Suckerfishing – big family fun!

by Karina Hunter

 “Sorry I’m late Mom, the suckerfish are running and my friends and I were at the creek”, my son, soaked up to his armpits, had arrived from school about 30 minutes late and was eager to get back to the little creek running through Manitouwadge from Perry Lake to Manitouwadge Lake.  Since moving back to Manitouwadge in 2001 the Annual Sucker Run each spring has been a family event we look  forward to all year long.

On the culvert, Lloyd is quick to net the first sucker before giving Emeraude & I some lessons.

 Sucker fish have many uses; fishing them doesn’t require the patience traditional fishing demands, there are many recipes for suckerfish, the left overs preparing suckerfish for recipes make great fertilizer and finally both white and longnose suckers can legally be used as live bait.  We rarely bother with rods or bait though on the day in question we returned with both as his sister Emeraude (Emerald), just 3 at the time, wanted to come along and I hoped to give her an opportunity to practice reeling in with her new rod.  On other trips Lloyd has dawned his life jacket and net walking right into which evercreek or stream we happened upon but this day he wore rubber boots, planning to stay on shore where he could assist his sister if needed. 

No shortage of enthusiasm, Lloyd is never quite as happy as when the three of us are fishing.

The three of us, myself, my son Lloyd and my daughter Emeraude donned our rubber boots and ‘splash’ pants, grabbed a few large nets and Emeraude rod and headed out to the creek.  The water level was quite low and Emeraude screeched with excitement seeing the dark silhouettes of the suckerfish flowing out from the culvert below our feet. Lloyd made quick work of baiting her hook with some rubber worms before she dropped the line in; he had hoped to get some fish of his own with net in the meantime but hardly had a chance to turn around before she had a fish on and was reeling him in.  At this point things became complicated, I grabbed my net and scooped up the fish on her line unfortunately he became lively and a few flips had him completely tangled in line and net.  It would take Lloyd the next 10 minutes, with hands submerged in the freezing water to ensure that the fish which we hadn’t intended to keep would survive the release, to get the sucker untangled from the line and net.  He worked diligently and patiently however and did finally manage to free the sucker who swam away without any troubles. 

A heavy catch, Lloyd gives Emraude the chance to see how heavy one of the suckers he' caught is.

We were all getting tired, cold and hungry and after Lloyd caught a few more larger suckers that we kept, we called it a day and were on our way.  I have cooked suckerfish now and then but find it tedious, there is a lot of de-boning involved in cleaning them. There are many recipes for suckerfish and most recipes which call for salmon, such as pies or patties, are delicious when substituted with suckerfish though if you want the pretty pink

We had a great afternoon, in spite of it being a short 90 minute outing, it had
been time very well spent.  Kids love adventures like this one and seem to have no qualms when trips are short. as long as they are big on laughs and new experiences! If your family would like to try fishing but you aren’t sure about committing to the costs of licences, rods and reels; the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources next Family Fishing Weekend is July 9^th-11^th, 2010 – during this weekend you can fish without a licence and borrow rods and reels from your local MNR office at no cost, for details, visit www.FamilyFishingWeekend.com.  

Submitted to the Outdoors Guide, 03.14.10

colour associated with salmon you’ll have to add tomato soup to the recipe as well.  Suckerfish do have a lot of bones so it is important to clean them carefully; grinding up the meat prior to cooking or adding it to the recipes can also help avoid finding bones in the final dish.