Dad said, “Russ we are going to go snare some suckers today.” No, my Dad was not a con man looking to scam someone out of their hard earned money. Seems, I was about 8 years old at the time and my fishing career was only catching bluegills on a cane pole. Dad was talking about bottom feeding river suckers that come up the smaller creeks to lay eggs in the spring. I watched Dad prepare the 20 foot cane pole with heavy cotton line on the end. His cane pole was not the little three piece bluegill poles. These were long and heavy bamboo. A lead weight, about 4 inches long with a hole in top and bottom was tied to the cotton line. In the bottom hole, a copper snare wire was attached. He made a lasso of sorts about 6 inches in diameter. The idea was to slip the snare under the head of a sucker and jerk upwards, the snare tightens up behind the gills and you swing him to the bank, where hopefully someone grabs it and puts it on the stringer. That would be one of my jobs, in addition to throwing rocks. Throwing rocks while fishing was news to me; Dad had always said to keep quiet when we were catching pan fish.
We put the long cane pole on Dad’s 1950 Chevy 4 door sedan. He tied it to the outside mirror in the front and the back door handle in the back. We drove about 10 miles to Big Walnut creek. It was the first part of April and the cold Indiana nights made the creek crystal clear. We grabbed all the gear including two buckets and headed down stream below the Dunbar covered bridge. Dad had on his Polaroid sunglasses so he could see the school of suckers in the clear water. Dad said, “There they are, Russ, about 20 big ones.” Dad got on a high bank overlooking the fish. “Now Russ, go down to those riffles and fill a bucket with rocks about golf ball size.” When I came back with the rocks, he said to throw one about 20 yards below him. The idea was to drive the school up and under Dad where he could reach them with his snare. I would throw where he said but I could not see the bottom feeding suckers. The first pass I threw too close and they went on past Dad. “Ok” Dad said, “Go up above me and drive them back.“ About 5 rocks later, Dad said, “Stop right there and don’t move.” I watched Dad carefully moving the snare into position under the sucker’s nose. If you touch the fish with the snare he will take off. Suddenly he jerked and the cane pole bent into a bow. After a short fight, out comes a 3 pound river sucker with a red tail. Dad called them red horse. Dad swung him to the bank, “Get him Russ.” I jumped on that fish like a cat on a mouse. Dad said, “Get the stringer, then take him down stream and tie him up to a good tree root.”
The more rocks I threw to drive the school into position for Dad, the more they tired and calmed down and finally lay still right under Dad. After about 2 hours, I had 8 on the stringer. They run from about 2 pounds up to 3 pounds each. Dad said that was about as big as river suckers get. These red tailed suckers travel up Big Walnut creek from White river. When the water temperature gets warm around end of April or first of May, they start laying eggs in the shallow water above the riffles. They make nests in the gravel bars and the males bump into the females making the eggs come out and fertilize them at the same time.
We loaded up everything and headed home with our catch. Mom was pleased to see the fish and said, “You clean them and I will get ready for the fish fry.” Dad used a large spoon to take off the scales, and then cut off the head and took out the entrails. He saved the eggs or roe from the females. Mom had one skillet of fried potatoes going and another large one with lard for the fish. Dad said, “This is the most important part of preparing suckers to cook.” He took a razor blade and started cutting the meat every quarter inch down the sides. He called it scoring the meat.
Seems suckers have small bundle bones in the meat that you can’t pull out like the rib bones. The idea was to get the hot grease into the cuts and crystallize the tiny bones.
Mom put on salt and pepper then rolled them in flour/cornmeal. When they hit the hot grease they made a sizzle sound. After being on the creek all day, I could have eaten them raw. Dad said to eat a bite of fish and a bite of bread and butter. If you get one of the small bones, the bread will help it go down. I opened one of the crisp brown fish and took out the ribs and back bone, just like the bluegills we always ate. My first bite was full of sharp bones. Dad said, “Get one that has more scores in it.” I got a few good bites but mostly ate bread and potatoes. The taste was good but my first time eating sucker fish was not good but I loved the roe. Later on I found out you could put them in a pressure cooker for 15 minutes and then fry, which took care of the bundle bone problem.
This first trip was on Saturday and dad called a friend and his cousin Johnny to go with us on Sunday. I heard him on the phone saying, “The river suckers are running.” My job was the same, throw rocks and string fish. With 2 more men along, they brought two extension ladders and lots of rope. We found another large school and they put the ladders into the edge of the water with ropes tied to the top. With a man on each rope and one man starting on the bottom of the ladder they would angle it out over the fish and tie the ropes back to trees. The second ladder was placed up stream about 30 yards the same way. The idea was to get high on the ladder above the fish and the school between the two snare poles. I threw a lot of rocks before the school finally calmed down in the right position. Dad got the first one. It was a nice 3 pounds and 22 inches long. Over the next two hours, I put 14 suckers on the stringer. Then the fun started. Dad jerked real hard on a big fish and the right side rope broke. Down and under he went in the freezing water. First thing he said when he came up was, “Build a fire quick.” Johnny was on the other ladder and was laughing so hard; I thought he was going to fall in too.
Dad didn’t think it was funny because he had dropped the pole and the fish was still in the snare going up stream. Johnny continued to laugh while Dad climbed out on the bank. Dad said, “So we will see how funny you look.” He pulled out his knife and cut the rope on Johnny’s ladder. I will never forget the look on Johnny’s face. When he came up, Dad started laughing and said, “You are right, this is funny.“
By this time I had a big fire going by an overhanging tree and both started taking off their wet clothes and hanging them up. Both men standing in their under shorts was quite a sight. Johnny then took off his under shorts and put them on a stick. He said he could get them dry sooner this way. Johnny got to talking and not watching the fire. Suddenly the wind changed and the flames burnt a hole in his shorts. Dad was laughing so hard he had tears. Dad said, “What are you going to tell your wife when she sees that brown hole.”
Today, well over 6 decades later, I can still recall the great sucker snaring trip when two men fell in the creek. Dad and I continued to snare suckers every spring. Several times Mom and my sisters would go along. Mom would make a great picnic lunch on the sandy bank. I now know just how blessed I was in having parents who not only tolerated but actively encouraged my outdoor pursuits. As my grandfather once said, “Boys don’t get in much trouble when they are hunting and fishing all the time.” I certainly was no juvenile delinquent and there’s no question that most of my free time was spent in close communion with the natural world. Later when my boys were big enough I took them to snare suckers and today I take my grandkids fishing.
Oh yeah, Dad did recover the snare pole but the big sucker escaped.
Pictured right – my son 40 years ago, 5 years old, took him snaring suckers.
-Russ Porter, Russell Outdoors
