Tactics

Catching blue suckers is not particularly problematic - if you can find them. Because they can travel hundreds of miles, live in deep, fast water, and their migratory patterns are poorly understood, it is fiendishly difficult to determine when and where they will appear. For the majority of the year, they frequent fast, main-channel areas, preferably with hard bottoms - in particular, wingdam tips, rip-rap areas, and deep, fast runs. Unfortunately, this means they are usually going to be found in areas where barges travel, and where it's almost impossible to park a boat. Because of this, most anglers who pursue this fish resort to chasing after them during their spring spawning run. This is an endeavor which can be either spectacularly successful or dismally unsuccessful, depending on whether you hit the migration right.

Under whatever circumstances you find them, you'll need heavy weights and smallish hooks in the #6-#2 size - preferably circle hook. Some clever anglers have managed to use planer boards designed for open-water trolling as a method to get their rigs to stay in the strike zone. In any case, you'll be fishing the bait (probably a chunk of nightcrawler) directly on the bottom in fast, rocky water. Expect to lose a few sinkers.

The Blue Sucker Spawning Migration

Blues spawn in fast, rocky riffles over a substrate of cobble rock. This refers to rock that is bigger than gravel but smaller than boulders. Blues are very particular about their spawning grounds, and it's not readily apparent to humans what will make a good blue sucker spawning habitat. In general, you should look for fist to head-sized rocks, fast water at least two feet deep, a broken, riffly surface, and a long stretch of undammed major river connected to the riffle with no dams. Distance is not really a factor; in fact, the spawning riffle may be located in a river where blue suckers do not even live during the rest of the year. Spawning occurs from March through June, earlier in the south and later in the north. The average dates would be somewherre from mid-April to early May. Water temps around 53 degrees marks the beginning of the spawning process, with a few males beginning to appear at the spawning site. Spawning peaks at water temperatures around 62 degrees.  During the spawn, a small subset of the fish (10-15 at a time) will frequent the riffle crest, often with their backs and fins exposed, while the larger number of remaining fish will rest in the deeper water below. Individual fish remain only a short time (a few days at most) at the spawning grounds, but the spawning aggregation lasts for about two weeks, with a handful of males arriving a week early and another handful staying a week late.