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i was wondering how u smoke suckers what u use how longe dose it take any info wood help thaks

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Fillet and leave skin on. With skin side down make slices every 1.5" though the meat stopping at the skin. At the center of every slice poke a hole with your knife. That will let grease drain.

Brine, 1 cup canning salt or quick cure(contains sodium nitrate) to 1 gallon water. If you'd like add 1 cup brown sugar. Soak over night in a plastic cooler. Add ice cubes if the outside temp is above 50 degrees. Rinse and let air dry.

Don't bother soaking your chips, put them in a tin can and fold the lid over or wrap them in tin foil. Place the chips over direct heat.

I smoke fish at 200 degrees. Length of time depends on the smoker and thickness of meat. They will be done when they look and feel a little under done. To be sure take a place out and put it in the fridge. The oils will have firmed up the meat. I like my fish not dry but moist so what you like and what I like will differ.

You can look in the sharing Recipes forum for more about smoking.

Good Luck

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Bite smite, get the net and waders out!

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Surface Tension's instructions seem pretty close to the way my grandpa and I used to smoke them. We used about a half cup of brown sugar in the brine; it helps get rid of the gamy flavor that suckers sometimes get. Make sure you poke or cut notches in the skin for the oil to drain, as he said.

As my grandpa always told people, "the best way to smoke a sucker is on a pine board. Brine it, smoke the fish so the oil lets out, then throw the fish away and eat the board."

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They will normally start showing up at the end of the looper run. All of the rivers on the shore LOAD with them and I even found some spots on miller creek like in lincoln park and even farther down stream that had tons of both white and longnose. Do some searching and I would say in about a week or 2 they will start piling into Miller and a little after that for the rest of the shore.

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Quote:

"the best way to smoke a sucker is on a pine board. Brine it, smoke the fish so the oil lets out, then throw the fish away and eat the board."


Thats the recipe for carp.

Here are some Sucker recipes, I have never tried them myself so I don't know it they are any good.

http://www.southendwalleyeslayer.com/sucker2007.pdf

Someone had a nice chart posted last yr or the yr before (I think in the Carp forum) showing the average times each sucker species went to spawn, and about how long.

I might check the moose horn river this weekend to see if anything is in there. I think it might be a little early though.

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cant bowfish those streams frown.gif. But I can get em on my fly rod. smile.gif Ill just put a lil piece of worm on a hook and dabble.

Does the ditches along the road that one takes from 53 to fish lake get suckers in them as well?

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Those I don't know about but if you are going to try them on your fly rod try snelled yarn just like you would for trout. I caught a ton of them last spring. A couple outings probably got 100+ so it just kind of got old. I have looked for them around Pike lake because there are a ton of them in there but just never found a spot. Bowfishing is hard in the area but if you look harder than I did you might be able to find something.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

If you go netting or bowfish check page 56 of Fishing Regs.

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whys that? I know no spearing in any trout waters, including Superior streams and season starts the 1st.

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They should be biting at the Forbes dam pretty soon here! I used to smoke them, but I had canned suckers last year and they were amazing! It was hard to believe that suckers could be that tastee!

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where is that dam? I havent seen or heard of it. How would the fishlake dam work this time of year.(tomorow)?

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It is on HWY 16, West off of 53. The entrance to Eveleth Taconite in Forbes.

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Good chance. I know that there has been guys down there fishing lately. I have not stopped to see if they are catching any, but I know that previous years we were at this time. There is only one way to find out!

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Is it ok to freeze the suckers before you smoke them? Ive done this with salmon but I was wondering beacuse Ive never done it with suckers.

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The Forbes dam, thats the St. Louis river but much higher up. So I have a question, are the fish as contaminated that high up or not?

Also If anyone cares I tried the Moose Horn river under hwy 35 right by barnum and there was nothing in there yesterday.

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How much higher up? I think everything below Cloquet is contaminated because of usg and sappi, im not sure if there are any mills up north that pollute it.

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Quote:

I think everything below Cloquet is contaminated because of usg and sappi, im not sure if there are any mills up north that pollute it.


The forbes dam is right by Eveleth taconite, I know that everything is pretty contaminated by cloquet, but that dosent mean fish don't swim up river. I know its a long way for a fish to swim but you'd be amazed how far some of them travel when you see the results from some tagged fish.

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I always freeze my fish before I smoke them,thats the way my dad showed me how to do it!To make the brine I put three gallons of cold water in a cooler and add canning salt slowly while stirring.You have enough salt when a raw egg will float.Add the frozen fish and soak for twenty two hours. Be sure the fish is covered with brine I use dinner plates to hold them down,also you want to stir the fish around about four diferent times to make sure the fish and brine are mixed together, dont let the salt lay on the bottem.The frozen fish will help keep the brine cold so you dont have add ice cubes,when you add ice and it melts it dilutes the brine.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Quote:


whys that? I know no spearing in any trout waters, including Superior streams and season starts the 1st.


chadwick, sorry to get back so late with a reply.

Spearing, Archery and Dipnet Season for Suckers opens May 1st.

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Just my thought but hook and line is the most fun way to get suckers,BEER,BBQ,BEER,not to mention there a lot of fun to catch!! grin.gifgrin.gif

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