Citico Creek, TN Sucker Spawning
#1 Guest_farmertodd_*
Posted 20 April 2009 - 03:13 PM
Just back from the great state of TN. Last year, Matt post some video of buffalo spawning in Citico Creek, a tributary of the Little Tennessee River in the Tellico Reservoir, just upstream of where the Little T joins the Tellico. Unfortunately, the video Matt post and the video I might have shot this year are absent. The url for the old video doesn't work, and it was too turbid for my camera to focus, so that was a big bunch of suck. However, we got a lot of mileage out of stills. Also got to try a dry suit on the for the first time. It was still COLD
Here's a photo my wife took of the fish in situ:
01_buffalo_run.jpg 143.49KB 9 downloads
The locals are quite taken to needlessly killing the sucker. There were people snagging and bow fishing them with reports of firearms "sport" after dark, and then leaving the bodies on the shore or even across the road to rot. It's quite disgusting. So Neely and I took advantage of a couple deaths and ran as much out of those individuals as we could. We also ate the male, which the way we prepared it made simple work of removing all the crazy bones you find in their tissues. The final photo is evidence that there was some other spawning activity going on in the area. Hopefully the evidence did its job!
http://www.farmertod...fa/citicocreek/ (Some of the pictures are gorey, if you don't like dissections)
I'll post a couple more for the heckuvit, if people haven't decided yet to click through.
02_sm_buffalo.jpg 82.88KB 5 downloads
Smallmouth Buffalo, Ictiobus bubalus
05_scales.jpg 54.89KB 3 downloads
Scale detail with tubercles
20_pharyngeal_arches.jpg 29.74KB 3 downloads
Pharyngeal Arches after boiling off tissue
Hopefully these photos highlight the adaptations these fishes have that makes them extra special. Truly cool animals. Suckers get such a bum rap, yet their activities are facultative to so many other species. I have footage of juvenile smallmouth literally guarding feeding hogsucker from one another (like "Go get your own sucker, buddy!"), waiting for escaping prey items to fly away from the sucker and into the bass mouths. Sucker spawning also breaks out silt and detritus from gravel bedding that all the pretty minners use later in the year. To call them a "bottom feeder" is a disservice, unless one makes specific note that they are the bottom or base of many species interactions!
I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to see this. It happens in all sorts of waterbodies, but usually those waterbodies aren't nearly as clear as this stream. I hope you enjoyed the photos!
Todd
#2 Guest_schambers_*
Posted 20 April 2009 - 03:53 PM
#3 Guest_andyavram_*
Posted 20 April 2009 - 03:54 PM
Cool pictures though and a cool site to witness.
Andy
#4 Guest_NateTessler13_*
Posted 20 April 2009 - 05:09 PM
#5 Guest_mikez_*
Posted 20 April 2009 - 06:07 PM
Cool observation of the bass following the suckers. I've seen smallmouth bass in small schools following big eels and snapping turtles around for the same reason.
#6 Guest_farmertodd_*
Posted 21 April 2009 - 07:57 AM
Nate - ultra cool. So you'll be employed over the summer and then starting as a student in the fall? We're gonna have a whole lotta fun And yeah, can you imagine what it looks like with all those walleye, drum, quillback, buffalo, redhorse and white bass moving around in that water?!? Can you imagine lake sturgeon added to the mix? With gilt, sand, river and channel darter, bigeye shiners and chubs, gravel chubs, river and hornyhead chubs, northern madtom, and harelip suckers swimming along side??? What have we done to this river? I won't even get into the mussels.
It wouldn't have ever been clear, but I don't think it was so darkly tannic that you wouldn't have been able to see the big fish spawning in the shallow riffles. Wow.
Mike - Yeah, buffalo is really fatty and oily, so it's a real "fishy" taste. It's more the primal thing to cook it over the fire, and it was available. I really want to try redhorse, but Dave is thinkin' that it's not oily enough for this kind of preparation. We'll see. I'd like to get pharyngeals and bones off each of the sucker species this year, so there'll be opportunity for it now that I have my little "grill". I need to build some kind of legs for it. We had a little bit of trouble once the wood ones caught fire lol.
As for adventuresome culinary experiences... They haven't banned "sampling" roadkill in TN yet, have they?
squirrel03sm.jpg 28.88KB 3 downloads
Todd "Why Waste a Perfectly Good Squirrel" Crail
Edited by farmertodd, 21 April 2009 - 07:59 AM.
#7 Guest_blakemarkwell_*
Posted 21 April 2009 - 11:53 AM
The Middle-Fork Vermilion here in Illinois is supposed to have all three species, I just need to figure out a way to get em'. I would have to find some small ones for the photo tank
Thanks,
Blake
#8 Guest_farmertodd_*
Posted 21 April 2009 - 12:09 PM
Todd
#9 Guest_mzokan_*
Posted 21 April 2009 - 05:06 PM
#10 Guest_farmertodd_*
Posted 22 April 2009 - 09:09 PM
Soo.... Is John gonna let you join us fishheads at AFS this year?
