Target Species

[Guest]

I've seen both buffalo and eels (might have been a water snake) caught out of the dam on Peltier Lake. A lot of different suckers are caught near the Coon Rapids dam. I'll ask around on the others, I have a few friends who are die hard carp/sucker/dogfish,etc fishermen. I'll let you know.

Good Fishin,
Matt

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Catch-N Tackle and Bio Bait
MarCum

[This message has been edited by MJ5 (edited 11-29-2003).]

[hogsucker]

First off, in order to have a shot at some of these species you have to have your bait in the right water. Specifically, blue suckers, spotted suckers and Black Buffalo are only found in a few rivers, the best ones in Wisconsin, flowing into the Miss from the east(red cedar, Chippewa, Black). A good population of blues exists in the Chip, and the DNR is trying to inform the angling public of thier endangered status by posting signs, etc. at boat launches and public accesses. These fish are on a comeback due to the efforts they have made, and it's pretty exciting. A good boat would give you access to the wing dams below the Red Wing Dam, and occasionally a big blue will suprise a lucky angler there as well. Red Wing is also a top spot for shovelnose sturgeon, but don't assume any small sturgeon you catch is a shovel. Baby lake sturgeon are a lot more common, so be sure to know your identifiers . Drifting crawlers on the bottom will take either of these fish. Spotted suckers are extremely scarce in MN, but found in modest numbers in the western WI rivers I mentioned. The Red Cedar is known to support a small poulation, and is probably your best bet. Keep a crawler in the water there, and eventually you will land one. The carpsuckers are a whole different story. They are very widespread, exising in almost all of our rivers south of the cities in good numbers. Finding a school of a hundred or more suspending in a hole is not very uncommon, but finding them is not the problem. I've been targeting carpsuckers whenever I encounter them for the past few years and haven't found a bait, fly or presentation that these skittish fish will fall for. I've chatted with a match-fisherwoman from the Chicago area who occasionally lands them from the Fox river while targeting shiners with light ledger-rigs and eurolarvae in competition. I've also found river carpsuckers in the lower parts of the Rush river in WI, a well-known trout stream, which seem to favor faster water and due to the rich stream ecosystem could possibly be taken on flies. Good luck with the carpsuckers, they have driven me mad on many occasions and I'd like to hear any success you have. The buffalos you mentioned are also widespread, but still not an easy nut to crack. The smallmouth is found in many river systems below St. Anthony falls, and can be caught on a bottom-fished crawler. Just put yourself on a river with good numbers of them and enjoy the roughfishing smorgasborg, you'll pick one up eventually. I know for a fact that they like angleworms and crawler chunks. The bigmouth is a much different fish, being found in large, algae-bloom areas of shallow backwaters and shallow, eutrophic lakes. Western MN is absolutely chock full of bigmouths. Unlike other suckers, the bigmouth buffalo doesn't have an underslung mouth and a bottom-hugging presentation is not the way to go. Thier diet consists of filter-feeding on plankton, tiny fry and scuds, midge larvae. You will often see thier giant white mouths sucking things in as they slowly cruise near the surface. In these situations I prefer a flyrod, and a precisely placed cast is absolutely neccesary. Other mid-water presentations could also be effective, marshmallows or floating waxworms for example. Beef up your tackle for these bruisers, as 50-pounders are pretty common. You didn't mention the Black buffalo, which is okay because they are extremely scarce and not much is known about thier habits or diet. Goldeyes are found in just a few river systems in the state, most prominent the Red(lots) and Root. In mid-summer goldeyes become mainly nocturnal, and have been known to feed on fireflies caught in the surface film. Tactics used for thier more common cousins the mooneyes will work if you are in the right river. Whitefish are best fished through the ice, unless you happen to live far enough north up into Canada where they gather at river mouths running into Superior in the early spring. They then target them with small, wispy flies that may imitate mysis shrimp, or egg patterns. I'll be targeting Lake Whitefish this winter on the Whitefish chain in northern MN. Ahh, then there's the good old American Eel. Where can you find them? Well, if your basement ever flooded after a rainstorm, there might be a four-footer living under your foundation right now. They can be found anywhere below St. Anthony falls, but you won't often see them. Exclusively nocturnal, the eels will crawl out onto the banks after midnight to prey on frogs and worms on shore. I've actually fished with a crawler on shore before, hoping for a good land/water fight with a big, mean eel. Hope this helps you in you quest for new exciting species. Much more information on roughfishing can be found at my HSOforum. Good luck. ~hogsucker

