Eventfull Fish Gigging Night

[kygobbler]

Last night a couple of guys and I decided to take the kids sucker gigging. We went down to KY Lake on Turkey Bay and ended up with about 100 fish in about an hour. We saw two water snakes in the creek which is very odd because thats only the second time I have ever seen one this early in the year down there, but then again Im not use to it being almost 80 degrees when we go either. I dont know why but I always find it funny when you take a harmless snake and toss it onto a person who is terrified of them. It seems to make the night more entertaining.

On our way home we drive thru some Amish country and we thought it was odd to see them out riding on the side of the road at 11 o'clock at night. Then we saw something that we had to slow down and get a better look. There were 6 bicycles riding side by side in a row of two and they were pulling a buggie behind it. Now they did have headlamps on all the bikes and flashers on the buggie. But I have never seen them use bikes instead of horses to pull the buggies. Im guessing thier philosphy is if your going to act like an ass then we will treat you like one and mean it.

The kids had a great time and the male suckers are just now in the creeks getting the beds ready. By next weekend, the latest, the females should be up. When they come up you can literally gig hundreds of fish in one night. If you have never done it, I would strongly suggest it because its a lot of fun. Especially when you take new people or kids who never had gobs of fish running all over them literally.

[ylpnfol]

now that does sound like fun, except for the snake thing, thats just cruel , i've heard of frog gigging but not fish, what do you do w/ the fish ?? are they worth eating ??

[kygobbler]

Suckers are a little sweet tasting but good. They are very boney you have to either cut a groove about every 1/4" or put them in a pressure cooker to dissolve the bones. Cook them up like salmon patties and they are delicious.

When they are up in full force, it is not uncommon to gig a couple of metal wash tubs full. We will take them to different people and dump them off when we are done. Before you get the wrong idea we do let the people before hand know that we are going to be dropping some off in the middle of the night.

I know this sounds "redneck" as hell but it is fun, entertaining, and cheap. All you need is a coleman lantern, a fish gig, and a grass bag or feed bag with a strap tied on and you're ready to go. Any time we go we always take a bunch of kids from church and a few of their friends and have a ball.

Oh, you have to use a coleman lantern either propane or gas and not a flashlight. A flashlight will not cut into the water good enough to see the fish. Also on the lantern take some aluminum foil and wrap about 3/4 of the globe. This will make it brighter and also it will keep you from blinding the person behind you.

[Treerooster]

That sounds like a blast!

One of those things that take you back to when you were a kid...eh?

I love canned fish. We can trout up with some jalapeno peppers, little bit of oil & salt and have them on crackers. I bet the suckers would be good too. Don't know if we have anything like that around here though.

Thanks for posting.

[kygobbler]

Hey Gary, if you have carp in any of the waters over there I would be willing to bet that you might have some suckers also. They are in the same family.