Sauger Fishing - Help

[jprism]

Going Sauger fishing below Cheatum Dam this Wed in a 20ft Stratos. This will be a first for me so any and all advice will be appreciated. I have watched several YouTube videos on the subject but would love to hear from you!

Thanks, Jim

[TNBronzeback]

Never put the boat in below cheatham but i would imagine a dam is dam overall.
I would start fishing the current seams and eddies near the dam (depending on flow). The wing walls at all dams create a great current break and ambush point. A nice feature about the river layout at cheatham is the rocky shoreline on the generator side....its pretty wide at the discharge but narrows pretty fast and depending on what generators are running, that can create a huge slackwater seam where fish can really stack up. Any decent size creekmouth is another good place to focus on. I wouldnt spend much time focusing on a drainage ditch dumping into the river in hopes of hooking too many toothy critters myself, so "creek size" is matter of perception i suppose.
Winter river fishing for sauger and walleyes is my favorite time of year. So many tactics to put to use. Jigs, spoons, bladesbaits, spinners, livebait rigs, trolling....ive used em all and have done good at various places on the river system.
Take alot of everything as the river has a tendancy to eat alot of leadheads.
The depth of the fish can really vary but i personally have never had to fish deeper than 24ft to find fish....some guys may go deeper, ive not tried it personally. Low light hours you can search shallower, especially in the evening they really slide up the shoreline especially rocky shorelines.
That should get ya started.
Just a final tip....if ya plan on vertical jigging...do yourself a favor and use braid if you dont already....better bite detection and bottom feel which equals less money lost. Lol
Good luck to ya!

[wormdunker]

They have been running a good bit of water lately, and I imagine that the spillgates will be open, at least a little, on Wednesday. I like fishing down there when the gates are closed and you can fish a large area below the spill gates where the water is pretty calm., When the gates are open there is less area to fish because the water is pretty turbulent when they are open. You can still fish the end of the wall there in the lock and all around the lock, but you have to get out of there if any boats or barges are locking through, which usually takes no longer than 30 minutes or so. There is a pretty good eddy there below that end of the lock wall-you'll see what I mean when you get down there, and sometimes you will find fish holding in that eddy water. Have patience. You might only get 1 fish per hour, but 4 or 5 good 15 inch sauger in 4 or 5 hours is a good mess of fish. If you don't do any good up nearer the dam, drift downstream jigging sauger jigs (be prepared to lose some jigs), and try at any mouths of creeks, of which there are several within a few miles of the dam. Keep the bait on the bottom, just gently lifting and "hopping" it around the bottom. Good luck, and let us know how you did. They should be showing up down there by now. I haven't had a chance to get down there yet, so I don't know.

[jprism]

Thank you both...that's a load of good information. Since this is my first time I will try it all and let you know the outcome.

Thanks, Jim

[hogdawg]

A few things on sauger fishing in general if you're new at it:
1. Vertical jigging always try to keep your line straight up and down. This will save a lot of lost jigs. If your jig is going faster than the boat in the current or you are going faster than your jig you will be dragging it and it will get hung up all the time.
2. Always use stinger hooks and make sure they are tied with mono that is smaller than your main line. You might lose the stinger instead of the whole jig when it gets hung.
3. Sauger are notorious for hitting the jig on the drop. Be aware when you don't feel the bump of the bottom. They may be swimming up with the jig.

I hope you do well. There is not a better tasting fish.

[jprism]

Never got to go as partner was sick...but soon will try this wish us luck