fileting suckers

[bobber]

I am always fishing down at the river and I'm always catching suckers, and I'm wondering how to filet them.

[jim c]

What river are you fishing? I assume that you are thinking off eating them,but you should consider the potential health risks of a bottom feeder.Check with your fish/game dept for advice on this matter. jim c.

[Mike in MN]

I'm not sure where you're located, but here in Minnesota mostly suckers are beheaded, gutted, and smoked. Sometime in the early spring, the suckers will run up small streams and creeks to spawn. It is legal here to spear these fish. Any tributary with spawning suckers in my area will have bunches of people getting suckers for the smoker when they are running. These fish are from clean cold water and are very tasty. The bones are large and kind of fall away after smoking. I know this doesn't answer how to fillet them, but try them smoked and I think you'll be pleased.

[Duane]

Reminds me of a guy that once wrote in asking what was the best way to cook a carp...

The advice he got was to bake the fish on a cherrywood board, then throw away the fish and eat the board!

Hey, each to his own!

Duane

[rabble rouser]

I have never heard of anybody fileting them, I think because of the bones, or bone structure. What they do is get them in the spring and smoke them or can them. I think when they can them its like a pickling solution and it disolves the bones. Alot of people here in Michigan love them. Eric

[cisco]

I don't smoke anymore, but if I should get the urge, what end of the sucker do you light up?

[KevinA]

Fileting suckers, hmmm....sounds like something a used car or boat salesman would know alot about...you might ask one of them...

[Ness]

They say that one man's meal is another man's poison but this is one dinner invite that I'd think I'd have to skip. Suckers... ackkkkkk.

[WAeyes]

Funny stuff Cisco. Your killing me!!! Just like a good Cuban huh?

[JCarp]

I don't know this as fact but Grandma always said white suckers have less bones and you can filet them and they were good. She and another old timer I knew talked about running other varieties through a meat grinder to make excellent "salmon" patties. Ground up bones cook out.

[Backwater Eddy]

White sucker in the spring is a very good eating fish. Fillet them as you would a walleye and you should be fine. Canning sucker is a option too and a fine cracker topper at base camp.

In-Fisherman had some great sucker recipes in their cook book if I remember right. Worth a peek at there web site to see.

I have placed spring sucker on the platter with walleye and have had seasoned walleye munchers pick out the sucker and leave the walleye behind. Early cold water sucker can be a fine table topper.

Backwater Eddy

[hAWGBOY]

I can't wait till the sucker run in minn, those suckers are great smoked.

[cisco]

BE, once again you are quite correct. Another maligned critter is the sheepshead. Take a look at the Ohio Sea Grant cookbook and you'll find a ton of recipes for sheepshead. These "goats" as many Lake Erie folk call them, can be good fighters as a sport fish, and good eating as table fare.

Incidentally, it would surprise many to learn that the No. 1 consumer fish in the U.S. -- the one eaten in greatest quantities is the good old carp.

If you've ever eaten commercial fish sandwiches, fish patties, mock chicken legs, and other McFish or mystery fish, then you have eaten carp.

[sib]

they taste a lot better once ya put them in the sibco carp-a-matic and puree them. makes a healthy shake between meals or good chum.;-)
"go outside and play"
sib

[cmb]

another interesting fact is that there is a fairly substancial commercial fishery for "sheephead" (F.W. Drum). they are exported to southern states where the meat is verry similar to an overharvested Gulf species. it is sold much like "cod" is in resturants here. (cod fisheries-once thought of as nearly infinate- crashed and now the "cod" we buy is not cod but scrod and other similar tasting species)

another tidbit, I was once told that Ohio's largest export of commercialy harvested fish is Carp, although it can't be sold in ohio becuase the OEPA consumption guidelines are consideraply more restrictive than the USDA guidelines that apply to the fish when they are shiped over state lines.

[sib]

LAST EDITED ON Mar-08-01 AT 10:44AM (CST)[p]i hear the sheepheads called "poormans lobster" by some of the old timers...it is truly a fascinating fish. the ability a sheaphead or drum have to stun prey by knocking bones in their head together, then gulp, and an easy meal, has always intrigued me. i've never been disappointed when i boat mr. pink eyes.

"go outside and prey"
sib

[cisco]

I once asked a Boston cab driver, "Where can I get scrod?"

I don't think he understood me.

[cmb]

I rarely complain about catching them, I would rather play any fish than bring up an empty line. and, a big-un is a load of fun when perch jerkin with a light rod! you know-rod doubled over with the drag working, what fun!

why is it still winter! I want to go out side and play!

[Chairman]

They are great eating. As a cold water fish their flesh is soft and they are bony. Bay Port, Michigan has a fish sandwich day in which sucker is served on a bun (7,000 are sold each year) The way they clean them is to scale, filet and remove rib bones. They then have a scoring board which is a hardwood board with grooves cut in it. Lay the filet skin side down on the board with the grooves and use a sharp knife to slice the meat every 1\4-3\8 inch. This will leave the meat intact with the skin. Lightly bread the filets. Then deep fry and the oil will get to the fine bones and disolve them. Sounds like a fish story, but come to my house and see a well used scoring board.

[Gunga Din]

Being the 2nd dryest state in the US, we don't have a lot of water here in Utah. But all the walleye water has good populations of carp. In fact, I my house overlooks Utah Lake, which outlets into the Jordan River for about 60 miles where it then dumps into the Great Salt Lake. Anyways Utah Lake is a vast, featureless, stained, shallow lake (high water is 13', but drops to only 3-6' in the summer). It has a commercial carp netting operation on the lake (all game fish are supposed to be released) and millions of pounds are sent to satisfy the European market in California. None of it is sold in-state.

Even in our better fishing lakes, I can't help but wonder what percentage of the biomass in our popular lakes is filled with carp.

[jim c]

thats the pluperfect subjunctive interrogitive form of the verb..

[jim c]

do you know the real name of this fish,i was thinking of something else..I would like to look it up and read of it