Where are the suckers?

[lskiles]

In perusing the WDFW state record list on line:

http://wdfw.wa.gov/cgi-bin/database/fis ... record.cgi

I see there is no record for longnose suckers or mountain suckers…I wonder where I could target those species. Does anyone know where these fish are found? Or the bridgelip or largescale suckers. If your response to this is distain, I can appreciate that, but I look at all fish as game. It is all about the hunt. Figuring out where they are and how and on what they feed and subduing them with rod, tackle and bait/lure.

I live in Vancouver, but I would travel to find these species, so if you know give me a shout out. It is not like I am asking for your secret bass hole, heck, most of you would not even land a sucker if you hooked one…lol

Longnose sucker


mountain sucker


bridgelip sucker


largescale sucker

[Anonymous]

In perusing the WDFW state record list on line:

http://wdfw.wa.gov/cgi-bin/database/fis ... record.cgi

I see there is no record for longnose suckers or mountain suckers…I wonder where I could target those species. Does anyone know where these fish are found? Or the bridgelip or largescale suckers. If your response to this is distain, I can appreciate that, but I look at all fish as game. It is all about the hunt. Figuring out where they are and how and on what they feed and subduing them with rod, tackle and bait/lure.

I live in Vancouver, but I would travel to find these species, so if you know give me a shout out. It is not like I am asking for your secret bass hole, heck, most of you would not even land a sucker if you hooked one…lol

The Sammamish River has huge longnose suckers. It drains into lake washington which has over 40-species in it...and I know this fish first hand cause we caught them suckers in that Sammamish River and they were huge. It's an overlooked body of water...also termed (The Slough). Troll black flies with a 5x leader and get ready! They will slam that fly. FYI...you will also hook lots of cutthroat trout. Just troll a fly for them too...a Carey Special or Black/Olive Green Wolley Bugger. Couldn't help ya with the bridgelip sucker.

[A9]

In perusing the WDFW state record list on line:

http://wdfw.wa.gov/cgi-bin/database/fis ... record.cgi

I see there is no record for longnose suckers or mountain suckers…I wonder where I could target those species. Does anyone know where these fish are found? Or the bridgelip or largescale suckers. If your response to this is distain, I can appreciate that, but I look at all fish as game. It is all about the hunt. Figuring out where they are and how and on what they feed and subduing them with rod, tackle and bait/lure.

I live in Vancouver, but I would travel to find these species, so if you know give me a shout out. It is not like I am asking for your secret bass hole, heck, most of you would not even land a sucker if you hooked one…lol

The Sammamish River has huge longnose suckers. It drains into lake washington which has over 40-species in it...and I know this fish first hand cause we caught them suckers in that Sammamish River and they were huge. It's an overlooked body of water...also termed (The Slough).

Theres also a lot of squawfish in there too. Not very beneficial for the migrating salmon and cutthroat smolts...

[Anonymous]

Theres also a lot of squawfish in there too. Not very beneficial for the migrating salmon and cutthroat smolts...

I agree. Sucks a lot of those salmon and cutty smolts right outta that river...too bad to, but that's nature. That's why they want you to catch and keep as many as you can of the squawfish that is.

Catostomidae: Suckers
Catostomus catostomus, Longnose Sucker. Rivers and lakes east and some west of Cascades.

You're looking at rivers like the Columbia and also I believe the Snake has them. I'd have to do further research, but emphasis should be placed on areas EAST of the Cascade Crest, but some western slow moving bodies of water hold these fish, just not many at all. Fish east and in rivers.

[lskiles]

Thanks for the info. I also found a good article from, of all places, the Royal BC Museum. I will have to do some research. They say they are found in the Columbia Basin which is my back yard. I would hate to have to travel all the way to the Sammamish River, but if I want the fish I gotta go where they are.

The article says, "Mountain Suckers inhabit cool, clear mountain streams of moderate current with sand, gravel and cobble substrates" Hmmm...If I can find that and them I would have quite a find!

The squawfish is on my list also, but I have them pretty well mapped out for the spring...now if it would just warm-up and stay warm for a while.

Fish east and in rivers.

Will do!

[gpc]

I cant really help you with suckers, or anything in your neck of the woods. But if you ever become intrested in carp in central WA I can probally name close to 100 diffrent bodies of water that contain carp. But I would think the mighty columbia would be a good place to start for rough fish, or any fish for that matter

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But I would think the mighty columbia would be a good place to start for rough fish, or any fish for that matter

Yep. I'd start with the good old Columbia! You'll be surprised at what you hook in there! Good luck and do stay east of the Cascades. I'd hate to see you waste all that fuel and time to come over here only to get blanked and catch a cutt or two. Stay where you know they are and this sounds like it's close to you anyways. Good luck, as always.

[Fish-or-man?]

If you're ever in the Tri-Cities area the mouth of the Yakima River has populations of many suckers (as does the Columbia through there, of course).

[Smalma]

The local suckers here in western Washington is the largescale.

If you are looking for mountain suckers you might try the Columbia and tributuaries above Tri-cities to Wenatchee.

The longnose can be found in similar areas as well upper Columbia tribs into Idaho and BC.

Good hunting
Curt

[cavdad45]

Tongue Point Coast Guard Station in Astoria. We used to fish the ramp that they would use to float the big bouys for the at-sea markers. Weapon of choice: trout rod, #4 hook on the bottom, stanky day old (or more) nightcrawlers. Just not so old that they've turned to paste yet.

[Derrick-k]

Bellow little goose dam I couldnt keep them off the hook there are a lot there, not sure what kind, either largescale or mountain suckers.

