I'll be headed down to southern MO this weekend to do a bit of sucker grabbing (below pictures will help clarify what that is, lol). Hoping to find a plethora of local herps while I'm there. Hopefully I'll get some good pictures, but for now I'll post pictures from last year's sucker grabbing trip!
So, sucker grabbing. You basically cast a brightly colored large sharp hook out into the water, wait for the spawning sucker fish to swim over, and if you jerk the rod at just the right moment you'll snag one! It's more difficult than it may sound, it's not uncommon to bring your hook back with just 1 scale on the tip.
My little brother being a goober
My cousin Tiffany loves to show me up at this
Closeup of the sucker fish
Nerodia sipedon
Long-pincered Crawdad (native only to the white river basin)
Very large N. sipedon
These were on the menu for most of the snakes in this area (gotta love that waterproof Canon Powershot D10)
Sometimes you miss your target and snag the wrong fish
...and of course she had to out do me on who could snag the smallest target
Map turtle
FINALLY SNAGGED ONE!! WOO HOO!!
Thanks for looking!
- Cam
Ozarks Excursion (Sucker Grabbing) (DUW)
Moderator: Scott Waters
Re: Ozarks Excursion (Sucker Grabbing) (DUW)
Do you eat those? Are they bony like carp? There was this stream in PA near a popular fossil hunting location which was home to some really huge (2-3+ lb) suckers. Looked like a really fun trip.
Re: Ozarks Excursion (Sucker Grabbing) (DUW)
Yeah, you can eat them and they are pretty good if you cook 'em right, but they are indeed bony like carp. You have to take great care in their preparation to make sure you don't get a sharp bone in your gums. My grandma was a *pro* at cleaning them. I wish I would have paid more attention to her method while she was still around because I suck at it! lmao-EJ wrote:Do you eat those? Are they bony like carp?
I've never been to PA, I'd love to visit one day.-EJ wrote:There was this stream in PA near a popular fossil hunting location which was home to some really huge (2-3+ lb) suckers.
It always is! Even when you don't manage to snag a single one-EJ wrote:Looked like a really fun trip.
- Cam
- Mike VanValen
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Re: Ozarks Excursion (Sucker Grabbing) (DUW)
This brings back memories. I used to go down to the river and catch up schools of white sucker in an old sheet. I had pools of turtles in my backyard and we used the suckers to feed them.
That's a nice looking stream. Great way to spend a day!
That's a nice looking stream. Great way to spend a day!
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Re: Ozarks Excursion (Sucker Grabbing) (DUW)
Very cool, Cam. I attended an Ozark 'sucker fry' many moons ago. I remember them being pretty tasty. Need to walk down a crick, scare up suckers and watch ;em go!
-Mike
-Mike
- Mark Brown
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Re: Ozarks Excursion (Sucker Grabbing) (DUW)
I had a good friend who used to do something similar down here with carp. He'd use a big treble hook and put a piece of aluminum foil on the hook so he could see it better underwater. One of the funniest things I've ever seen was the day he was foul-hooking carp this way from a little inflatable in Austin's Town Lake. I was watching from the bank when he hooked a carp that had to go 40 pounds. When he set the hook, that carp lit the afterburners and towed my friend halfway to Longhorn Dam before he cut the line. It looked like he could have pulled a skier behind that little inflatable!
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EJ Fossil site?
Not to get off topic, but would like to know where a popular PA fossil site is located. I live in PA, and would love to know.
Thanks,
Jay [email protected]
Thanks,
Jay [email protected]
- Mike Pingleton
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Re: Ozarks Excursion (Sucker Grabbing) (DUW)
Sounds like a Nantucket Sleigh Ride, Texas Style!
Mark Brown wrote:I had a good friend who used to do something similar down here with carp. He'd use a big treble hook and put a piece of aluminum foil on the hook so he could see it better underwater. One of the funniest things I've ever seen was the day he was foul-hooking carp this way from a little inflatable in Austin's Town Lake. I was watching from the bank when he hooked a carp that had to go 40 pounds. When he set the hook, that carp lit the afterburners and towed my friend halfway to Longhorn Dam before he cut the line. It looked like he could have pulled a skier behind that little inflatable!
- Mark Brown
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Re: Ozarks Excursion (Sucker Grabbing) (DUW)
That's a perfect description! (and brings back great memories of Leslie West and Mountain, too!)Mike Pingleton wrote:Sounds like a Nantucket Sleigh Ride, Texas Style!
I was literally rolling on the ground.
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Re: Ozarks Excursion (Sucker Grabbing) (DUW)
Fishing and Herpng
Best idea since sliced bread
Best idea since sliced bread
Re: Ozarks Excursion (Sucker Grabbing) (DUW)
In a sheet? Really? I feel like I wouldn't have the dexterity to pull something like that offMike VanValen wrote:This brings back memories. I used to go down to the river and catch up schools of white sucker in an old sheet. I had pools of turtles in my backyard and we used the suckers to feed them.
They just fry 'em up in some beer batter or what? I could use some advice in making them taste better, haha. Do you remember details from that many moons back??Mike Pingleton wrote:Very cool, Cam. I attended an Ozark 'sucker fry' many moons ago. I remember them being pretty tasty. Need to walk down a crick, scare up suckers and watch ;em go!
