Home of the Sucker Fish

By Carol Heard, Bainbridge, Georgia

Adapted with permission from 2nd Annual Flint River Sucker Fish Festival Program Book,

researched and produced with assistance from a Georgia Council for the Arts Folklife Program grant

 City of Bainbridge, January 12, 2002, Earle May Boat Basin

 
 
Bainbridge and southwest Georgia's number one source of income is from the land and its greatest source of pride is the Flint River and Lake Seminole.

The Second Annual Flint River Sucker Fish Festival is not only a festival honoring a popular species native to the rivers, lakes and streams of this part of the country, but a celebration of the customs and traditions that have evolved from using the land and loving its waterways.

"The Flint River is our diamond in the rough," said Bainbridge City Manager Charles B. Tyson. "Different attempts have been made to chip away at our jewel and had they been successful, our prized waterways and the legacy it has endowed us would be blemished."

The City of Bainbridge's goal for the festival is to reinforce the appreciation for the Flint River and Lake Seminole and educate the community and others that these resources are worth preserving.

 

Carol Heard and Dennis Mock serve up fried sucker fish dinners at the 2nd Annual Flint River Sucker Fish Festival, Bainbridge, 2002.  Photos by Laurie Kay Sommers.

[Note: The festival folded after 2002.] 

 

Flint River, 2001, photo by Diane Kirkland,  Georgia Department of Industry, Trade, and Tourism

 The traditions and customs passed down through the generations are unique and treasured. Local legendary fisherman and historian Jack Wingate said he doesn't remember how this tradition of netting suckers got started. "I just remember that all of my ancestors that was here, they all caught sucker fish."

Eliza Louise Barwick, who was born in 1917 near Spring Creek, has lived most all her life four miles from where she was born. Her occupation was farming and her pastime was fishing.

"We all fished together. They all had big days fishing, cooking and eating down at the creek or the river. We had a big time," Mrs. Barwick said. "We farmed, and there were days when we just quit farming that day and went fishing. Fishing and cooking and eating."  When the fishing was really good, Mrs. Barwick said her family would invite the community over for a fish fry.  "You would call somebody and say, 'you want a mess of fish?' They would say 'are they clean?' No, they ain't clean. 'Then we don't want them.' But they would come and eat with you," Mrs. Barwick said.

 
 

Those fish you catch and all the things you do to them
In Bainbridge and surrounding areas people have turned a fish considered by many to be a trash fish into a local delicacy.

"If someone gives you sucker fish, it's because they love you," said Judy Griffin, who has lived in Bainbridge most of her life.

Netting sucker fish caught in the Flint River, gashing them and stirring up some swamp gravy for a good meal has long been a tradition in southwest Georgia. What makes this tradition unique is that Bainbridge and the surrounding area is the only place in Georgia with a legal sport gill net fishing season.

"It's a very unique fisheries," said Russ Ober, regional supervisor of Fisheries Management for the Southwest Georgia Department of Natural Resources. "The sucker netting season is done for recreation and for families."

 

Because a sucker fish is bony, a sharp knife or straight-edge razor blade are needed to gash the fish's meat.  Photo by Diane Kirkland, Georgia Department of Industry, Trade, and Tourism.

 

Gashing the fish helps the hot grease to  crystallize the tiny bones throughout the sucker fish.  A properly gashed fish  looks like an accordion. Photo by Diane Kirkland, Georgia Department of Industry, Trade, and Tourism, 2001.

 A tradition has evolved in this area where each year area fishermen prepare their nets and place them in the waters where netting is legal. Once the fish are caught they must be finely gashed so that the many bones of the fish will be crystallized while cooking. It is also a tradition to stir up some swamp gravy while waiting for the fish to be prepared. People who grew up in this area cite memories of childhood experiences when their families would gather along the riverbank for a feast of sucker fish and swamp gravy. During hard times this was one way to put food on the table.

Local fisherman Mark Darley said his father and grandfather both liked to fish, but his father was the one who taught him the art of netting fish and preparing them for a good meal.

"My father, that's how I learned to net by going with him," Darley said. "We use to farm and some of our friends would all get together and go to the river. We would catch fish, clean them and have a little fish fry at the river." Fish tales and stories shared with friends and family are the result of fishing and fish fries. Learning how to make nets, gashing a sucker side or telling a good story has long been a way of life for many families living in our area. This is all a part of what makes our area of Georgia unique.

