Extended gigging season.

[slothman]

On 9/6/2019 at 8:24 PM, fishinwrench said:

I haven't done any sucker gigging so this may be a stupid question, but why is it considered strictly a nighttime thing? I've watched them along the bottom when drifting along and it seems they wouldn't be too hard at all to gig during the daytime.  

I enjoy going gigging suckers from time to time (although I haven’t been in quite a few years). We do it old school with Coleman lanterns lined with aluminum foil. We usually end up with less than ten suckers in a night where we gig. You can’t see much with those and it definitely isn’t like using the big lights and generators that most guys use. I think those guys with the big lights pretty well gig out all the suckers where we go. I see them with a lot more suckers than I would want to clean. 

 

I too, have always wondered why it is strictly a nighttime activity. I see them when floating during the daytime just as much as I do when gigging at night. 

[MOPanfisher]

I see them during the day but they are a lot more skittish it seems.  At night bass are the slow stupid ones.  I have been on more than one gigging trip where we had hot dogs or something else to go with taters and onions because we didn't get any suckers and weren't willing to gig bass or gogglers.  I haven't been in years though and wish I had a chance to go again.

[Seth]

I guess I am lucky to be fairly close to the Gasconade and Meramec, but I couldn’t imagine not finding enough suckers for a meal. They are thicker than hair on a dogs back there. If you can see two foot or more, just go hang out in a riffle and stab away. Less chance of seeing game fish too. A stray channel cat or sauger/walleye might show up, but few if any bass.

[tjm]

Suckers seem to be a lot more wary of shadows than other fish in the daytime, imo,  I don't gig nor grab but when I was 60 years younger Dad and his friend did, day time grabbing and night time gigging and I was a chaser for the grabbing  and wash tub/light pusher for the gigging. The way those schools of suckers ran from us boys in the afternoons, I don't think you could wade close enough to gig them. At night you could splash right through them and they just moved aside.  I never saw anyone gig from a boat back then, but they may have on other streams. The friend figured how to mount the sealed beam head lamp from his  tractor to a board attached to the fish tub and put the battery in the tub but they still used their carbide hunting lights as well. The suckers might not flee from a boat in day time the way they did from us in the water and just maybe the night time tradition started with carbide mining lamps and wade fishing. I do recall that in a 1/4 mile stretch of creek two men and a boy could gather enough fish to feed the church of provide food for a farm sale. 

[Johnsfolly]

Most fish are not that active at night and not as skittish. So gigging or bowfishing at night means that the fish may stick around longer for you to stick it or shoot it. Usually folks over time figure out the easiest way to secure something to eat. So instead of wasting a lot of time spooking fish during the day go at night and have better odds filling your boat.

[Seth]

Rod and reel fish or hunt during the day and then gig at night. Being able to gig after dark is the best thing about gigging as it leaves the rest of the daylight time open for other activities.