Sauger

[perch jerker]

I've been fishing for years, the last few with Kingfish and some friends. Someone please give us some pointers on when and where to go and what to use.

 

[minner]

When: the nastiest, coldest, rainiest, most miserable day you can find. Go when you are the only one nutty enough to try it, wind, rain, sleet....

Now the where: Well I haven't quite figured it out yet, but from my VERY limited experience, bottom composition has more to do with finding them than depth. From my (again limited) experience, gravel bottoms are key. Of course you'll find them at the dams along wing walls and such, since current is also a must.


Correct me if I'm leading him astray fellas.....emoScratch I just saw his post here during lunch and figured I'd pull a drive by......


.........minner, out.......

 

[rsimms]

perch jerker - 12/17/2007 12:29 PM
I've been fishing for years, the last few with Kingfish and some friends. Someone please give us some pointers on when and where to go and what to use.

Hair jigs (orange or chartreuse) tipped with tuffie minnows... I cast 1/4 or 1/8th oz. in still water... in current I vertical jig with one-ounce football head jigs. In Southeast TN, Nickajack and Watts Bar tailwaters are the best places. The spots minner named... around wing walls and sometimes scattered out in still waters, but you'll almost always do best in close proximity of Dam (a few hundred yards). And as minner noted... sauger love HORRIBLE weather. On bright, bluebird days you might get a good bite for hour or two at sunrise and then you're done..
BUT, the most important thing about sauger... they are there, or they are not. It is usually a feast or famine situation. When they turn on, you can catch dozens (although the trick is catching legal 15-inchers). The coming weeks should be the best, but sometimes they'll stay fairly active until March.

 

[polo-dog]

Richard, is there anything in particular that you look for on your depth finder that tells you that you are in an area that hold sauger? Would you fish holes or drops or inside/outside bends? Do the sauger have a typical appearance either stacked up or layered out on the bottom that tells you that they are there? Just curious as I doubt that I'll get out there anytime soon to look for them.

 

[Nickajack Angler]

Sauger/Walleye hold RIGHT to the bottom. They are never suspended. You will see them holding the bottom on breaks, points and transition areas/eddy's. You can go up and down most points to find the depth they are at, but you can tell them right away. Look for rock bottoms, and near a shore where the wind is blowing into that shoreline. They chase bait fish just like everything else, but I've caught just as many on Leeches and Nightcrawlers as minnows. Look for changes in the bottom such as humps and rock piles. They congregate in those areas more and your best bet is first light and end of day. Catching them at night even. You can fish and fish for them.... and see them STACKED on a spot, and not get a one. Then other times, they are feeding and you can clean up. I've sat on spots trying to get them to bite for two hours, and then WHAM! Like turning on a switch, they turn on. Good luck! Try tipping a 1/8 or heavier if you are in a stronger current... green, chartreuse or any color (these seem to work best) with no fur or body, just a plain old hook jig and tip it with a minnow. Should produce some Sauger/Walleye. They are finicky... When I moved to Minnesota, it took me a couple of years to catch on after growing up in NC bass fishing my whole life.
In warmer months, they do come into the shallows at twighlight times. Moving along weedlines (try a shadrap - silver w/black back) and you can catch them from 8 ft up. Beer battered are the best. Shorelunch. But cannot seem to find that product down here!

 

[rsimms]

polo-dog - 12/17/2007 5:34 PM

Richard, is there anything in particular that you look for on your depth finder that tells you that you are in an area that hold sauger? Would you fish holes or drops or inside/outside bends? Do the sauger have a typical appearance either stacked up or layered out on the bottom that tells you that they are there? Just curious as I doubt that I'll get out there anytime soon to look for them.

As for me, I rarely, if ever, pay any attention to depth finder when sauger fishing. I've only fished for them at Nickajack... and there are just four or five key areas that I usually fish. It is also odd because some of those areas are a hard, rock bottom... but a couple are a soft sandy bottom. I've pretty much got those areas memorized. I've never had much success "seeing" sauger on depth finder. But it may be because I don't know what I'm looking for... or don't care because as mentioned, either they are there and the bite is "on," or it's not. I hear of folks who occasionally catch some downriver... away from immediate tailwaters... and I have done some "searching," but never successfully.

 

[polo-dog]

Thanks Richard.

 

[Nickajack Angler]

It's just a small arc on the bottom. You can mistake it for a rock or other debris. I guess it just comes with practice. When you watch the graph and catch fish, you'll be able to put it all together. As I said, it took me a few years to become proficient.... The river is different than the glacier lakes I was fishing in MN, but since being down here I cannot disagree with Richard, for he is dead on. But we have found them on points and distinct structure down river. They are near current, that's for sure. But to maximize your chances, early and late are best.

 

[BigFishGuide]

Catching them right at dusk. Sauger will move away from deeper water to the banks. Just a note of wisdom

 

[Nickajack Angler]

Leave it to Berry to show us ALL up! And you know what? He's right!

 

[polo-dog]

Thanks for the info and the pic BFG. When did you catch that group of sauger?