How to Catch a Sucker Fish

Author's daughter with a sucker

Suckers are bottom-feeding fish found throughout most of the United States. Although suckers are not normally targeted by most anglers the fish is capable of putting up a great fight and is very fun to catch. Suckers have a fleshy mouth with thick lips that point downward, allowing the fish to forage for food along the gravelly and mucky stream and river beds where the fish live. Some suckers can weigh as much as four or five pounds at lengths of up to 2 feet, making them a formidable fish when hooked on a spinning rod.

Things You'll Need

• Fishing tackle
• Split shots
• Number four snelled hooks
• Night crawlers
• Fishing net

Instructions

1. Target suckers in spring or autumn. This is the time of year when many other species of fish are either not biting yet or beginning to slow down in their feeding. Once the temperatures warm up in the spring above 50 degrees F suckers will bite.

2. Find a slow running river that is not that wide and fish there for suckers. Suckers move along the bottom of a waterway and "suck" up whatever food comes their way. Their teeth are actually in their throats and they are able to take in and grind up many different types of organisms and vegetable matter. But they need the current to be slow enough so that they will not be swept downstream too quickly. Suckers tend to congregate in large pools where the water is still but somewhat deep.

3. Use night crawlers to catch suckers. Although suckers can be caught on corn and doughballs much like carp can it is much easier to use a night crawler. Hook the night crawler through and through so it cannot wriggle off the hook.

4. Rig your line with a number four snelled hook and two or three split shots when fishing for suckers. The mouth of the sucker is very fleshy and once hooked the fish rarely will be able to spit the hook out. The weights will serve to keep the night crawler on the bottom where the sucker can find it. The weights also allow you to cast your bait a good distance.

5. Cast your night crawler out into the current and then let your fishing pole rest against a forked stick. Set the pole down and watch the rod tip. If you see either your line going taut or the rod tip beginning to move back and forth grab the pole and set the hook. Be aware that sometimes a sucker will simply take in your night crawler but then stay still, causing no movement. It is a good idea then to check your line every now and then and be prepared to have to set the hook.

6. Play a sucker with great care after you hook it and try to get it close to shore. A sucker puts up a great fight initially but they tend to tire quickly.

7. Reel it in once it stops thrashing about but be careful as you get them close to shore. While they won't get off the hook they are strong enough still at this point to break the line, which they can accomplish by rolling over and over.

8. Use a net to scoop the sucker up and then carefully remove the hook with pliers. Release the sucker unharmed to perhaps be caught another day.

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• Fish resource website