rsimms
Well-known member
Made a sauger foray yesterday. I was on the water an hour before sunrise. I only hooked two sauger before sunrise, but they were both keepers. Sadly, one performed a "long line release" ... I've got to start using a net
After sunrise I caught a LOT of fish... sauger, bluegill and stripe. Sadly, no more legal-sized sauger. However a half-dozen of the stripe were what Benny Hull calls "boat paddles," great old big strappin' stripe. They got a free ride home to supplement the one keepin' sauger.
The ticket for me was a tiny chartreuse hair jig, tipped with a minnow, fished low and slow (on the bottom). The jig was either a 1/8th or a 1/16th, or in between. I'm not sure because they weren't marked when I bought them. But they are small!
Just about all fish came out of 20 feet of water, various spots around the dam. Takes that tiny jig about 15 seconds to reach bottom on each cast (if there's no current). And then you want to bring it back in tiny 6-inch lifts, crawling across the bottom. In other words, be patient!
And don't expect to "feel" a sauger hit. It's VERY rare to actually detect a strike you're used to with other fish. Typically when you "lift" you'll simply note a slight change in the "feel" of the lure... like maybe it's pulling a tiny blade of grass along. That's probably a sauger and you better set the hook. They redefine the term, "a light bite." When those "boat paddle" stripe take it, you'll feel that good, definitive "thump."
I'll be going back a couple of times this week. Will update as possible.
After sunrise I caught a LOT of fish... sauger, bluegill and stripe. Sadly, no more legal-sized sauger. However a half-dozen of the stripe were what Benny Hull calls "boat paddles," great old big strappin' stripe. They got a free ride home to supplement the one keepin' sauger.
The ticket for me was a tiny chartreuse hair jig, tipped with a minnow, fished low and slow (on the bottom). The jig was either a 1/8th or a 1/16th, or in between. I'm not sure because they weren't marked when I bought them. But they are small!
Just about all fish came out of 20 feet of water, various spots around the dam. Takes that tiny jig about 15 seconds to reach bottom on each cast (if there's no current). And then you want to bring it back in tiny 6-inch lifts, crawling across the bottom. In other words, be patient!
And don't expect to "feel" a sauger hit. It's VERY rare to actually detect a strike you're used to with other fish. Typically when you "lift" you'll simply note a slight change in the "feel" of the lure... like maybe it's pulling a tiny blade of grass along. That's probably a sauger and you better set the hook. They redefine the term, "a light bite." When those "boat paddle" stripe take it, you'll feel that good, definitive "thump."
I'll be going back a couple of times this week. Will update as possible.
