smoked suckers?

[spearinfool]

gonna take the kids once the suckers start spawning in the creeks.  anyone tried smoking them?  any good?  any recipes?

[tjacob]

Have not smoked suckers for years, but I'll see if I can remember. I used to split them down the back and leave the belly meat in tact. Kinda butterflied. Of course remove the head and innards. Wash them well. Place them in layers in a plastic container. sprinkle each fish liberally with pickling salt, cover the container. Leave them over night. There will be a bit of brine the next day. Rinse them well. Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of brown sugar on each fish and place in the smoker. Usually took me all day to smoke them. I thought they were great and I never got any complaints from folks I gave them to. Most used to bug me for more. That's one way anyway. Good luck.

[Skipper]

I like smoked fish, and have never been able to make a sucker into something I want to eat. The meat always seems to be mushy and soft, with a strange texture. I even had a couple really good markets try it for me. Thielans Meats in Pierz MN ships bacon all over the country to fancy chefs and expensive restaurants. Nobody has ever said they don't know how to smoke things! The result was better, but it was still sucker...

I take my kids sucker fishing too, it is the ultimate for fast action and big fish. There are not too many things that you can catch 50 of in just a few hours and most of them are over 5lbs! It also requires no special gear and bare minimum skill.  We practice catch and release after we have enough for cut catfish bait. Nobody likes to eat them and the are a very important and completely natural part of the ecosystem. They almost never get deeply hooked and they almost always swim away. It is a good way to teach kids to fish all they want, just put back the surplus.

[Bull Giller]

x2

[Mad_Dog]

I'm going to take my son out for the first time, and my first time as well this spring. Any tips for a successful trip with a 5 year old? What sort of hooks do you use? Most people here use a treble, or spear them, but I don't plan on keeping many, if any, so I would like release to be easy. Thanks!

[Skipper]

Bare simple rig, no frills...

a size 1/0 baitholder hook with a gob of crawlers. Pinch on a large enough split shot to keep the rig down about a foot above the hook.

A slip sinker rig like many use for catfish works even better. Size 1/0 hooks are about perfect, baitholder offset J hooks. Avoid circle hooks, the sucker mouth will not rotate the hook and you will seldom get a hookup.

They will usually congregate in the holes in smaller rivers and streams. The closer to the lake that they spend the winters in, the better.

Tying a small piece of white cloth to the hook seems to help them find your bait. An old timer taught me that and it nearly doubled my catch

They will drag your rod in the water before they let go of the bait, you may wish to keep an eye on that.

[Mad_Dog]

Thanks!

[icebum]

My brine for when i do trout and salmon. Should work for you on the suckers too. 2lb. brown sugar, 1lb. salt, 1 cup soy sauce, 2tblsp. onion powder, 2tblsp. garlic powder, 6 bay leaves, 2tblsp. pepper, 2tblsp. paprika, 2 tablsp. tabasco sauce, 6 quarts water. Cover fish completely. Soak fish 24 hours. remove. Pat dry, and smoke.

[Full_Choke]

Ok I just have to ask, how do you eat smoked fish? I never had a chance to try?
On a side note we have stopped at a smoke house the last couple of years just south of the Mackinaw Bridge so dad can get a smoked chicken. They have a selection of smoked fish.
 

[Skipper]

Just flake it apart with a fork and chow down... crackers, cheese, and smoked fish is hard to beat.

Don't get me wrong, smoked sucker isn't awful. It just isn't very good. Some of the tail meat is OK, sometimes the very rear of the back strap is too. Comparing smoked salmon, whitefish and tulibee to sucker is like comparing old boar meat to a ribeye steak though. Most people will drive across town for the ribeye but will be nearly starved before they start frying boar meat.

[fishing_yooper]

If you wanna get crazy try canning the sucker. I like it that way better then smoked.

[Skipper]

I've had it pickled and it was good. A guy did a whole 5 gallon pail of it and brought it to a party. It was nearly gone before anyone knew it was sucker.

[Rebelss]

I like smoked fish, and have never been able to make a sucker into something I want to eat. The meat always seems to be mushy and soft, with a strange texture. I even had a couple really good markets try it for me. Thielans Meats in Pierz MN ships bacon all over the country to fancy chefs and expensive restaurants. Nobody has ever said they don't know how to smoke things! The result was better, but it was still sucker...

I take my kids sucker fishing too, it is the ultimate for fast action and big fish. There are not too many things that you can catch 50 of in just a few hours and most of them are over 5lbs! It also requires no special gear and bare minimum skill.  We practice catch and release after we have enough for cut catfish bait. Nobody likes to eat them and the are a very important and completely natural part of the ecosystem. They almost never get deeply hooked and they almost always swim away. It is a good way to teach kids to fish all they want, just put back the surplus.

Just had to chip in...best danged bacon and butcher shop in Minnysoda!!! Used to stop in there on my way up to Merrifield. Saw Paul Newman in there on his way to BIR...

[Skipper]

I'm close enough to Peirz, I can get it in the grocery store...   

The bacon is without parallel on this planet.... not even close. Anything they smoke is wonderful... they must use magic wood.

There is a good reason to take hwy 25 north when you go fishing...