Barren River Sauger??

[killroy1221]

Killroy,

Although someone mentioned walleye earlier, I assume that you were talking about catching 5 sauger below Bowling Green. Relatively speaking, Greencastle is not that far from where Barren runs into the Green River. I could easily see them traveling up to there from the Green River. Were they above Greencastle or below, I'm just curious?

Yep, sauger. We were catching them on cranks and 1/2 ounce spinners. Little dudes were hungry. I think our best day was four sauger. One crappie. And about 60 bass between 3 people. It was below and in late summer. That should rule out spawn runs as the reason for being there. It was not real close to the dam either so it rules out them just being blocked in an upstream movement. I am fairly certain that there is a sizeable, self sustaining, population of the critters in that part of barren. Back years ago my uncle caught a few above greencastle on a lizard. If you fish anywhere between BG and Glasgow I am sure you have seen me around. I drive a green ranger and go to wku.

[smashdn]

There used to be an old road that hugged the side of a ridge that lead down to greencastle. It still shows up as an open road on some maps. It led down to the side of the dam opposite the lock. The lockhouse side of the dam is in a bottom.

It has been a few years since I have been up that way but it was very rocky right below the dam there, almost more like a large creek than a river. There were some mexicans swimming below the dam. It was darn near impossible to get down to the water itself on that side. It didn't seem very accessible by either foot or by boat.

We got covered in ticks walking back that old roadbed.

What is the closest ramp to fish below the dam at state street? Was there ever a lock there or was it always just a rubble fill dam?

[Olgrey]

smashdn,

I think the link below will provide you some information about the ramp locations if you know the area. Hope this helps. Good luck


http://fw.ky.gov/app1/WaterBodyDetai...=N&atype=*&CID=*

[Richiferd]

just an FYI on that ramp location link... DO NOT try to put in at the mouth of gasper... There is NO ramp whatsoever, just a small water runoff they call a ramp. Reason for saying this I just spent 4 hours STUCK in river mud and severely damaged my Ext cab 4x4 silverado, Not to mention the Bill i have from having to get West side towing out there to pull me out.. F&W really deceived me by having signs out there and that web link as well... If you do fish or try to boat there... do it at your OWN risk

[smashdn]

just an FYI on that ramp location link... DO NOT try to put in at the mouth of gasper... There is NO ramp whatsoever, just a small water runoff they call a ramp. Reason for saying this I just spent 4 hours STUCK in river mud and severely damaged my Ext cab 4x4 silverado, Not to mention the Bill i have from having to get West side towing out there to pull me out.. F&W really deceived me by having signs out there and that web link as well... If you do fish or try to boat there... do it at your OWN risk

Look like maybe the ramp there near woodbury may be the next best bet then if that is the area you want to fish. Only looked like a 5 mile run or so.

["The Man"]

I have fished the green castle section of river below the Dam in the summer time. We used a 14ft Jon boat. Had 2 sauger and one Muskie. My question is what size boat could you use at the woodbury boat ramp. Could you get a bigger in that section of river? Thanks

[bg64vw]

We were bass fishing from canoes at Sallys Rock (mouth of Gasper) a couple of years ago a young guy in our group caught two sauger there at the riffle using a spinner bait. If I wanted to try and catch some I would go back there and fish on and below that riffle with worms and grub twister tails if I were fishing from the bank and I would jig night crawlers on a dolly fly around the riffle if I were in a boat or canoe. Ive fished for Walleye but not for sauger. On Nolin the Walleye start moving up to shallow riffles to spawn as early as Feb. The local fishery biologist say the new native walleye in Barren should behave the same way. I bet Greencastle would be a good spot to hit for sauger here shortly.

[smashdn]

Live you! Live I say!


Got the sauger itch again and the time is right. Done a lot of exploring since 2012. Put in below Greencastle once and ran down below Gasper when Green was up. Had spent a fair amount of time up above L&D 5 before they saw fit to get rid of it. Have ran from Paradise up to 3 as well. Rochester up to the bend where Taylor Lake is and from Morgantown down to Taylor Lake and back up to 4.

Just got through reading a fisheries report about stockings of sauger done way back when this thread was started. None of them panned out. The conclusion was sauger don't do well in the shallower, riffle-hole-run rivers like Barren and how Green gets up above L&D 4. Now that 5 and 6 are gone on Green I can only imagine it has made it worse for them. The gist was that sauger preferred wider rivers with longer, deeper hole sections and plenty of tributaries to get up into when the water gets rolling.

It is just as quick for me to go down into TN below Cordell Hull and fish. Taking me some time to get that river figured out but it has both sauger and walleye. Down in that section Cumberland is about the size as the Ohio up above Louisville due to being the very upper reaches of Old Hickory lake. Still has a substantial amount of current however. I was drifting at 4 mph this past weekend.