Horsing around state records and redhorse suckers

Sean Whippo asked a question I'm a sucker for.

"I've happened upon a pocket of giant redhorse, and I was wondering if you know what the hook and line record is for golden redhorse?" he wondered.

He landed one redhorse estimated at 3.5 pounds and saw others much bigger.

Since he thought, correctly, that there is no record for golden redhorse in Illinois, he wondered about catching a big one and establishing a record.

Several threads matter: First, what redhorse is it? Is there a process for establishing a new Illinois hook-and-line record? Why do records other than game fish matter?

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"It looks like a silver redhorse to me," emailed Chris Taylor, senior curator of Illinois Natural History Survey's fishes and crustaceans collection. "The head is much larger on a silver compared to a golden redhorse of the same body size."

"Unfortunately, that's a silver redhorse," emailed Olaf Nelson, founder of moxostoma.com and holder of the Illinois record for shorthead redhorse. "This is based on the head shape and the mouth. No other redhorse's face looks like that."

Moxostoma.com is an eclectic site on redhorses and suckers.

Teenager John Chione caught the Illinois-record silver redhorse (6 pounds, 11.4 ounces) on April 24 from the Fox River. The day after his brother Andrew caught the shorthead record, which Nelson beat.

Redhorse are in the sucker family (Catostomidae). Illinois has seven species of redhorse and one extinct (harelip). Illinois keeps hook-and-line records for silver and shorthead; golden are found statewide, but don't have a record; black are uncommon; smallmouth relatively recently were split from shorthead; greater are endangered and river threatened.

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The Illinois Department of Natural Resources keeps fish records in Illinois.

Asked about establishing a record for golden redhorse, Mike McClelland, Illinois' fisheries chief, replied, "Unfortunately, we are not currently establishing new species records due to logistical challenges, my apologies on that part."

Asked for details, he emailed, "Strictly with new record establishment – to provide a fair process, I think we would have to consider what a standard would be for the species we would incorporate. If an individual catches a fish not currently listed in the records, do they automatically get the record, or do we have a minimum standard that has to be bested? That likely requires a data analysis approach for a weight standard by species and then setting the records policy for all the species we would consider. Along with that, we would expect some species records to be broken more frequently, since they are new, which adds to time spent verifying and processing records by our staff.

"We do have staff priorities and time limitations to always keep in mind, establishing and maintaining new records may take away from other priorities. Not to say it couldn’t happen in the future!"

While I want the record book to expand, I'm a realist. It makes sense to have our limited IDNR biologists working on fish surveys and issues on ponds, rivers and lakes, then adding checking for more fish records.

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Yet, I think records of more obscure fish do much for the general understanding of nature and fish beyond bass, trout, salmon, walleye and muskie.

Over the years many readers have asked about records for such fish as chubs and other suckers. The IDNR only keeps records for three suckers: two redhorse (shorthead, silver) and northern hogsucker.

According to Jeremy Tiemann, INHS associate aquatic ecologist, "With our most recent discovery, I say [Illinois has] 194 native species (which does not include things like common carp, some salmon species, the weatherfish, Asian carp, etc.)."

Tiemann was the lead author in 2021 documenting streamline chub and Tippecanoe darter in Illinois, making the 194. The IDNR only keeps hook-and-line records for 58 species, including such non-natives as carp and salmon.

Nelson delivered a case to expand fish records.

"Goldens should absolutely have a state record," he emailed. "All non-threatened/endangered species should. When people see a species included on the list, they get several important messages: that the species is catchable by angling, that it is worth trying to catch, and that the state recognizes its sporting qualities. As with all the sucker species in Illinois--including seven redhorse species, three buffalo species, three carpsucker species, and several others--as well as other non-game native fishes, goldens play important roles in the ecosystem. Because these species have been more or less ignored as `rough fish' for so long, most anglers are either unaware they exist or have outdated negative opinions of them. Even worse, many anglers assume any fish that's large and has big scales is a carp. ALL carps are invasive in North America. NO suckers are."