2-6-16 saugers

[TNBronzeback]

Well, i was at a crossroads friday night in determining where i should go yesterday. All things considered, i opted for new water. It was enjoyabe fishing out of my typical river comfort zone but the fish werent cooperating and after seeing my screen shots, i was close to insanity!
After pooh-poohing all over trolling in another post, thats what i was resorted to, lol. The fish did NOT want any kind of vertical presentation. Got several hard smacks on a blade but its like they were just slashing at it and not wanting to eat it. So i trolled. Fish came on some home made spinners with a hammered brass blade and red beads. (always a go-to up north when the bite got tough)
And when they hit the spinners with shiners, they crushed it! spinner deep down thier throats. Fish were tight to 25ft over a mixed bottom but mostly soft. So i would take a guess and say they were spawning.The best part about trolling though is it gives me time to throw brats on the grill! lol. Its a rough life!. The current was odd, seemed like it was on and off so maybe that threw the fish off.
The downright insane part of the whole day was every creek mouth i hit was just covered up, covered up with what im guessing were white bass. Hundreds upon hundreds of fish just staging at the mouths of creeks in and around the slack water. Looking at the screen shots, a few fish come in pretty clear and they look like whites to me. They would hit the shiners, but i think they were too big to fit in thier mouths.
The white bass are on the brink. Not sure what the next weeks weather will do with snow/rain but they are close.
I like the stretch i was fishing and will be back but it was super snaggy. Gonna have to hit Poor Boys baits at the show this weekend and re-stock. Lol.
Check out the screen shots attached and let me know what you guys think.

[XxthejuicexX]

That chirp unit looks awesome! Good job. I plan on going to the show next weekend also. I know there was tons of shad on Normandy today, there was some larger fish mixed in but I did not fish for them.

[TNBronzeback]

Thanks!
I can honestly sit here and tell you that i took my entire tackle collection and tried every practical lure/live bait combo to catch those fish. Everything but a slip bobber was used. Casting, trolled, jigged, live bait....anything i could think of short of snagging. I even free-lined a fathead minnow with 1/16 oz split shot about 36" above the hook down to the 25-30ft them fish were at. Now that was like 2 minutes of my life i will never get back! lol.
I had lures, hooks, line pieces scattered all over my boat! looked like walmart on black friday! lol.
Lets try to hook up at the show for a few if our times jive!

[Alphahawk]

Nice looking sauger....nice images.


Regards

[Heiny57]

Is that lighter blue on the screen the bottom? Or bait school?

[TNBronzeback]

Originally Posted by Heiny57

Is that lighter blue on the screen the bottom? Or bait school?

Thats the bottom.....if i read the manual properly, its a hard bottom with it being a light color. Not rocks but hard mud or something.

[Heiny57]

I must have my 7 elite set differently , my bottom is at the bottom of my screen.

[XxthejuicexX]

Originally Posted by Heiny57

I must have my 7 elite set differently , my bottom is at the bottom of my screen.

You do, correctly He needs to adjust his lower scale. Ain't that right TN? Please still take me sauger fishing

[AllOutdoors]

Nice fish.

[TNBronzeback]

Originally Posted by Heiny57

I must have my 7 elite set differently , my bottom is at the bottom of my screen.

Well my shots were at 2X zoom. If i zoom out it will be at the top of the screen. I will have to fool around with mine more, especially the chart/map. Im gonna get a card from Merv. Im not 100% sure how it works. I have an idea of HOW it should work, but i havent played around with it much.
Juice, lets fish saturday if the river isnt mud. I should be able to get to the show sunday. Lol

[Heiny57]

Zoom? I wonder if mine has that,,,, I'm technically challenged.

[TNBronzeback]

Originally Posted by Heiny57

Zoom? I wonder if mine has that,,,, I'm technically challenged.

yeah its a pretty nice feature getting a closer look at whats going on!