Re: NANFA-- a sucker affair...

Todd Crail (farmertodd_at_buckeye-express.com)
Sun, 14 Mar 2004 12:58:22 -0500

Thanks for your observations Ray. I think you're dead on and I just hadn't
seen a big male ready to do his business. Usually the white suckers I catch
are juveniles. This one just happened to spook himself into a frenzy ontop
of some plants and I basically let him swim into my dipnet :) It'll be
really cool to see what's in there when we can do more of a blockade. I
might even get my future advisor at UT to drag out the big purse seine
there.

It'll be cool when we get that frickin' dam out at Secor. That'll open up
all sorts of possibilities to pike and walleye spawning in these same
ditches. There's tons of habitat, especially for the pike. Solid sandy to
rubbly bottom with plants _everywhere_. I'm excited! :)

----- Original Message -----
From: "R. W. Wolff" <choupiqu_at_wctc.net>
To: <nanfa_at_aquaria.net>
Sent: Sunday, March 14, 2004 12:37 PM
Subject: Re: NANFA-- a sucker affair...

> I have seen white suckers in crystal clear trout streams at spawning time,
> and they have a dark stripe down the side. I never saw this before, but
> where I grew up the water looked like orange juice or brown gravy in the
> canals that the suckers used to spawn in. It is amazing how the boring
white
> sucker takes on such a transformation at spawning time.
>
> More on observations of white suckers in spring.
>
> The anal fin seemed thicker too, like made out of heavy plastic.
> The anal fin length put it half way down the tail atleast when folded back
> against the body.
> The anal fin was covered with tubercales, making it feel even more
> artificial.
> By mid April when the run is done, the anal fin reverts back to a normal
> size.
> This is the time of year it should start showing up. It is pre spawn.
> Around here white suckers are some of the earliest fish to spawn, just
> before walleyes and during pike.
> ( The bulk of the walleye run is just going to start, with most spawning
in
> the first half of April, pike spawn at ice out)
>
> White suckers are probably important for providing the first fish based
> foods for pike and walleye because of this. They must be very prolific. I
> know of some "spring ditches" which are formed at the base of earthen dams
> on lakes here. These are cooler than the main outflow of the lake. These
> will be packed with young white suckers all year. Its not hard to go in
with
> a seine and pull out hundreds of them. They grow fast too. Lots of
nutrients
> in these spring ditches.
>
> Ray W.
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