I put on my waders and entered the freezing river with my trusty spear. I never saw one, despite reports that I was in their spawning grounds. I returned every other day for the next two months. Never saw a single spawning fish.
Today I took a ride north to hunt a different fish, Northern Redbelly dace. My kids encouraged me to stop so they could take a swim in the river. I found a great looking spot and let them go.
After staring at the water for a few minutes I tied on a #22 hook and tipped it with a sliver of worm. Immediately a hoard of blacknose dace attacked the worm. They reminded me of the Zombies in World War Z. They swarmed and attacked I caught loads of them.
I was in a fishing trance and after a short time I was able to see another type of fishing swimming below the dace. I tried dozens of times to get my bait past the hoard but it was no use, I had to try something different.
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| If you look closely you can see two tiny suckers next to the leaf on the rock |
So I slipped my split shot up against the hook (I usually keep a few inches between the two) the extra weight did the trick i was able to get the worm to the bottom. The small fish on the bottom began nudging the bait. I sat and waited, eventually one of them sucked in the tiny hook and I set the hook. The fish flew from the water and landed at my feet.
I had a new species Longnose Sucker (Catostomus catostomus) Fish number 42 in our quest to catch and eat every kind of freshwater fish in New Hampshire. We haven't decided how to cook it yet, but stay tuned, this fish deserves a great recipe.