[Deadeye]

I cant really help you with suckers, or anything in your neck of the woods. But if you ever become intrested in carp in central WA I can probally name close to 100 diffrent bodies of water that contain carp. But I would think the mighty columbia would be a good place to start for rough fish, or any fish for that matter

Mind sharing a few carp spots? Lots of suckers in the Columbia. I could easily have the record if you could bowfish for them in Washington. Saw plenty hawg suckers the past couple years.

[gpc]

I cant really help you with suckers, or anything in your neck of the woods. But if you ever become intrested in carp in central WA I can probally name close to 100 diffrent bodies of water that contain carp. But I would think the mighty columbia would be a good place to start for rough fish, or any fish for that matter

Mind sharing a few carp spots? Lots of suckers in the Columbia. I could easily have the record if you could bowfish for them in Washington. Saw plenty hawg suckers the past couple years.

It seems that the carp waters are endless in Grant county. In fact, the only lakes that I know of in that area that dont hold carp are the lakes that were rehabed in the last couple of years.

Potholes resevoir is just stacked full of carp, I mean stacked. All the surronding lakes in the CNWR are also full of carp. I know soda is just full of carp and every lake that I have fished in the CNWR has a good amount of carp in it, other than the freshly rehabed lakes. All the lakes/potholes along Dodson road on the other side of the resevoir have carp, along with crab creek and the wasteways for the resevoir. This little area right hear consists of a couple hundred lakes, a good amount of them cant handle your boat though.

Mosses lake is HUGE for carp I know the use to (if they still dont) have an annual carp shoot in june. Its pretty wild to go and watch the weigh in, they had no problem filling up a dump truck or two every day.

The columbia right down river from Vantage seems to only have carp and squawfish. My budy has a place at Desert Aire and the only fish he has ever caught in that stretch of the river are carp. Wanapum resevoir and the dam right below wanapum are full of carp.

The Quincy area lakes are also full of carp. We were just there and we spent a few hours fishing for them at Evergreen resevoir and there is carp EVERYWHERE in that body of water. I guess you can say there is 5 main lakes in the quincy area and 3 of them got rehabed 3 years ago so no carp in them for now...that I know of those things do grow really fast. But there is a ton of ponds in that area that contain carp. Once again though, they are too small to handle your boat and most of them dont really even have a launch, but I know you can just walk around the lake and plug them all day.

[cavdad45]

I cant really help you with suckers, or anything in your neck of the woods. But if you ever become intrested in carp in central WA I can probally name close to 100 diffrent bodies of water that contain carp. But I would think the mighty columbia would be a good place to start for rough fish, or any fish for that matter

Mind sharing a few carp spots? Lots of suckers in the Columbia. I could easily have the record if you could bowfish for them in Washington. Saw plenty hawg suckers the past couple years.

You mean you can't bowfish for carp and suckers in Washington?

Silver Lake in Cowlitz County has loads of carp.

[Deadeye]

Thanks for the info gpc. If I can get my boat in the lake, then I shouldn't have no problem fishing it since I run a fan motor to get after the carp. I usually shoot Moses, Sprague (before it was killed off), a little bit of Potholes (still have a lot of exploring to do on that lake since it is so huge), and Winchester near Moses Lake.

Ramps are a bit tough to find sometimes when it comes to carp infested lakes, seems all the good lakes for them are the ones without good access. But I may look into shooting a couple of those you mentioned. I don't head over there as often as I would like anymore because of fuel prices and me coming from Missoula, Montana it tends to get a little expensive.

And cavdad45, I have been on the phone with the Washington Fish and Wildlife many times and they told me I can only shoot Common Carp, bullfrogs and any other fish that isn't listed on the rules that doesn't have special limitations to them, so you can also shoot Tench.

This is copied from the 2007 rules word for word.

You may not Fish for game fish, SALMON, SHAD,
STURGEON, or SHELLFISH with bow and
arrow or spear

So that eliminates shad. But it doesn't illiminate suckers, it doesn't say you can't shoot them, it does say they are listed with CRAPPIE, NORTHERN PIKE, NORTHERN
PIKEMINNOW, PEAMOUTH CHUB, PERCH,
SUCKERS, SUNFISH, CATFISH (except
CHANNEL), BULLFROGS and that there is No min. size. No daily limit. And when I talk to Fish and Wildlife on the phone I can never get a straight 100% answer...so anyone know the real rules regarding shooting suckers with a bow?

They are everywhere and in large supply. Back in the midwest and further south we would shoot a bunch of suckers and shad, and guys always wanted them for bait, for turtles or catfish.

[3D]

humptulips river is another hot spot. specialy where hwy 101 crosses the river. if you stan on the bridge you can see them,100s of them. good luck.

[gpc]

The fan boats are perfect for potholes resevoir. I see a few out there every year. Once you get back in the dunes you almost need one of those boats. I have got stuck quite a few times back in there. A GPS is a must as well, its very easy to loose sence of direction back in the dunes. But there is TONS of carp back in there. I have even seen people shooting them off the dock at the resort.

[colton]

what do you use to catch carp. i heard canned corn?

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what do you use to catch carp. i heard canned corn?

I use to work at Bear Creek Country Club and they had HUGE carp in their ponds on numbers 8 and 9 (holes). To catch them use vegetables and corn, and stuff like that. We used celery and carrots and got a 35LB grass carp to hit. It took us about 30 minutes to haul in, but it was a blast...photo session was a little harder with everyone so tipsy

[gpc]

what do you use to catch carp. i heard canned corn?

There are a ton of dough bait recipes on the internet for carp. I think every one that I have heard of either consisted bread, vegitables, or fruit.

We were using worms the other weekend at Evergreen Resevoir. But I think we were on a spwning bed.

Almost every carp that I have seen taken on a hook and line came on a yellow/pearl mini micro crappie jig. But in my 20 years of fishing I have only seen about 10 carp caught, most of them came from the Mar Don fishing dock.