Quote:
Originally Posted by polarkraft
How do yall catch these things? A buddy and I will be giving it a go on old hickory in the coming weeks and really have no idea where to start.
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a good place to start is the community holes below the dams to cut your teeth on the crazy sauger fishing. Fish the wing walls and below the flood gates (when they arent open of course) Winter time the saugers and walleyes will start schooling up for their spawn below the dams. Best method in my opinion in any moving water situation is always going to be vertical jigging. That doesnt mean you have to jig with the old standby of 1oz. leadhead with bucktail fur though. ive done incredibly good with blade baits, spoons and rattle baits. Let the current dictate your jig size. last year on a few occasions i was able to use a 1/4oz jig to catch saugers out of 52ft of water. thats the whole key to entire concept of vertical jigging...it MUST be vertical to maintain the natural movement of a dying baitfish. a few degrees of angle in any direction can make the difference of loading the boat or wearing your arm out for nothing. Near the dams most of the time you can use a smaller jighead, most times its a 1/4oz for me. If your fishing the main river, you have to bulk up. if your gonna try the main river, fish the deeper holes, fish the creek mouths. you dont really have to focus on cover like rock humps or trees when your sauger fishing in the winter, it can help sometimes, but dont think you need to scour the river marking every pebble and stick to come back and fish it. Your main focus should be STRUCTURE. My #1 super secret hot spot to date that i found last year is on the backside of a hole on a gravel bed about twice the size of my boat. anything up river of that spot = nothing, anything down river of that spot = nothing. but when i get positioned just right on the right drift, fish on every pass i make, i usually jig with 2 rods, so its super fun when i get hit on both jigs. But that river is FULL of little gems like that. My best spot below old hickory is totally, completely flat, not a feature on bottom to be found. BUT, what is within a few hundred yards of that place is what makes it special and hold fish.
Saugers can be a finicky fish, my best advice is use braided line, ALWAYS use stinger hooks. I personally always take live bait with me, if i need it, i have it, if i dont need it, i take it home and keep it alive for the next trip when i do need it. Fish the deep water, dont pass up 40-50ft of water cause you think its too deep....cause its not. i dont think i would personally concentrate on water less than 25ft or so though.
i like my jig colors to be either white or chartruse. and the fur to be either white or chartruse. if you dont want to mess with live bait, use curly tail worms or shad bodies or sliders on the jig...but again, use a stinger hook.
Ive burnt alot of hours and gas looking for these things and there really are alot of places in cumberland system that host alot of saugers! chances are you wont mark them on your electronics but if you find a gem of a hole or hump or some kind of river feature that in the pit of your gut tells you there MUST be saugers there, they are probably there, you just need to hammer em pass, after pass after pass changing your jig cadence, jig color, tail color, jig size, ect until you unlock their secret for that day, then you just wear them out as long as you can cause chances are, thier mood will change fast and you have to start all over again, whether its that day or the next.