Sportsman's Club-Sucker Harvesting

[thedeadsea]

I remember many years ago the SCLV used to trap suckers when they were spawning in areas like Wolf Creek, etc. Does anyone know why they stopped this?

Steve

[delcecchi]

Because the DNR gives them all they can handle from the hatchery?

[guideman]

actually,

the Sportsmans club does the work at the hatchery, not the DNR. You can still buy the suckers from the sportsmans club, they use the money for their summer projects.

They should be starting the netting in about a month, if the weather stays warm like this.

"Ace"

[thedeadsea]

Thanks Ace, thats good information.

Always a fun springtime event to go and get a few suckers for pickling, smoking, etc.

Steve

[caseymcq]

actually,

the Sportsmans club does the work at the hatchery, not the DNR.

I am not sure I am understanding what you are saying. What work does the Sportmans Club do at the hatchery? The sucker sales?

[shamrock7]

The Sportsman's Club sell the suckers, that's all. No, they do not do the actual trapping and stripping like the post implied

[caseymcq]

I was trying to make a diplomatic attempt at allowing the original poster to clarify

You beat him to it

There are some pictures of the walleye stripping operation, Pike River Hatchery , back on page 57. No pictures of the suckers though.

[shamrock7]

Sorry

[caseymcq]

Oh, no problem. It is good somebody clarified it

How's Dusty doing?

[shamrock7]

Growing like a weed. Thanks

The Boys of Shamrock

Even has the evil eye already, or is he saying "who, me" ?

[PortageBay]

And here's a fond memory:

[guideman]

Excuse me,

The oringinal post was asking about the suckers, not the walleyes. The suckers get caught in the walleye nets that the DNR puts in, however the Sportsmens club puts them in the cans to be sold. I never said they did the egg stiping of the Walleyes, so please don't put words in my mouth.

The hatchery is right next to my house guys, so I think I probably know more about it than most of you do. The point of the post was that the sporstmens club does indeed still do the sucker thing!!!

"Ace"

[shamrock7]

My apologies Ace, when I read just the post and not the title of the thread, it was a little vague. We were only trying to clarify.

Again, my apologies, not trying to start anything. To nice a day.

[caseymcq]

actually,

the Sportsmans club does the work at the hatchery, not the DNR. You can still buy the suckers from the sportsmans club, they use the money for their summer projects.

They should be starting the netting in about a month, if the weather stays warm like this.

"Ace"

Ace guide service.

Beautiful Lake Vermilion.

The post wasn't exactly clear on what work the Sportsmans Club does and it did say the DNR doesn't do the work. The DNR pulls the suckers out of the trap net and puts them in a crib next to shore where the Sportsmans Club takes them from and sells them. There is still work done by the DNR.

[delcecchi]

The original question was "I remember many years ago the SCLV used to trap suckers when they were spawning in areas like Wolf Creek, etc. Does anyone know why they stopped this?"

The answer is "because the DNR catches suckers as a byproduct of Walleye stripping, and gives them to SCLV to sell" SCLV still has to handle them as part of the sales operation. Actually I don't know that there was actually a causal relation between the DNR starting to give suckers to SCLV and SCLV ceasing to trap their own. That was speculation on my part that may have been unwarranted.

[thedeadsea]

Still plan on spearing my own, but curious how much do they get per pound when they sell them?

[guideman]

I believe you can still buy 100lbs for $5.00. I'm not in the sucker buying business so it may have gone up in recent years.

"Ace"

[Cliff Wagenbach]

It was still $5.00 per 100#'s last spring and no holes in them either!

Cliff

[ponzie]

Quote:

The original question was "I remember many years ago the SCLV used to trap suckers when they were spawning in areas like Wolf Creek, etc. Does anyone know why they stopped this?"

The DNR trapped wolf creek many moons ago (Mid to late 1970,s)the suckers that were found in the trap were thrown in a pile next to the creek, the bears really enjoyed them.

I'm pretty sure that area just sold or is for sale, hope the new owners take care of the creek.

[StillFishin']

Maybe I missed it but how may fish(not pounds) do they take out on average every year? Just curious.

I also missed it that it was just a by product of the walleye trapping. So the DNR must sanction the removal. I thought that the DNR was trying to reduce the sucker population but now it is considered a by product of the walleye netting.

