What i like to do on those Sunny days of April.

[Ramble]

On those sunny spring days in late April before most of the seasons open and that urge to hit the water is driving me nuts I like head down to one of my favourite spots on the Moira River North of Belleville and dunk a few worms for red horse suckers. It's easy fishing, the fish have some size to them, and its only about a 15 minute drive from my house.

 

I went down on a Wed night last April and caught about 6 in 45 minutes before the sun went down. It was a beautiful evening. On my way home I still had the better part of a dozen worms, and i was thinking about coming back the next day with my girl friend. She's just learning how to fish, and suckers are an excellent beginers species with no spines or teeth to really worry about. Plus the size is exciting and the tackle is simple. Stick a piece of a worm of 3/8th's jig to get down through the current, put the jig in front of the suckers face and you have the makings of a good afternoon...and what an afternoon it was.

 

We started off under the bridge after scouting the fish from above.

 

It wasn't long until we had our first fish of the day.

 

The colours of these fish are never fail to impresse me.

 

It wasn't long until Dominique had her 1st fish.

 

Then she had another fish.

 

A few fish later she decided she was ready to try and land and unhook her own fish. I watched the whole episode from the bridge. The fish came to shore. She put the pole down, and it flopped back into the water. She got it back to shore put the pole down and then it flopped back in to the river again. 3 more times she gets the fish either on shore or into her hands only to have it flop back into the river. At this point my sides are hurting from laughter as i watch her fight with this fish. Eventually I headed down to river edge to give her a hand. By this point the fish is worn out and she is holding it at the waters edge debating whether or not to try and pick it up again. I stepped in and held the fish while she made her 1st attempt ever at unhooking a fish. It went pretty well after a little verbal instruction. Here is picture of her with her fish.

 

 

Then a few more fish and about 2 hours later we have caught over 10 suckers each and several fallfish (another of my spring favourites...but that's a different post)

 

We're mentally getting ready to leave, but still fishing with purpose. She then hooks into the biggest sucker of the day. As far a suckers go he was a real trooper. He made 2 or three sucker style runs...she was so excited only once did I have to say "keep the tip up and let him take drag if he wants it" She did the rest herself. When the fish got to shore I picked it up handed it too her and took this photo.

 

That was the last fish of the day and we had a riot. We werent even back to the car before she satrted giving me hard time for catching the biggest fish of the afternoon....I'm, pretty sure she's going to make a good fisherwoman one day lol.

 

 

If anyone is looking for something to do early in the season on those sunny days in April, I highly reccomend taking a new person fishing for suckers...it beats the hell out of sun fish and you'll never forget it.

 

-Ramble On

[Greencoachdog]

Looks like fun to me!!!

[OhioFisherman]

Nice pictures, Dad took us out to do that as kids, think it was late March here.

[fatherof3]

nice pics,always fun way to kill time

[b2kptbo]

Good way too warmup for the season. Good report, thanks...

[mattyk]

i use to do that a lot when i was younger and had a lot of fun.

[ecxstriper]

Looks like a real nice time . As a rule your girlfriend/wife will either catch more or the biggest fish get use to it.

[ccmtcanada]

Great report! Makes me miss fishing already...and I went out yesterday...LOL.

 

I'll fish for anything...dont care what it is....looks like you had a great time out there....

 

It's gonna be a LOOOOONG winter I think!

[Rich]

Suckers are still biting here! Fun to catch on ultra light gear for sure.

[Bly]

Welcome to the board Ramble on

 

Thanks for putting that report together and sharing it....sounds like a very fun day and Dominique is well on h er way!

[fishindevil]

Sucker fishing in the early spring is great !!!! i used to do it when i was alot younger,and man you could catch tons of them day after day after nday for about 1 month....it kept us very busy after the trout are all done in the cre3eks.....you guys caught some real big ones for sure,great pics too,and looks like your gf,is loving it too,thanks for sharing....cheers

[Mike Pike]

A great post and some great pics there Ramble On! Even the Suckers look pretty cool with that dorsal fin extended. Maybe I'll give your species a shot come spring.

 

Cheers!

[Moosebunk]

You write a good story as well as you tell a good story. Figured I'd enjoy your posts once you got up and running and I was right. Thanks Dave.

 

Used to try for redhorse with my hands at the outdoor swimming pool shallows on the Tay River when I was a kid. Back then those fish seemed freakishly huge. They're good looking colorful fish too, I'll agree to that, and I still catch northern redhorse suckers up here during the spring and early summer. They fight a heckuva alot better than walleye.

[fishing]

Greadt report for redhorse sucker and white suckers. Nice color.

[Headhunter]

As a kid, I used to catch Suckers on the Thames during March break... came back to school all tanned from sitting on the river all week... people askin me where in Florida I spent March break!LOL Great lookin fish, fun to catch and even better way to get non-fishers interested as they came be easy to catch and a heck of a lot of fun!

Thanks for bringing back some fond old memories!

HH

[Tarzan's Jane]

Great report..welcome to the board...congrats to the girlfriend

[Ramble]

Thanks for the kind words everyone. I'm glad I stired up some fond memories.

 

Catching suckers with your bare hands is an absolute riot. When i was at Sir Sandford Fleming we used down to Jennings creek when they were runningin the spring with a six pack and spend a few hours chasing them around....it was so much fun lol

 

-Ramble