The Suckers Are Starting The Spring Run

[DonkeyHodey]

I threw a few lines earlier in the month--not one bite.  That changed yesterday!

I was using fairly long, dangly, nightcrawlers on the bottom and fishing in fairly shallow (2-3 feet) gravelly/sandy area (The river is very high and moving fast...)

Got these and 4 other beauties in ~1 hour yesterday (and saw the first jump on the surface.)

None of the ones I caught were "fat bottomed girls" and I think right now the males staging--the ladies should be moving in!; the next 2-3 weeks should make for lotta run for anyone that likes a fight!

 

It was good to see my rod bending once again!

[DonkeyHodey]

We’ve taken a few trips to the Miss to see what’s running.  It’s been hit or miss.

The river has been very high but the dry weather in the past week is bringing it down some; this weekend we had a bit of fun chasing suckers.   Fishing with bits of nightcrawler on a hook with a slip-sinker.

The suckers are still probably just staging and not yet in their full "run" but they are starting to congregate.  (males starting to hang out, but no fat-bellied ladies yet) 

Water is still very cold--not much about freezing; however, with forecasted 60 degree weather this week, I’m guessing the bite will heat up in the next 2 weeks as water temps rise.  (I pulled up a crawdad holding my line and that's usually a REAL good sign that the fish bite should start heating up!)

 

For those of you with a bit of the COVID19 cabin fever, a few hours on the riverbank is beautiful therapy!  I am recharged.

 

(haven’t seen any shorthead redhorse yet (they’re the pretty ones with the bright red fins), but the white suckers are biting and got one nice silver redhorse.  For those of you thinking suckers are a waste of time, one does sometimes get a few accidental by-catch like that weird big-eyed, toothy one sonny-boy is holding…  Daughter lost a nice kitty right at the shore as her pappy was a little clumsy with the net...)