I LOVE A GOOD SUCKER!

One of the joys of warm weather are all the town “Days” that occur in the spring and summer.  One of my favorites is Sucker Day in Nixa, Missouri.  Don’t worry, they are not making fun of the gullible or naïve.  They are celebrating the fish.  A sucker is a type of fish with a downward facing mouth that feeds off the stream bottoms.  The mouth rather looks like a vacuum and functions the same way.  Ya gig ‘em at night.  Once ya have a mess of ‘em you fry ‘em up.  They’re boney, so ya score ‘em before ya batter ‘em up and fry ‘em.  The meat curls up like a bloomin’ onion and ya’ll can pluck ‘em off and pop ‘em in yer mouth.  They’re good eats. 

If you don’t live and speak fluent redneck… here is the explanation.  Because sucker’s have downward facing mouths, they don’t easily get caught on traditional fishing tackle.  To catch them, you spear them with a gig which looks like a miniature pitchfork.  Sucker gigging is a nighttime activity.  A gigging boat is usually a jon boat (flat bottomed boat) outfitted with lights that shine on the water and make the fast-moving fish easier to see.  Once you have suckers you scrape off the scales.  You filet them by following the rib bones with your knife.  Then score the filet by cutting about every 1-1.5 inches.  Place the scored filets in a container full of your fry mix (often a mix of corn meal and spices) and shake it up.  Fry the filets in hot oil (approximately 350°F) until golden brown.  You will see the scores curl up.  These are pulled off and eaten.  If you get a chance to gig sucker and eat sucker… DO IT!!!!  Em are good eats!

Nixa, Missouri’s Sucker Days are May 17-18