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New to me species.

4K views 28 replies 23 participants last post by  Fishscalz 
#1 ·
Friday I was on Kerr Lake practicing for the BFL super tournament. I was in a cut that was loaded with shad and I had fished all the way to the back of it without a bite. I picked up a Spro Little John and made a few casts in the back of the cut as I saw some stumps. About the 3rd cast my 7 ft MH crankbait rod bent in 1/2, drag screamed and the fight was on. It first I thought I snagged a carp until I saw it. This freshwater drum inhaled it. I knew there were some in Kerr but this is the first I have caught. Looks very similar to a redfish but a little broader side.

 
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#9 ·
There's more color in that one than I ever seen! You catch them along with smallmouth up in Erie. They call them sheepshead up there, and they consider them nuisance fish.... So you can imagine the confusion when I first starting hearing about the prized sheepshead at the coast (completely different fish). They do fight very hard! Congrats on the first one!
 
#17 ·
I would guess it around 5-6 lbs. I agree with turtlestew, they are probably native to the river system.

In the tournament I only managed 1 keeper, caught a boat load of shorts though. The guy I split a room with and share information with ended up 3rd fishing the same pattern I fished... last time I give him info :).
 
#23 ·
My best friend had a great uncle who would eat anything out of the French Broad:eek:. He hounded us to bring him some drum one year, but we weren't to keen on dragging them on a stringer up and down the river. Finally one nasty February day we used our anchor rope as a stringer and filled it up to where together we could barely lift it up. Truthfully, we did it for spite but this old man cleaned every last one of them and not a one went to waste. He would freeze them in water and swears that they were the best thing in the world. He also swore suckers were awesome. He would clean them, soak them in something ( battery acid probably ) and cook them in a crock pot. I'll stick with flounder:cool:
 
#24 ·
I have heard suckers in the spring a great! From In-Fisherman (pretty sure this is a post from an old article from the 90s): "For me, too, it’s compelling that these fish from clean, clear, cold, water are wonderful table fare. Score through the small bones that run throughout sucker fillets, so portions can be easily eaten after they’re deep-fried. Lots of people smoke suckers, too. And pickling and canning are options. Suckers, however, make the sweetest, most wonderful fish patties I’ve ever tasted, patties alone worth the price of a relaxing afternoon on a sunny riverbank." (http://www.in-fisherman.com/stanges-blog/sweet-sucker-fishing-thing/#ixzz3CZKTXh7B)
 
#27 ·
Benny Hull, the North American record holder for freshwater drum, had a gas station across the street from my grandfather's real estate office in Rossville Ga. Had the fish mount in his office there. They were spray painting the inside of the bays and had an explosion, blew Benny out of the building through a window. He got up and ran back in and got his mount of the drum. True story.

Benny supposedly was a maniac in a boat and had several fairly serious boat accidents.

http://www.nooga.com/166204/benny-hull-the-ol-stump-bumper-down-but-not-out/
 
#29 ·
Being raised on green beans, rabbits and sucker fish cakes during foothill winters, they are good to eat, but I will not go out of my way to have any of the above today.

The redeeming thing about suckers is that they would bite all winter, if you could stand it. They also are usually the first fish to start migrating upstream in mass come spring as well. My grandma would cook them in a pressure cooker to "dissolve" the bones, (at least that's what she told us), and can them to last a year or so.

A redhorse sucker of more than 4 pounds will out pull just about anything of similar size in cold clean water. They are strong fish.

Fishscalz
 
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