...for steelhead fishing. According to a few reports, steelhead feed heavier on sucker spawn than any other food when suckers are present in the river system. I'm talking about the real deal, not the fly pattern!
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uptracker
The "sucker spawn" fly pattern doesn't represent sucker eggs.It most closely imitates rotting salmon flesh that resident trout and steelhead feed upon heavily during the winter months.
Oh yeah,I had a similar experience using the real thing(sucker eggs).No fish would touch it,not even the suckers! The first cast after I switched to trout eggs I hooked a fish
! I'm sure something out there eats sucker eggs,but it's probably just gobies:lol: .
Oh yeah,I had a similar experience using the real thing(sucker eggs).No fish would touch it,not even the suckers! The first cast after I switched to trout eggs I hooked a fish
! I'm sure something out there eats sucker eggs,but it's probably just gobies:lol: .
Everyone always yells, "release the hens, release the hens!" Well, until someone figures out how to tie milt bags, then I say "*&^% the hens, they're going straight the ziploc!"itchn2fish said:
That would give a whole new meaning to tying sacks the night before!itchn2fish said:
:lol:
Mitch
A few years back I whacked a silver dropback thinking she was actually full of loose eggs(I was a complete rookie, I had never seen a dropback before)
Turns out she was spawned out, but her belly was bloated with sucker eggs. I cut it open and they just spilled all over the table. They absolutely eat sucker eggs. And bags would probably work, you will never find me milking suckers for eggs though...LOL
Turns out she was spawned out, but her belly was bloated with sucker eggs. I cut it open and they just spilled all over the table. They absolutely eat sucker eggs. And bags would probably work, you will never find me milking suckers for eggs though...LOL
Thanks, just wondering.
Last year a student at LSSU did his Senior Thesis on what was in the stomachs of steelhead in the Two Hearted river. To his suprise, he found that >50% of the stomach contents contained fresh sucker spawn. This was over the course of a few weeks of research.
Last year a student at LSSU did his Senior Thesis on what was in the stomachs of steelhead in the Two Hearted river. To his suprise, he found that >50% of the stomach contents contained fresh sucker spawn. This was over the course of a few weeks of research.
Maybe that research will get people to start releasing the hen steelhead and keeping the hen suckers.
I am all for any legal type of fishing, but I just could never get comfortable with having to keep fish to catch more fish. It made me feel better to know that someone else might get the joy of catching that fish a second time (or better yet, that the fish would return to spawn a second time).
Hope you all had a good Spring.
I am all for any legal type of fishing, but I just could never get comfortable with having to keep fish to catch more fish. It made me feel better to know that someone else might get the joy of catching that fish a second time (or better yet, that the fish would return to spawn a second time).
Hope you all had a good Spring.
I know Silversides and Gomer enjoy milking suckers for eggs cause they cant catch steel . seem to small to tie into bags, like tying grains of sand into bags.
. seem to small to tie into bags, like tying grains of sand into bags.
If steelhead hit on sucker eggs as well as they do on steelhead eggs then I would never kill another steelhead as long as I live. Since they don't every hen I catch has rights....the rights to a 2.5 gallon ziploc!bjm said:
I agree, its a real pain carrying those hen salmon around all day on a stringer after I already milked them out.bjm said:
On a similar note, I fished loose salmon eggs all "season" from early October until just a few weeks ago with good success, including some very good days this Spring after the "run" had started. Personally, I have never seen the need for steelhead eggs over salmon eggs, as I tend to adjust the number of eggs in each bag to match the water conditions. Has anyone else played around with comparing the two under similar conditions? I know one of the days that I fished with John, it seemed like the fish ate my salmon eggs better than his steelhead eggs. Any thoughts?
I dont think it matters either. Never noticed a difference success-wise on king eggs to steel eggs
I hope sucker spawn works, it seemed to this weekend on the Betsie. I would catch a sucker and any eggs that got on me I'd mash into my oregon cheese fly cause it was the closest color to sucker spawn I had, I caught multiple steelhead each day. Most seemed to be dropback or spawned out, Didn't kill any thing to check stomach contents but I wasn't doing so well until I got creative with the mess on my waders. I made me wonder, but the stars could have been lined up with the moon and Jupiter, and I caught fish. Oh well nice to see others wonder the same thing.