Todd
#11 Guest_NateTessler13_*
Posted 22 April 2009 - 11:08 PM
I really want to try redhorse, but Dave is thinkin' that it's not oily enough for this kind of preparation. We'll see. I'd like to get pharyngeals and bones off each of the sucker species this year, so there'll be opportunity for it now that I have my little "grill". I need to build some kind of legs for it. We had a little bit of trouble once the wood ones caught fire lol.
Todd "Why Waste a Perfectly Good Squirrel" Crail
A fishing buddy of mine was curious to try Redhorse. We kept a Shorthead from the Maumee a few weeks ago and filleted him up. Threw him in the fryer and gave it a shot...the flesh was...well, I could withstand it, however it was LOADED with bones. So, really it was a pain at best.
P.S. I just got the acceptance letter from UT today!!!
Edited by NateTessler13, 22 April 2009 - 11:09 PM.
#12 Guest_smbass_*
Posted 23 April 2009 - 06:40 AM
#13 Guest_daveneely_*
Posted 23 April 2009 - 08:30 AM
A fishing buddy of mine was curious to try Redhorse. We kept a Shorthead from the Maumee a few weeks ago and filleted him up. Threw him in the fryer and gave it a shot...the flesh was...well, I could withstand it, however it was LOADED with bones. So, really it was a pain at best.
P.S. I just got the acceptance letter from UT today!!!
Seconds on the congrats!
It's funny how we Americans have become culturally accustomed to bone-free meats. We're missing out; a lot of the flavor is in the head and/or bones and surrounding connective tissues. Some of the best meals I've ever had included carp or various other cyprinids; one in particular was a whole carp (~1' long), deeply scored and with red pepper flakes and a sweet glaze rubbed into the meat, thinly sliced green onions on top...
The buffalo had a nice flavor, and fewer intermuscular bones than I expected. You could certainly get big chunks with only a few easily removed bones. Next time try finely scoring the fillets from skin side about halfway through - you want to break up those intermuscular bones into pieces <1/4" long. Fry at a high temp until crispy, those bones will soften up. Mmm, good. Redhorse are particularly good smoked, no scoring needed there, just brine, dry, and smoke.
#14 Guest_Uland_*
Posted 23 April 2009 - 09:08 AM
#15 Guest_farmertodd_*
Posted 23 April 2009 - 09:57 AM
We got the 15'x6'x6' bag seine in last week. I have Earth Day crap this weekend, but next weekend... It's ON! At least in the lower Maumee. I'm going to get a permit and hopefully a little money to do a full survey of the Metropark properties this year. I'm tired of the Maumee gettin' dissed.
Todd
PS Brian, you'll have a pm with a draft here shortly, if you were wondering
#16 Guest_daveneely_*
Posted 23 April 2009 - 10:39 AM
I think what is key to eating sucker is to throw the book out on "fillets" and frying. They have to be smoked or ground up into pattys. Like Dave said, we were very surprised with the lack of intramuscular bones. It's just they're so danged crazy that you think there's a whole lot more than there is.
Just to clarify, that buffalo had less than expected; redhorse and white suckers have a LOT! I'd still rather have a scored and fried sucker fillet than I would a sucker patty; I just don't like fish that's been that processed. Also, I once ruined a food processor in an attempt to make carp chili (long story and I really don't want to remember it). Never, under any circumstances, will I run fish through a food processor again.
#17 Guest_farmertodd_*
Posted 23 April 2009 - 11:17 AM
It's gettin' time for the suckers to be running the Maumee. I wish the water levels would be a little more cooperative. I don't bother until the Waterville guage is at 3.5'. But it might just be perfect for that bag seine down the Side Cut channel. Hmmmm.... Should I weasel out of house and plant duties on Sunday?
Todd
#18 Guest_schambers_*
Posted 23 April 2009 - 11:37 AM
P.S. I just got the acceptance letter from UT today!!!
Yay! Congratulations Nate!
#19 Guest_mzokan_*
Posted 25 April 2009 - 08:57 AM
As for AFs, Im sure he would let me go, funding it however.......maybe not
Marcus
Hey Marcus! You should hook up with the robust redhorse folks and see if they need "volunteers" to watch the stations Jim just sent around an email today saying the run was pretty much over, saw a pod of what he thought were silver redhorse. It's a totally ephemeral thing. I wonder if there if the river strains are more spaced out? That was pretty intense on that particular bed.
Soo.... Is John gonna let you join us fishheads at AFS this year?
Todd
#20 Guest_farmertodd_*
Posted 27 April 2009 - 10:52 AM
http://www.youtube.c...re=channel_page
Marcus, yeah I hear you on the funding part! Maybe it would be more interesting to catch up with us on the last day and then bust over to the Lower Duck with us for a snorkel adventure?
Todd
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