Sauger techniques?

I tried jigging a spoon for sauger for the first time on Saturday with a few decent fish caught. I could see another guy catching them (mostly small but occasionally a nice one) on almost every cast in the same area, also using a spoon.

I am wondering what size/style/color spoons people use to catch these fish? Fast drop? Slow drop? Depth of fall? Cast or jig?

What about leadhead jigs/grubs? Jig or cast and swim on the bottom?

Do sauger eat nightcralers in the fall or is a jig/minnow a better fall season bait?

Any and all tips would be appreciated.

Thanks,

John

1/4 oz jig with white, (my favorite) or green grub I prefer single tail, tipped with minnow. Vertical jig or cast, very speed to the bite. Also when the bites slow, carolina rig with a shiner on a mud bank close to rock structure for some big ones and I seem to get more walleye than sauger this way...good luck ..Chuck

The rivers is coming way up to 25 ft on the lower
This will slow down all the river traffic ,only the seasoned anglers will be out .Go to a darker colored grub on your jig motor oil has worked good for me in the stained water

where are you trying to fish?

Ohio and Kentucky Rivers

Fished the mighty Ohio the day after Thanksgiving. Put in at 12:30pm and fished until 5:00pm. Gosh was it COLD! Air temps were at the highest only around 30. Went to the dam and saw there were 5 gates open and a lot of current. We fished for 4 hours and got our limit on sauger, 12 keepers between 14"-18". We were using 1/2oz. silver buddies but in brass color and some dipped in chartreuse paint. We caught, no lying, over 175 sauger! We quit counting at 165 and caught several more. Most were between 8" - 12". It took us that many fish to cull through to get our limit. We caught probably around 40 walleye,with the same size problem, too small. Water temps were 45 degrees. Fish were caught right off of the bottom, jigging up and down. Depth 21'. At 4:30, we decided to go fish the Ky side bank with crankbaits and try for some smallmouth or whitebass. We caught 10 white bass, 12"-18". Biggest was 18", every bit of 3lbs. We could have caught more, but decided to get off the river before it got dark at 5:00pm. No bass or drum this time around. Wow! What a day!
Bassky

someone just showed what seems to be a pretty popular method for catching sauger below McAlpine dam. 1/4 oz jig heads unpainted with 3" white or chartruse curly tails. Cast left into the current and retreive slowly and bounce off the bottom. If you are catching only whites you are not fishing deep enough. I'm just learning myself but have been three times in the last week and caught some nice fish. I've also been told only fish below McAlpine when the lower gauge reading is between 12-16. Good luck..

I grew up in WV and used to fish the Ohio below Pike Island dam alot. We mostly bank fished but got in the boat a few times. One of our favorite and most productive baits was a Count-Down Rapala. We caught several walleye and sauger with them.
Any of you fellers ever try a Lindy Little George?

Brutus

An absolute killer here where I am is take a 1/4 oz. jighead in either chartruese or pink or red head with a 3" chartruese twister tail with the tail pinched off. Then tip the jig with a bass minnow (tuffy) and fish it slow.
We kill the saugeye amd walleye around here.
Another good spoon is the Vibe or Silver Buddy in the 1/8 oz. version.

OK, my 2 Cents:

Have fished for sauger on and off for the past 5-6 years on the Ohio river. FIRST RULE, THERE ARE NO RULES! My preference however, depending upon where I, am is to use a 3-way rig with a minow when fishing in rapid water flow, OR work a jig (silver spoon) off the bottom in semi-rapid water. In both cases I'm talking about fishing off of the bottom and at or near the "lock wall" of a dam.

Having said that, others seem to have good success casting convential jigs tipped with curley tails (white-green-etc.) while drift fishing down river from the dams.

Keep on fishing!
Gary