Wishin I was Fishin,
PETE
Wishin I was Fishin,
PETE
I use both, however I have noticed days where I couldn't buy a bite on salmon spawn, yet I did well on steelhead spawn. Could've been the size of the bag or any number of things, but I feel comfortable using both. On the flip side, I've had days where they didn't touch steelhead spawn, but salmon spawn seemed to work. Again, who knows why? I've noticed some rivers where skein bags seems to work really well, but not as well on others--and loose spawn seems to produce better than skein. It's all about developing programs that you feel comfortable with and just sticking with those. I most definitely will tie different bags for different water conditions, but I also will tie specific bags for specific rivers based on past experience and knowing what works most of the time, ya know?Flyfisher said:
I've seen some weird things with eggs too. Such as, I've done much better on coho spawn up on the Platte, but better using chinook spawn on the Manistee, go figure.
The only problem I can see with using "sperm sacks" is a visual thing, somehow seeing thousandcasts getting sperm for sacks isn't a pleasant picture.:yikes:
The only problem I can see with using "sperm sacks" is a visual thing, somehow seeing thousandcasts getting sperm for sacks isn't a pleasant picture.:yikes:
Has anyone else played around with comparing the two under similar conditions? I know one of the days that I fished with John, it seemed like the fish ate my salmon eggs better than his steelhead eggs. Any thoughts?[/quote]
I feel salmon eggs work better in the fall and early winter, steelhead eggs in the late winter and spring.
I feel salmon eggs work better in the fall and early winter, steelhead eggs in the late winter and spring.
I tend to use salmon as much as possible all year if I have decent ones to tie when using spawn. A buddy or two of mine on the other hand like steelhead spawn. We usually keep up with each other when using both.
On another note I had a DNR sample taker once tell me in a conversation at the peir that perch eggs were the only fish eggs that were not preyed upon by other fish. This was long before fish like gobies and other exotics were around. Always wondered if that were really true.
On another note I had a DNR sample taker once tell me in a conversation at the peir that perch eggs were the only fish eggs that were not preyed upon by other fish. This was long before fish like gobies and other exotics were around. Always wondered if that were really true.
I would take steelhead spawn over salmon any day. But, I don't think it's as big a deal on smaller rivers. I outfished a buddy of mine two falls ago on a small Lake Huron trib using chinook eggs, he had brown trout. I also caught fish(mainly lake browns) well into December this past season, the latest I've used/caught fish on salmon eggs. I think if they're fresh, or properly taken care of, they'll still work pretty good. That being said, I'll still take fresh steelhead over fresh salmon during winter. As far as that sucker spawn fly, I've done really good on it during the spring, a few DB's have had it nearly down they're throat.
I don't think it makes a difference. I used salmons spawn until the middle of March without swithching, but when I did it still didn't seem to improve my hookup numbers. I don't think they care.
I will agree with a lot of posts -
TC: some days they want skein bags, and some days they want loose bags.
AS: some days they want Salmon eggs, and some days they want Brown Trout eggs.
I can remember fishing for Kings, with skein under a bobber, and a buddy of mine had some fresh Coho skein, and was hooking probably 4 fish to my 1, with me using month-old King skein.
In my opinion the FRESHEST eggs often get the most bites. Skein or loose, fish seem to like fresh eggs. A long time ago I obtained some loose Brown Trout spawn, and it hooked fish like crazy for me until it was gone. I liked it so much that I started tying smaller and smaller bags, to make it last longer. I probably should make it a point to get a loose hen Brown this year.
TC: some days they want skein bags, and some days they want loose bags.
AS: some days they want Salmon eggs, and some days they want Brown Trout eggs.
I can remember fishing for Kings, with skein under a bobber, and a buddy of mine had some fresh Coho skein, and was hooking probably 4 fish to my 1, with me using month-old King skein.
In my opinion the FRESHEST eggs often get the most bites. Skein or loose, fish seem to like fresh eggs. A long time ago I obtained some loose Brown Trout spawn, and it hooked fish like crazy for me until it was gone. I liked it so much that I started tying smaller and smaller bags, to make it last longer. I probably should make it a point to get a loose hen Brown this year.
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