If there ever was a fish in Ontario that is noticeably short on getting love, it’s the sucker. Always pegged as not quite up to snuff, it’s been saddled with nicknames like “bugle trout” and “whistler.” Of course, the look of the sucker is not as sexy as most gamefish. The sucker’s soft, underslung mouth is tailor-made for working the bottom. That mouth slurps up small invertebrates and plants that adhere to surfaces in aquatic environments, such as rooted plants and logs. Yet, these fish can also grow to substantial sizes and, when caught in the right environment, give a great fight. If you are a spring steelhead angler in Ontario, particularly later in the season, suckers are often part of the furniture. More than a few times over the years I’ve watched steelhead anglers, arms high, yelling “fish on” as they stumble downstream after a fish, only to discovered it was a sucker. The reaction can vary from mildly amused to furious. And I will admit this scenario has played out for this columnist a few times over the years. A big sucker in heavy current can really pull! There is no shame in being fooled. Sucker numbers There are also times when the sheer number of suckers in a river make it nearly impossible to float a roe bag or swing a fly. Many of us “trout snobs” just give up and go home. I know, however, there are anglers that accept their fate. They revert to going “full sucker” and see how many can be landed. In pools where the suckers are stacked, that count can get very high indeed. If you like action when you fish, there are worse fates. I grew up with a somewhat dim view of suckers and didn’t purposely fish for them. However, I did make a little money off suckers as a kid. An elderly Icelandic man, who was a member of our church, would pay me $5 to fill a garbage bag full of them. My recollection is that he canned them. Years later, a fishmonger told me suckers were sometimes sold as “mullet” at fresh fish shops. As the years have gone by, my respect and interest in suckers have grown. I’ve learned to appreciate them and even see the beauty in some of the species. For instance, the long-nose sucker, a common species in the Great Lakes, can
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