SNARING SUCKERS 259 



steady hand and correct eye steered downward over the vic- 

 tim until it passed his pectoral fins. Then, at precisely the 

 proper instant, steam was turned on, the erstwhile quiet 

 fisherman became a raging demon of activity, and if the 

 snare held just "so," a 16-inch Sucker weighing 3 pounds 

 would be yanked high in air by a human derrick, amid the 

 shouts of a delighted and strong-lunged populace. The 



THE COMMON SUCKER. 



string of fish caught on that halcyon day by my tall brother 

 reached from my shoulders to the ground, and for three days 

 the cooks of that countryside had Suckers galore. 



This Sucker is perhaps the most widely distributed and 

 the most common fish species inhabiting the United States. 

 It ranges "from Quebec and Massachusetts westward to 

 Montana and Colorado, and southward to Missouri and 

 Georgia." (Jordan.) It is one of the best of its Family 

 for the table, it is universally eaten, and is much superior 

 to any carp the writer has ever encountered. In one year 

 (1899-1900) the catch of Suckers in twenty-three states 

 yielded 655,637 pounds, worth $115,512. 



