Advertisement 
Since a lot of people consider the sheepshead, or freshwater drum, a second-class fish that you catch when you are really trying to catch something else, the derby is more of a fun event for local anglers. Tom (“Tuna”) Beck, sponsor of the event, said 45 people entered the July 26 derby. This was the third year of the now biannual event, which is held each June and again in July.
First place went to Wade Hirschfield of La Crosse with a 10.25-pound fish. Jordan Moose from Iowa caught an 8.48-pound second-prize sheepshead and third place went to Mike Hermier of Stoddard with a 7.85-pound fish.
After the event, Tuna’s dad, Roger Beck, served up some deep-fried sheepshead strips to the enthusiastic anglers that stayed around. I tried some of the fish and found it very good. Tuna says they’re a lot better than catfish, “but not as good as walleyes.” Walleyes, as they are all along the Upper Mississippi River, are a very popular fish around Genoa.
I have talked to a few people who might argue with Tuna’s flavor critique, though. Some like the taste of sheepshead as good as any other fish on the river and fish for them regularly. When I’ve tried them in the past they compared very favorably with walleyes and my own favorite, the bluegill. I agree that they beat the catfish, though.
The smaller sheepshead are deemed better tasting than the big ones and the fish should be kept very cold and fresh before cleaning. Make sure to remove the skin, the fatty meat along the belly and back, and any red connective tissue.
The fact that sheepshead, or freshwater drum, are edible is certainly nothing new. They are a native fish on the Mississippi and archeologists have discovered its bones in centuries-old garbage pits left along the Mississippi by Native Americans. They’ve obviously been on the menu for a looong time around Genoa!
Sheepshead feed on insect larvae and other small critters near the bottom of the river, including the notorious zebra mussel. Anyone who has ever fished a nightcrawler on the bottom of the river knows the drum likes them, but a lot of the competitors in the Genoa derby were using crayfish as bait.
“If you want to catch the big sheepshead,” said Tuna, “a crayfish is what you want to be using.” They are legal bait on the Mississippi River but illegal on any other Wisconsin waters to prevent the spread of non-native species like the rusty crayfish.
Cranky crustacean
Some of the anglers in fact reported that they saw rusty crayfish when they were gathering bait for the derby. The rusty crayfish, (Orconectus rusticus), is closely related to our native crayfish, but they seem to have an edge on them when they get into our waters. Originally from the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee, they have been transported to Wisconsin and some other states where they are raising havoc.
The rusty crayfish is a more aggressive animal and tends to shove the natives out of their preferred territories and even from their nests. That leaves the shyer and more mobile native species more vulnerable to predators such as walleyes and bass. The rusties will stand their ground when approached by predators, waving their large claws menacingly. Tom held up a rusty crayfish and tried to show the size of its claws by pointing with his cigar but the cranky crayfish grabbed it!
In addition to small invertebrates, the rusty crayfish has a huge appetite for aquatic vegetation, which is another reason why it is a problem for Wisconsin, especially in many of our lakes. Dave Heath, WDNR Mississippi River Fisheries Biologist, has dived into infested northern Wisconsin lakes and found them virtually devoid of vegetation and invertebrates on the bottom except for the masses of rusty crayfish.
Jeff Rach, Fisheries Biologist with the USGS Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center in La Crosse said that efforts to design a control program have met with frustration. A chemical that would kill the crayfish also kills the good guys, and would be hard to apply on a large lake. Besides, the chemical isn’t labeled to kill crayfish so there goes that idea anyway.
Predators tend to shy away from the bigger adults, but putting a more successful predator like the channel catfish into pristine northern lakes wouldn’t go over very big either. Trapping can remove a lot of the big guys, but that just leaves the playing field to all the little ones and you can end up with even more crayfish in the end.
The Mississippi River apparently has lots of rusty crayfish around La Crosse, but that is such a large and rich system that they sure aren’t wiping out all the vegetation here.
Both Rach and Heath said that the Mississippi River is diverse and big enough to absorb the invaders for now but we must be careful not to spread them to untouched waters. Don’t use crayfish as bait anywhere but the Mississippi and make sure your boat has been cleaned and dried before moving it to new waters.
Whaditiz
Crayfish are crustaceans like shrimp.
Contact Jim Solberg at (608) 782-2560 or nitefrogger@charter.net.
Advertisement 
