A Face That Only A Mother Could Love

[Driftless]

Logan Udelhofen and Tyler Staskal of Fennimore were fishing at the dam in Gays Mills tonight. I was driving by after Friday fish and saw they had a double hook up going. I went to investigate.

They both had two poles going. Their poles were ultralight spinning trout rods with 6 pound test. They had a pile of silver red horse and one shorthead redhorse behind them. They were taking the fish to a friend in Fennimore "Denny Fryemiller" that pickles them. The redhorse were spawning or preparing to spawn.

There is no recognized Wisconsin state record for shorthead redhorse. The silver redhorse Wisconsin state record is 29.25 inches

The two anglers told me pickled sucker is excellent. The meat is white and firm and rivals herrings for taste. The spring is the only time to catch them because the meat is not so clean and firm in summer or fall.

The water they were fishing in was actually boiling with suckers. They arrived at 4pm and I started watching them around 6 pm and watched until 7:30pm and the fish bit non-stop. They began the evening with three dozen crawlers. These anglers were having a ball. These fish are fierce battlers.

They split the crawlers in half and fished them with a egg shaped sinker and a size 6 hook. The suckers were preparing spawning beds just 20 yards off shore on a sandy and gravel flat. Logan and Tyler stopped fishing at 7:30pm because they were out of night crawlers.

This silver redhorse has a convex rounded dorsal fin.

The best way to identify redhorse is through their dorsal fins. The red tail and short head identifies this fish as a shortheaded redhorse. The dorsal fine is concave.

These redhorse are headed to the pickling brine.

[Stick500]

suckers are a blast!

I used to catch them by the dam on the Sugar River down by Broadhead at the golf course

those boys will remember those fun times for the rest of their lives

[fishuhalik]

I miss spring time sucker fishing & spearing. I had plenty of days like that at the twin bridges on Crooked Lake, up north of Grand Rapids. Caught some big ol' hog eyes a few times too!!

[JBMasterAngler]

Before I bought my boat, and was relegated to shore fishing, I could always rely on the good ol' redhorse for some action! They used to be so thick in the lower snake river (probably still are), I would accidentally catch them while casting for smallies!