I would have paid to see something like that happen!! I hooked a bass once that drug my little paddle boat about 30ft. before the line broke. Needless to say, I wanted to cry when it broke.Mark Brown wrote:I had a good friend who used to do something similar down here with carp. He'd use a big treble hook and put a piece of aluminum foil on the hook so he could see it better underwater. One of the funniest things I've ever seen was the day he was foul-hooking carp this way from a little inflatable in Austin's Town Lake. I was watching from the bank when he hooked a carp that had to go 40 pounds. When he set the hook, that carp lit the afterburners and towed my friend halfway to Longhorn Dam before he cut the line. It looked like he could have pulled a skier behind that little inflatable!
I tend to agree It's one of my absolute favorite things to do in the spring!DaneConley wrote:Fishing and Herpng
Best idea since sliced bread
- Cam
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Re: Ozarks Excursion (Sucker Grabbing) (DUW)
Looking back it wasn't the smoothest way to get fish, but we were young and didn't have a net. It makes the memories that much better, though!KingCam wrote: In a sheet? Really? I feel like I wouldn't have the dexterity to pull something like that off
- Mark Brown
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Re: Ozarks Excursion (Sucker Grabbing) (DUW)
They can be combined, too - when I was a little rugrat in Little Rock, AR, we used to catch Three-toed Amphiumas on hook and line, baited with bacon.DaneConley wrote:Fishing and Herpng
Best idea since sliced bread
Re: Ozarks Excursion (Sucker Grabbing) (DUW)
No kidding?? I've caught a lot of crawdads with bacon on a line, but never any herps. I catch a lot of snappers while I'm catfishing with chicken liver, I can tell you that much! You always know when you have a snapper on the line if it feels like you're dragging a 500lb log through the water. And the most effective way I've found to catch the big papa bullfrogs is with a bright yellow rubber grub on a hook. They bite *every* time.Mark Brown wrote:They can be combined, too - when I was a little rugrat in Little Rock, AR, we used to catch Three-toed Amphiumas on hook and line, baited with bacon.
- Cam
- Mark Brown
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Re: Ozarks Excursion (Sucker Grabbing) (DUW)
That's all we had for bait, being only 9 or 10 and having little disposable income We caught mudbugs, too, and loads of panfish. The amphiuma lived inside the cinder block dock we fished from, and we could just see the tips of the head when we'd lean over the edge of the dock and look down. We had no idea what the things were until we pulled the first one out - we had to go out in the water and pull it straight out from the dock and then up to the bank. We still didn't know what it was until someone's father looked it up in a field guide - we only knew that they were big, ugly, and very unhappy. Fortunately, we only caught two or three - fortunate, since the animals didn't survive the encounter.KingCam wrote:No kidding?? I've caught a lot of crawdads with bacon on a line, but never any herps. I catch a lot of snappers while I'm catfishing with chicken liver, I can tell you that much! You always know when you have a snapper on the line if it feels like you're dragging a 500lb log through the water. And the most effective way I've found to catch the big papa bullfrogs is with a bright yellow rubber grub on a hook. They bite *every* time.Mark Brown wrote:They can be combined, too - when I was a little rugrat in Little Rock, AR, we used to catch Three-toed Amphiumas on hook and line, baited with bacon.
- Cam
Re: Ozarks Excursion (Sucker Grabbing) (DUW)
I've never even seen an amphiuma in nature, or a siren for that matter. I'd love to locate one (or many) one of these days.Mark Brown wrote:That's all we had for bait, being only 9 or 10 and having little disposable income We caught mudbugs, too, and loads of panfish. The amphiuma lived inside the cinder block dock we fished from, and we could just see the tips of the head when we'd lean over the edge of the dock and look down. We had no idea what the things were until we pulled the first one out - we had to go out in the water and pull it straight out from the dock and then up to the bank. We still didn't know what it was until someone's father looked it up in a field guide - we only knew that they were big, ugly, and very unhappy. Fortunately, we only caught two or three - fortunate, since the animals didn't survive the encounter.
- Cam
Re: Ozarks Excursion (Sucker Grabbing) (DUW)
You don't hear the term "sucker fry" very often, or sucker grabbing for that matter.
I have to know where in NE Missouri Jackson County is? I only know of the one in western MO.
I have to know where in NE Missouri Jackson County is? I only know of the one in western MO.
Re: Ozarks Excursion (Sucker Grabbing) (DUW)
Kansas City is in Jackson County. We're right on the border of MO & KS and directly south of the Missouri River. Hope that helps!kcmatt wrote:I have to know where in NE Missouri Jackson County is? I only know of the one in western MO.
- Cam
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Re: Ozarks Excursion (Sucker Grabbing) (DUW)
You want details from 35 years ago? They were breaded and deep fried, not pan-fried, I remember that much.
Anybody else craving beer-battered feesh now?
Anybody else craving beer-battered feesh now?
KingCam wrote:They just fry 'em up in some beer batter or what? I could use some advice in making them taste better, haha. Do you remember details from that many moons back??Mike Pingleton wrote:Very cool, Cam. I attended an Ozark 'sucker fry' many moons ago. I remember them being pretty tasty. Need to walk down a crick, scare up suckers and watch ;em go!
- Cam