Suckers?

[Guest]

Hey all. Im new to sucker fishing and Im looking for a way to cook/smoke 'em. Any tips for a rookie?

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Walleye Slayer
"Leave nothing to fate"

[Guest]

Gut them, scale and wash them and soak for 4 hours or up to 8hrs. in:

1lb. salt dissolved in 1 gallon pure water. Add 1/2c. brown sugar and 1/2c. Soy Sauce.

Smoke them for 3hrs. at 125 degrees, or until flaky.

Sucker is very strong tasting and Oily so smoking is really the best method.

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Chells

[maxx rpm]

I use a slightly different method,
-I use an electric knife, cut from back of head all the way down, filleting them. Leave rib bones in or take out. Suckers are so large that i dont see how they would get done unless you do this. I leave tulibees, panfish whole because they are so thin they would dry out.
-I use a salt mixture of 12 parts water to 1 part salt. can also add sugar. I soak them overnight, then wash them off very well in the morning and pat dry.
-The smoking time depends on the weather and heat source. I use charcoal, and put in soaked pieces of apple wood. Have a water pan above this. Cooler weather, use more coals, hotter, less. Also depends on size of smoker.
The time does vary, and it is important not to overdo it or they will be dry. There comes a time when you have to watch closer as they are almost done. The salt is also very important. I have smoked thousands of fish and mine are very good. With the exception of some of morey's fish, i have never had smoked fish as good as mine. It is a lot of work so you dont want to ruin them. Clean fish is also important. I fillet them, wash them very well, remove fins. A good smoked fish is hard to beat! Good luck!

[Guest]

Is there any way a guy could eat suckers without a smoker. We brought home some last night and tried grilling them and they were horrible. Any advice would be wonderful!

[Guest]

If you can't smoke them, use them for compost in your Veggie Garden

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Chells

[icehousebob]

Chells, They do make good compost. A few years ago, one of my sons speared a big mess of suckers. He froze them and then borrowed[without telling me] one of my wood chippers.He chipped them up and blew the chips? over a friend's organic garden. It took me a while to get rid of the smell in the chipper. If you do it, you will want to till the soil imediately afterwards. And then burn your tiller. Or at least wash it, which my son didn't do with my chipper.

[Surface Tension]

I knew an Ol timer that lived through the Depression. He gave me a fish pattie/cake made from sucker. It was pretty good. Dont know the rescipe but it was probably something like ground sucker, bread crumbs, egg, salt, pepper, garlic, parsley, flour and parmesan cheese. Formed into a pattie and fried till golden brown. The one I ate was cold out of his lunch box.
I guess you could subsitute bass for sucker.

[Sgt. Rock]

Pickle them!! Any good recipe and they are just like herring in the jar. Yummm!!

[Guest]

Go with the fish patty recipe or the smoked sucker that's the only way. When I smoke fish I cut along both sides of the spine and cut the heads off so the fish lays flat after you take the guts out of course. Wash them and rinse them out really good. than soak them in a mixture of salt I use pickling salt and water. I don't really use a specific amount of salt I just put a lot in there. I soak them babies for at least twelve hours(overnight). than I take them out again and rinse them off. They should be ready to go in the smoker. I have a little charcoal barrel smoker I use , I picked it up at one of the marts' for $20 and the thing works great for small batches of suckers. half dozen or so.I like to smoke them in maple. I usually cut my own and than soak it for a while so it doesn't produce a huge flame in my little smoker and burn my fish. Just throw that maple right over some charcoal in the bottom of the smoker and it's good to go.When most of the oil has dried up out of the fish take em out.

[This message has been edited by anglerific (edited 04-25-2003).]

[This message has been edited by anglerific (edited 04-25-2003).]

[Guest]

How about some recipes for salmon eggs nightcrawlers or minnows?

[Guest]

I know a guy who uses suckers in kinda of an unusual way........he's been a trapper all his life and swears by his use of suckers this way....he buries a 55 gallon drum in the ground so as only the cover is visible...he then gathers as many suckers as he can during the spring sucker runs in the area and throws them whole into this drum...then the suckers sit and "breakdown" all summer in the hot sun and into fall in this unrefrigerated holding tank......lol.....you want to smell something god awfull!......lol....stuff turns into a dark greenish brown "slurry" that would gag a maggot...the guy puts this stuff in small bottles and uses it as attractant for trapping fox.. mink..etc...called ."sun rendered fish oil"...sucker trivia.........lol!