Well for some of you that know me never see me with the normal fish. I love to catch these odd fish that many people have never heard of. I have caught well over 50 species in my lifetime but I only count ones that I have photos to prove. Yesterday I caught my 41st fish. It is a very tough one that I sight fished for 3 hours just to catch one fish. Last year I caught a species very similar that I have spent over 20 hours working on and only landed one.
The fish I caught last night is a Quillback Carpsucker. A very neat fish that feeds on the bottom sucking up tiny algae and tiny insects. They sometimes roll to kick up more debris to feed on and they did this a number of times right on my bait but never took it. I finally connected when I watched one swim over my bait and suck up! I yelled at my buddy to grab the net and it was a very hard fish to control. Not a drag peeling fight but a very scrappy and unpredictable moving fish.
Nice catch! How about an American eel? I caught one years ago on the DesMoines river and would love to catch another. They fight like no other! I thought it was some exotic species but the locals kind of blew it off like it was nothing to catch one. Nothing like catching something you have never caught before. Keep it up!
My buddy caught a quillback at the Coon Rapids Carp Festival this year. We were at a loss to identify it at first, but after a little web searching we found what it was. Neat fish!
-------------------- It has always been my private conviction that any man who pits his intelligence against a fish and loses has it coming. ~John Steinbeck
Quote: Nice catch! How about an American eel? I caught one years ago on the DesMoines river and would love to catch another. They fight like no other! I thought it was some exotic species but the locals kind of blew it off like it was nothing to catch one. Nothing like catching something you have never caught before. Keep it up!
AHHH the eel. So many people catch them and cut the line and I almost cry. I have been after them before and those pesky sturgeon keep taking my bait and wasting my time. I have been a part of catching 3 of them but never my line. We have them in the croix and have been fond in some very odd places. I know a few guys in the DNR that do the surveys and they keep their eyes on things that I am looking for.
My Most Wanted Spotted sucker- Hooked one last year and snapped my line Large Koi- COOL LOOKING exotic Blue Sucker-Rare species Orange spotted sunfish-have places just never take the chance to get there Bowfin-same as orange spotted and I have caught just never taken pics There are more but this year is busy for me!
My fav quote by a buddy of mine is "The walleye will just have to wait"
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“Knowing is not enough. We must apply,” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
-------------------- "We are not put on this earth for ourselves, but are placed here for each other. If you are always there for others, then in time of need, someone will be there for you." -Jeff Warner
Sweet 40+ man oh man, i know a few guys flirting with 30 I got 22 species this year already with photo proof also and quillback isn't one of them. what did ya finally get him to take? great catch, congrats
I got him to suck up a chunk of crawler but.......it is not the kind of fish to go after bait. They are more like cows grazing where they want with no real pattern. You sit there really still and watch your bait for one to suck it up just by chance. My personal belief is that the fish would have spit out my bait because it would not normally eat that. I have my own little setup for sight fishing bottom feeders that works well. I have also pursued spotted suckers much in the same way and hooked one after 4 or 5 hours of frustration and in a couple seconds losing it due to a broken drag system. Ths way of fishing is very trying on patience and outside of the box thinking.
As far as 40+ species it is just a start. I have buddies over 60 and they are all about helping others do the same. My goals are not just to catch one or 2 but many so I can get decent sizes of the species also. In all reallity it is about research research research if I am not fishing I am planning my next outing. I have driven 4 hours one way to fish 12 hours and back home in the same day multiple times. It is very trying but pays off big sometimes. A very memorable trip was last year after pink salmon. My buddy and I hit every river with no luck starting at sun up and one hour before sunset I hooked up with my first king and started getting pinks with my limit in the next 15 minutes. It was not that the fish started biting it was my technique was finally right. I handed my rig to my buddy and explained it to him and 15 minutes later we were heading home with two limits.
I LOVE ALL FISH!
Aaron
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“Knowing is not enough. We must apply,” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
How about monster Goldfish. Not Coi, actual Goldfish. I know a little panfish hole that you can not only catch good sized sunnies and crappies but nice Coi and Monster Goldies. Weird....
Quote: How about monster Goldfish. Not Coi, actual Goldfish. I know a little panfish hole that you can not only catch good sized sunnies and crappies but nice Coi and Monster Goldies. Weird....
They Swim!!!
It is kind of weird that people feel sorry for their pets and let them go thinking it is a better life. I spent a few hours one day this year at a goldfish pond I now of but I always like to find out more holes like that.
Aaron
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“Knowing is not enough. We must apply,” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
I don't have time to look for it right now...but there was a post with photo in one of the Mississippi River forums a couple years ago, with a fella out of Everts holding a Blue Sucker.
Quote: I don't have time to look for it right now...but there was a post with photo in one of the Mississippi River forums a couple years ago, with a fella out of Everts holding a Blue Sucker" either.
No BK, that was Dean holding you under water after returning home to find 2 flat tires on the skid loader and his cookies gone. I don't think he was saying "That Blue Sucker!!
The Camden area of the Mississippi is a good place for ells. Have seen quit a few caught around the Camden bridge. that the only place I have ever caught one.
Have seen schools of the quill back suckers on the croix near Osceola. This is a great stretch of water to catch a good varity of fish. My best trip up there was 14 different species in one trip.
Great catch! My first year fishing up in this part of the country (fished in So. IL as a child) was about 3 years ago and I caught a beauty of a quillback and boy let me tell you. That was one of the most fun fights I have ever had. Those things are so erratic and the thing oddly took off with a small crankbait on the Mississippi river. Great fight, especially on my Light action rod! Here's the picture of mine, and I must say that after looking up info about these fish back then, I think I caught what seems to be a monster of one..... what do you think?
Congratulations on so many species! I think I've caught a wopping 10 in the 3 yrs I've been actively fishing, and I definitely haven't targetted a majority of the stranger ones... lol. My first long-nose gar has to be the coolest I've gotten (and on a crankbait no less! 3 of em on in one morning).
Wow! I just added up the fish that I can remember and am up to 53 different Minnesota species. Still got quite a way to go. Notable rarities include a Menominee Whitefish and a Mottled Sculpin. Still looking for that first Mirror Carp although I don't believe they are classified as their own species, just a variation of common carp.
Scientifically same fish as is the Koi. The Koi has the same Latin name as the common carp. In the 53 species do you have pics for them all? Also are you counting minnows? Any way you look at it congrats on 53. Most people tell me that they can't name 20 or even 10.
Aaron
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“Knowing is not enough. We must apply,” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Quote: Most people tell me that they can't name 20 or even 10.
Walleye, Bass(SM, LM), Carp, Pike, Musky, Catfish(channel,flat), Bluegill, Crappie, Perch. There, I'm out of fingers and can't take my shoes off at work. I can only name a few more. I can't imagine being able to identify 53 species, even if I had caught them. Congrats!!
-------------------- I was born in the 70's, grew up in 80's, made my mistakes in 90's now I'm just trying to make up for lost time.
Scientifically same fish as is the Koi. The Koi has the same Latin name as the common carp. In the 53 species do you have pics for them all? Also are you counting minnows? Any way you look at it congrats on 53. Most people tell me that they can't name 20 or even 10.
Aaron
Nope, don't have pictures of them all. I was thinking all the way back to being a kid that lived next to a St. Croix tributary and the North Shore of Lake Superior at one time or another.....and Yes on the minnows, I have Creek Chubs, Golden Shiners, and Gizzard Shad listed if caught by rod&reel. I think I might just have to start collecting photos of all just to see how many I can get, sounds kinda fun!
Quest for every species in North America!
I don't think he was saying "That Blue Sucker!! 
