A year ago if someone had invited me to go sucker fishing (or even offered a $10 bill for the pleasure) the answer would have been a definitive “no”. No, thank you, I don’t like to fish. No, thank you, find someone else to go. No, thank you, no thank you.
So this year, with a 365 day outdoor commitment, and the necessity to write a blog every single day…the answer to a sucker fishing invitation became, “Sure! Count me in!”
Four of us headed out to the Sturgeon River armed with poles, nets, hooks, worms and other fishing paraphernalia: Nancy, Don, Barry and me. We were aiming to catch sucker or carp, also known as “bait fish”. These are the fish which are filleted, dusted with Borax powder (don’t ask me why) and cut into small pieces and later twisted on hooks to lure the mighty lake trout from the bottom of Lake Superior.
Every good fisherman and woman around here has a frozen supply of sucker. When we’re eating the lake trout later on a sultry summer evening in June, we need to remember the sucker and carp who gave their lives today so that we might eat trout sprinkled with lemon pepper and perhaps slathered with tartar sauce.
Here’s what you do. You bait your hook with a worm and toss it into the fast-moving river. You have to be at just the right sucker hole. In order to find the appropriate hole where the fish linger, you must know some locals. But you also have to hope other locals aren’t at the fishing hole when you arrive.
The worm dangles on the hook, held down by sinkers. You keep tension on the fishing line. If you’re alert and lucky, suddenly you’ll feel or see the end of your pole twitching. When the pole twitches (maybe the second time? I don’t know…never got the technique down exactly right) you pull the line up forcefully to set the hook in the fish. Then you reel the fighting fish in toward shore, pausing occasionally and walking backward. Once the fish has landed, someone pulls the hook from the mouth and puts the fish in a garbage bag.
Truth be told, I don’t think I’m much of a fisher-woman. Part of me wants to cry killing these beautiful silvery creatures from the river. Most of me loves being primarily a vegetarian. But we do eat seafood…and to eat meat, it’s important to be aware that it doesn’t come from a supermarket. It comes from the wild, from fast-moving rivers and deep lakes. It comes from this land we live on.
I liked looking at the reflection on the river, the sand avalanching down the steep eroding hill, the wildflowers. It was fun to put down the fishing pole and wander through the thickets to explore down to the bridge and back. At near 70 degrees, the afternoon felt so warm and inviting.
We caught nine carp and sucker and went out for dinner at a local restaurant, the Hilltop, before driving home. Then Barry really had to go to work scaling and cleaning the fish, before applying Borax and putting in the refrigerator downstairs.
Barry said he’s going back fishing on Friday if the weather cooperates. I’ll probably pass on the invitation this time. There’s plenty of wild leeks and hopefully morel mushrooms waiting to be plucked!
14 comments
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May 13, 2009 at 2:18 am
productionfenceworks
I fish for whatever is biting! They look like fun to catch.
May 13, 2009 at 7:15 am
flandrumhill
That borax really is a wonder product. I’ve used it mostly for as an anti-fungal agent when cleaning wet carpet after flooding. You wouldn’t believe how quickly it eliminates the smell. Maybe that’s why it’s used with the fish.
May 13, 2009 at 11:16 am
Michael
We used to catch and smoke carp in the spring when I lived in Minnesota. Very good eating when caught in the spring, better than most of the fish you are served out of chain restaurants.
They are also a blast to catch! I fish for them here in New Mexico these days. Eight or more Carp per trip, verses catching nothing, not much of a decision in what to fish for.
Lake Trout fresh from the water is nothing to be sneezed at though!
Michael
May 13, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Cindy Lou
One of Ricky’s favorite spring things to do was to gather up a bunch of the guys and go sucker fishing! This was when he was in early high school and they sold them to Tom at the Baraga Marina for bait. Ricky says the Borax is partly to preserve them and partly for the smell….now that he’s a diehard fisherman, he does his thing with them and then they fill up my freezer!
May 13, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Gerry
It sounds so silly to say so, but honestly that first photo is downright pretty. Maybe I need a nap.
I like to fish. I have no skill, but I’m lucky, so I eat. It has occurred to me that if I developed some skill I might eat much better.
May 14, 2009 at 11:12 am
centria
productionfenceworks: You and my husband would have to agree!
Amy, looks like Cindy Lou has the answer for us. Partly to preserve and partly for the smell. It’s amazing how simple products like Borax and baking soda and vinegar can be used in so many ways. Although who really knows what’s in Borax?? hmmm…..
Michael, you truly would have enjoyed being on the river with us. Barry likes to make pickled carp/sucker, although we didn’t catch enough this spring to make a batch. Yep, I can see why you fish for carp. It’s always nice to bring some fish home. Can you eat them down there if you catch at this time of year?
Cindy, we ran into Jen’s brother out at Mutti’s house (is that how you would spell his name?) after sucker fishing. It was nice to see him and hear about his new job. Bet he has been fishing with Ricky a few times. And yep, our freezer downstairs can get quite full of those sucker packages…
Gerry, thank you! No, you don’t need a nap. I LOVED that fish picture. Didn’t it look sweet slinging in that net? It looked so sweet I truly felt bad about catching it. All the other fishermen just look at me like I’m totally nuts… Good thing you’re lucky! My family used to fish on Intermediate Lake north of Bellaire all the time. My mom wished she could be sucker fishing the other day.
May 14, 2009 at 2:35 pm
sahlah
Score! That looks like a big fish, nice work. Now you can rest on your laurels… 🙂
May 15, 2009 at 6:10 am
centria
Thank you very much, Dawn! I shall rest on my laurels indeed. 🙂
December 17, 2009 at 7:34 pm
Greatest hits « Opening the door, walking outside
[…] in the greatest hits series (ha ha, Barry made me use this title!) is A sucker for sucker fishing, written in May. I’m sure many fishermen have visited this post, wanting to know the secret […]
May 12, 2011 at 5:25 am
Elisa's Spot
Morning,
I got up at 4:30 am today. K had a senior pilgrimage to Washington D.C., leaving at 5:45. I don’t do the fishing thing myself, could never get past getting the wormed hook stuck to the bottom of the river 😀 (repeatedly, just ask my ex-bf and his friends)
I was thinking when reading today, that I never did get to hear what was the last part that was coming about the release of the old car and the gaining of the new twin. Not sure why my dizzy tired and at the same time content in the early morning head decided to plunk it down and say ASK HER!!
May 13, 2011 at 2:37 pm
Kathy
I don’t bait my hook, either, Elisa. No, no. As for the last part of the car release/new car, I don’t know what that might have been. Luckily, both of the twins are doing well. 🙂
November 23, 2011 at 4:50 pm
sucker101
OK nice fish but none of them were carp. They were all nice sized white suckers.
November 23, 2011 at 5:50 pm
Kathy
You are right! However, some of the other fish we caught that day were carp. Just don’t have any pics of them.
May 9, 2016 at 7:27 am
Sucker on Mother’s Day | Lake Superior Spirit
[…] Last time I joined the sucker fishing fun was 2009. Barry and his fishing buddy, Nancy, filled the freezer with bait. I needed an outdoor blog and wrote the following: A sucker for sucker fishing. […]