Small suckers are good bait for all game fish but when they get big they maybe in the system like any big predator thought they are not considered a predator. A big one could produce 1000' of eggs.

I'm not trying to get people overly concern about the sucker population but I wounder what the DNR has to say about the the population of suckers in LV? Maybe this information is out there but I thought I'd see what you guys have to say.

I've never thought there was or is a problem with suckers. My buddy caught a 3-4lb sucker on several years ago thing it was as 'eye and hollered "get the net!" We had a good laugh!

So after my rambling the question is does the DNR monitor suckers or "rough" fish in LV?

StillFishin'

[guideman]

The Pike river sucker run only represents a very small percentage of the overall spring sucker spawn. I doubt that it has much of an impact on the overall population.

White suckers have been a part of the Lake Vermilion fishery

since the end of the ice age.

I don't think the DNR is trying to eraticate them from the system. They are indeed a very important food item for the big toothy critters that swim our waters, and Walleyes just love them when they are small.

It may all be a mute point very soon, if the state closes all it's hatcheries. Then the sucker run will be nothing but a trivia question on the old days of Lake Vermilion.

"Ace"

[jonesen]

Quote:

So after my rambling the question is does the DNR monitor suckers or "rough" fish in LV?

The DNR does their anual gill netting every july or august, they string a net that is at least 150' - 200' long, one end is in deep water (30-40 feet) and the other end is placed shallower. They catch many species and do their thing with them. So I think the answer to your question is yes they do monitor rough fish.

I personally have not caught a sucker in 20 years, before that I would catch at least one a season.

[thedeadsea]

The DNR trapped wolf creek many moons ago (Mid to late 1970,s)the suckers that were found in the trap were thrown in a pile next to the creek, the bears really enjoyed them.

I'm pretty sure that area just sold or is for sale, hope the new owners take care of the creek.

[DTro]

Now with the muskies getting larger and the DNR's attempting to make Vermilion a trophy northern lake they are more necessary in the food chain. Before that a 4 lb mature female sucker was pretty much out of the food chain.

Steve

um, I bet the Northerns would have a thing or two to say about that. The DNR might be trying to RE-make the lake a trophy Pike fishery, but from all indications I encountered, the lake was in the top 10 in the state for Pike from the 70's to 90's. I have no doubts that the larger suckers were fair game to the 30-40 pound Pike that turned up from time to time, not to mention the fairly common 20 lbers.

[thedeadsea]

Please note I said "pretty much out of the food chain". I did not say completely.

I'm not going to post a rebuttal to your opinion about fish size then vs. now and turn this into another hijacked thread like we have seen happen too many times on FM when muskies/big pike are involved in the conversation.

Steve

[Cliff Wagenbach]

I am sure that the DNR monitors the sucker population to some extent during their test netting in the spring and fall. They also probably get a pretty good indication of the sucker population during the walleye trapping in the spring.

Usually there are almost as many,or more suckers caught in the traps as walleyes! They eat a ton of walleye eggs while they are in the spawning areas I would guess!

Cliff

[guideman]

Wow Steve,

I didn't get any of that from what Dtro posted. I thought his post was right in line with the discussion. Suckers are a major part of the food chain for a number of species.

To the other point about not catching a sucker for a long time. I still get a few every year while Walleye fishing. In most case it's deep water or in soft bottom areas, where there are a lot of mayfly lava on the bottom.

"Ace"

[DTro]

Sorry, not trying to hijack, I just know a lot of people don't realize how good of a Pike lake Vermilion was at one time. It's still a very good lake, but has fell off quite a bit. No different than a lot of lakes around the state. Times change, lakes change. I guarantee you the suckers had plenty of predators though

I've been meaning to get up there for the sale every year to grab a bunch of suckers for cut bait to use, but always end up missing out.

[Steve Foss]

I don't blame you, Darren. At $5 for 100 pounds, that's some darn fine cheap cutbait for cats.

[thedeadsea]

Ace, I didn't mean to come off too strong and I apologize if that is how it was taken. No hard feelings on this end. My purpose for that post was that I repectfully disagree with DTRO that northern fishing used to be better than it is now. I've have seen (and participated in) too many informative threads that go to heck when people start arguing about muskies and/or pike and if I threw my honest $.02 in there we would be off to the races.

DTRO if you don't get up to the sale I would be happy to save some for you as long as you don't mind spear holes in them.

Steve