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[vern]

Great info Hogsucker. I've caught both quillback carpsuckers & smallmouth buffalo below the Ford Dam on the Mississippi. I think they are fairly common in that area, but tough to hook regularly. I've caught them on jigs while fishing for walleyes & also with bits of crawlers fished on the bottom. The lower Red River is loaded with goldeye & they are easy to catch when you find them. A slip bobber & small jig tipped with a piece of crawler or Berkley Power Nibble will work. The Shrimpo jigs worked good this spring. I normally catch them on trips to Lockport, Manitoba to use as cut-bait for channel cats. But I would guess they are common throughout the river system. The only American eel I've seen caught was from the Sunrise River near it's mouth at the St. Croix. A friend of mine caught it on a jig & minnow. I'm still looking to catch some of those other species myself. Good luck, Vern

[Roughfisher]

Hey folks, I'm looking to fill out my species list and hoping to get info on some of the difficult-to-catch fish in our state. Specifically:

Goldeye
Blue Sucker
Spotted Sucker
Quillback Carpsucker
Highfin Carpsucker
River Carpsucker
Smallmouth Buffalo
Bigmouth Buffalo
Lake Whitefish
Warmouth
Eels
Shovelnose Sturgeon

Anybody know how to catch these fish?

~roughfisher

[Roughfisher]

Thanks, bro - I'll have to check out "your" site.... :-)

[Roughfisher]

Vern -

Where on the Red would you recommend me going to get a Goldeye?

~Roughfisher

[vern]

Hey Roughfisher, I don't know much about the habits & location of goldeye, but I usually catch quite a few on my catfish trips to Lockport, Manitoba. I normally book a cabin at Stu Mckay's place "Cats on the Red", which is located right below the Lockport Dam. On most of my springtime trips the goldeye were very easy to catch right off of Stu's dock. Goldeye are the cut-bait of choice on the lower Red. We usually try to catch 5-6 goldeye & then head out for some cats. When the bait runs out we go back to the dock & catch some more. Catching the bait is almost as much fun as the big cats. I highly recommend a trip up to Lockport and Cats on the Red. Not only are the catfish huge but there are lots of monster carp & sheepshead too. For more info, you can find Stu McKay on this HSOforum. I haven't fished the Minnesota stretches of the Red much but I would assume that the goldeye are there also. Maybe Backwater Eddy or one of the other guys has more info. Vern

[Roughfisher]

Thanks much Vern I'll be checking that out!

[feverpetal]

My cousins used to live a thousand feet from the Rush River, and when we were kids we CONSTANTLY tried to catch these "big fish" that we knew nothing about. We couldn't get them to take anything, so in desperation, a large net and a solid running leap netted a nice 3 lb. or subject. The thing was so ugly we let it go. That ended our fishing for them pretty quick. Anyways, that mehtod works.

fp

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"Cast riiiiight....there."

[Crawlerman]

St. Croix is one of the few bodys of water that you are alowed to fish Sturgeon, and then it's only a certian stretch of the river with a seasonal limit of one (I don't even know why you'd want to keep it, but eh...) And the season is very tight, I think like two months? Check the Regulations VERY carefully for Sturgeon; it is the most regulated fish in the state, and DNR folks love to bust people over it. I caught a small one by accident in the Northern St. Croix near Marine. It was the oddest fish I have ever caught...

[Roughfisher]

Add a "www" to it and it'll work. Or use the link on my profile - it's my site too.

[MURPHFISHER]

Hogsucker, what is the address of this HSOforum of yours?

[vern]

Check his profile. It's a very good site. The small shovelnose sturgeon has a continuous season on the Mississippi downstream from the Red Wing dam. It's closed everywhere else. The much larger lake sturgeon has an open season on 2 rivers. The Rainy River from July 1st-April 30th & the St. Croix downstream of Taylors Falls from September 6th-October 15th. I've been up sturgeon fishing on the Rainy a few times & it's a lot of fun. I don't understand why people want to keep those big ancient fish either but that's another topic. The paddlefish is probably our most protected species with no open season. Vern

[This message has been edited by vern (edited 12-02-2003).]