Spring Bait Runs, Suckers and Smelts

[Limacharley]

We used to net red fin carp. Fillet and smoke. Very meaty fish.
The black fin carp were not as sought after.

[awbringl]

[QUOTE=steelheader,Apr 09, 2020 - 04:31 pm] [/QUOTE]
May I ask how you prepare suckers ? also which variety , used to see them netted by the bushel and carted away to do what with ??..

Thanks [/QUOTE]
Grew up in Northern Ontario, were not the most "well-off" family, and ate all winter from what the bush and waters provided. That included sucker, which were more than plentiful and easy to get in the spring. We ate a lot of canned sucker and my folks convinced us as little kids that we were eating canned salmon.... We caught typical white suckers and Redhorse suckers. The Redhorse were better eating. It should be mentioned that I think the redhorse is considered to be disappearing, so I'm not encouraging all the members here to run out and catch/eat them all

Seems pretty early for suckers. The smelts always came first and when you started seeing more than 1 or 2 suckers around, you knew the smelt run was approaching its end.