait!!!


Wasn't he just showing us the lure in the photo?..I don't think he said that was a sucker in the photo...


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## swinzenread (Mar 29, 2013)

I did imply that I thought they were suckers it in the post before that. Looks like I was incorrect! However, now that its identified I have some other pics where you can see the horns mentioned by Flathead King and Fisinnick.


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## Shad Rap (Nov 10, 2010)

My bad...didn't realize the fish u were talking about was the one pictured...thought u were just showing what u were using.


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## kingofamberley (Jul 11, 2012)

I have caught redhorse suckers on spinning gear before, they can be a blast for sure. The first one I ever caught came from the Namakagon River in Wisconsin when I was young; I was trolling a jig behind a canoe on an epic boyscout canoe/camp trip and it hit like a freight train! I had never seen such a fish before and I was delighted that it had a nose! I used to see the occasional white sucker in the creek where I grew up but I could never get them to bite. The chubs were very prolific in that creek though and provided me hours of childhood enjoyment. Catching a sucker on the fly would be sweet.


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