This question is based upon two observations I made.

About 20 years ago or so (before I was a teen, that's for sure). My dad used to take me trout fishing. at one brook on the side of the road accross from a pool where trout were stocked had a school of white sucker gather their every spring on the opening day of trout season. I loved to catch them on hook and line. One day someone piled all the suckers up dead on shore, years later to this day I haven't seen a sucker in that spot since.

Another spot about ten years ago i saw a sucker spawn happening, suckers and smaller fish with bright orange sides (never got to identify them) were spawning. Then a group of kids went and speared them. I checked several years after on the exact same day and month and never seen a sucker their since. (not sure if this is influence by the fact that the pond this stream was drained the year i saw the spawn).

So are sucker spawning runs vulnerable to harvest or attempts to destroy them? (sadly some trout fisherman feel non trout in trout streams should be destroyed).

I asked fish and game about it.

The fisheries biologist said yes, they can be vulnerable.

The non game specialist said white suckers are resiliant and if a spawning run vanishes it likely moved elsewhere.

So what is the case here?