A little bit about the fish

 
The sucker fish is basically a big-lipped, bottom-feeding trash fish. It's a vacuum cleaner of freshwater ponds, lakes and rivers. For eating purposes most people think of sucker fish as a trash fish. But to people born or raised in Southwest Georgia, sucker fish are considered a delicacy when properly prepared.

A native of the United States, sucker fish are prevalent throughout the country. There are commonly two different kinds of sucker fish found in this area the redhorse and the humpback. The redhorse sucker is found in rivers and lakes and to most people who eat sucker fish, it's the most desirable. The redhorse sucker fish is about 12 inches long, has a series of reddish stripes along its side and has a life span of approximately six years.

The humpback sucker fish is so called because of the slight hump on its back. These fish are found in rivers and lakes, and are common in numerous ponds located throughout southwest Georgia. The humpback sucker fish grows to a maximum length of 24 inches and has a life span of approximately six years.

A netted sucker fish, photo by Diane Kirkland, Georgia Department of Industry, Trade, and Tourism, 2001.

 

A portrait of a sucker fish.  Photo by Carol Heard.

 

Sucker fish are sometimes compared to carp fish; however, there are several distinct differences between the two. The carp tends to be larger than the sucker fish and grows longer and wider. Whiskers that grow on the side of the fish's mouth also distinguish the carp. The most important difference between the two is that the sucker fish is native to the waters of southwest Georgia and the carp is relatively new to the area.

"The carp was transplanted in here by the government in the 1800's," said Jack Wingate. "In the 1880's they were brought in from Europe in barrels and kept alive. As the trains moved from east to west they would stop over the trestles and drop carp out in to the water."

In the past, people would sit on the riverbanks all day long just to get one bite from a carp. The most common bait used was bread with one slight trick. "Momma would put a little bit of cotton in it (bread mixture) to hold it together so it would be a little tough and the carp couldn't get the hook off," said Mrs. Eliza Barwick. "Unlike sucker fish, the only way we wanted to eat carp was to make croquettes out of them."

Getting technical about sucker fish
"Sucker, any of various freshwater fishes characterized by having the mouth below midline, with thick, fleshy lips. Most suckers are less than 24 inches long and are native to North America. They are dull in color with few markings, although breeding males may acquire a rosy or orange lateral band. Suckers obtain food by sucking up mud and organic matter from river bottoms," said Encarta Encyclopedia. The sucker fish is commonly found in the Flint and Chattahoochee rivers, Lake Seminole and Spring Creek.

Catching these suckers

 
A sucker fish is not a fancy fish. You don't need a big bass boat or a fancy rod and reel. In fact, they don't pay much attention to a hook with a juicy worm or other bait on it. If you catch one on a pole it was probably by accident since sucker fish are bottom feeders. String a net along the bottom of the river and that's when you'll catch a mess.

Other things, including alligators, shad, turtle and catfish, will get caught in the net too. If an alligator or gar gets caught in the net, fishermen say there might not be much of a net left. "If an alligator gets in one of the nets he will tear it all to pieces," Jack Wingate said. "They'll get in it and they'll go to twisting the net all to pieces. Just about have to throw it away."

When colder temperatures arrive in southwest Georgia some fishermen tend to put nets out then since the alligators start to slow down and leave the relatively expensive nets alone.

A simple boat is commonly used to set the nets in the rivers and sloughs. Although a variety of boats are used, the more common ones are flat-bottomed with the front-end upswept lightly. In the earlier days most boats were wooden boats made locally. A 3- or 5-horsepower motor would be sufficient to go the half-mile distance where the nets would be set.

"Mostly the suckers are caught fresh. That's the one thing everybody likes about it -- the freshness. The fish has a good taste to it," Wingate said. "You catch, clean, cook and eat him right there on the banks of the river."

 

Legendary historian and fisherman, Jack Wingate.  Photo by Carol Heard.

Tools of the trade: nets and needles

 
 

Using  nets in the Flint River, 2001, photo by Diane Kirkland, Georgia Department of Industry, Trade, and Tourism.

 

 To catch sucker fish, leave the poles and bait at home. Nets, knives and some hot grease are the bases for these fish.

Most fishermen use shirttail nets in dead water. Another net used is called a lead line, which has weights of lead on the bottom so the net will sink in the water. These type nets are used in moving water.

"All you do is string the top line between two stakes where you think there's a bunch of suckers. And in about an hours time, you go back there and get you a mess of suckers to eat," Jack Wingate said.

