Sucker Report 4/19/2007

[Howieroch]

The run is on! I fished below Silver Lake for an hour this afternoon. In that time I caught over 20 suckers and some very nice small mouths. My biggest small mouth was a 16" pig that fought great in the shallow, fast current. The suckers are just about thick enough to walk across the river on today.

I grew up fishing the annual sucker runs, but I hadn't made it out for quite a few years. This afternoon was the most fun fishing I've had for a long time. I can't wait to take my kids back there and introduce them to the fun of spring sucker fishing.

I did have to laugh at myself fishing for suckers with a $175 rod and reel combo - when I was a kid a $5 rod and $12 reel did me just fine. I'm glad to report that my new Fenwick worked like a champ.

[MN_Fisherman]

What bait were you using to catch the Suckers and Smallmouth Bass?

[Howieroch]

I was using half of a night crawler on a plain hook with three small split shots for weight. The fast moving water is full of fish, but I had the most luck finding calm spots against the walls or behind rocks. Polarized sunglasses help because you can see the fish better and know where to cast.

Good luck and have fun.

[Tyler Holm]

Would you recommend fishing closer to the damm or further downstream?

What species of sucker did you catch? This is interesting for me.

[DzNuts]

Tyler, I don't know what species. But I was having a blast with them last night about a 100yard below the damm. Kind of near where the little stream runs into the scumbro. I caught prolly 7 and missed about 8 more in an hours time.

Casted only about 5 feet out, set down the rod and waited for it to start moving. Whole crawlers what the preferred method but half worked as well.

[Howieroch]

I was fishing under the Broadway bridge casting up towards the spillway. There is a walkway under the north side of the bridge that gets you fairly close. There is calm, fishable water along the big wall and behind some rocks up there. The fish were biting very light - I caught most by checking for weight on the line every minute or so. I caught a mix of species including redhorse and one that I am pretty sure was a hog sucker.