City of Bainbridge Fire Chief Dennis Mock has made miles of nets that he handmade and then sold out of the fire station. Mr. Mock said his dad taught him how to make the webbing,  tie the webbing to the top and bottom lines, and more importantly, how to use them.

The net webbing is required to be 2 inches for each square. When Mr. Mock or his dad made the webbing, they used a board with pegs arranged 2 inches a part and circled the string around each peg. A large needle is used to tie the lines to the webbing.

Dying the nets is a trick used to fool the fish, said Bainbridge fisherman Mark Darley.

"I like mine dyed green or gray because it kind of blends in with the water and fish can't see it so good," Mr. Darley said. "Some people will just put clear nets out, but you can rub in it the dirt and make it muddy and it'll blend in after a while."

 

Dennis Mock uses a large needle to tie the webbing to the lines.  Photo by Diane Kirkland, Georgia Department of Industry, Trade, and Tourism, 2001.

What the books say - law books and such

Flint River, photo by Diane Kirkland, Georgia Department of Industry, Trade, and Tourism, 2001.

 Catching sucker fish has always been legal; however, stretching a gill net across the bottom of a public waterway such as the Flint River to net sucker fish was illegal prior to the 1970's.

The gill net fishing season was placed in the law books in order to make a prevalent illegal activity legal. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources Department experienced difficulty making cases against those caught netting because judges would often throw out the cases. Due to the popularity of netting for sucker fish and the increasing number of fishermen netting, game wardens advocated a legal netting season because it was a hardship on them to enforce.

"A lot of people got caught and arrested for fishing nets in the lake," said Jack Wingate. "But they were going to do it. There was nothing the game wardens could do to stop it because the people were not going to stop netting. That's all there was to it. It did not matter if they got caught."

Mr. Wingate believes the legal netting season has worked out well. "It's the only place in the country where you can work a conservation project like that and everybody be happy with it. You take out several tons of suckers and shad every winter out of this lake, and you're not really disturbing the game fish at all," Wingate said.

 

Here's what the law says
Section 391-4-3-.10 Commercial Fishing

"It shall be lawful to fish with gill nets on Lake Seminole as follows:

"From November 1 through January 31 in the Flint River Arm from Faceville Landing upstream to but not including the mouth of Big Slough and in the Spring Creek Arm from State Route 253 upstream to U.S. Route 84 and in Fish Pond Drain from State Route 253 upstream to County Road 1659 at the north end of Ray's Lake.

"Nets may not be set in waters exceeding eight feet (8') in depth or in stream channels.

"All game fish and catfish taken in gill nets must be released.

Photo by Diane Kirkland, Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism, 2001.
"All gill nets must be marked by visible buoys.

"Fishermen are limited to three hundred (300) linear feet of netting. Gill net mesh must be two inches (2") on the square.

"All nets must be clearly labeled with the name and commercial fishing license number of the person fishing them.

"All other commercial fishing laws and regulations shall apply."

Fish Aside . . . Swamp Gravy

 

 

 With the fish and other fixings cooked, it is now time to prepare the swamp gravy.

The origins of swamp gravy are not clear, but over the years families have passed down some variations of this local dish. The common link with some of the swamp gravy recipes is that it is even better on a cold evening eating alongside the riverbank with fried sucker sides and hushpuppies.

"You just keep cooking the fish until somebody will be over yonder making hushpuppies in another cooker," said Jack Wingate. "When you get through cooking you make swamp gravy in what grease is left over. You pour off the excess grease and leave what you think you will need to make a pot of swamp gravy."

Left:  Terry Heard of Bainbridge cooks up some swamp gravy.  Photo by Bernice Gunder, 2006.
 

 

 

 Mrs. Eliza Barwick remembers her mother always cooking fish gravy when they cooked fish."We never did call it swamp gravy until a few years back," Mrs. Barwick said. "Some friends of ours were with us fishing and said 'this is some good ole' swamp gravy. It has been called swamp gravy ever since."

Basic swamp gravy starts with fish grease, onions, potatoes and tomatoes. After those basic ingredients the recipe (if there is one) differs according to personal preferences. Some add corn, butterbeans and other vegetables.

Left:  Sucker Fish with the Fixin's:  A plate dinner of fried sucker fish, swamp gravy, French fries, and hush puppies make a good meal and a good southwest Georgia tradition, 2nd Annual Flint River Sucker Fish Festival, Bainbridge, 2002.  Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers.