Ohio River Sauger

[Huck Finn]

Here's a few fish I caught below the dam Friday. Man was it ever cold, my truck showed 19 degrees when I launced my boat.

[rushcreekoutdoor]

Olmstead or smithland.
that looks fun.

I have only sauger fished at the smithland coffer dam, not the big dam
rco

[siddhartha]

Hey Huck, nice mess of fish; do I see a Striper and a Spotted Bass in amongst all the sauger there?

[Huck Finn]

Yes, you are correct. The other two fish you see are a striper and a spotted bass. The spot and striper were caught on a artificial plastic bait. The sauger were caught on a 1oz jig tipped with a minnow and a #6 stinger hook. It was cold but fun!

[kycreek]

It's that time of year again. Good Job

[siddhartha]

Was the stinger a J hook or treble?

[Huck Finn]

The stinger was a #6 treble hook. I tie my own stingers up, but you can buy sauger jigs that are already tied up with a stinger on them. At least 50% of my fish will be caught with only the stinger hook in the fish.

A good place to get sauger jigs is Kens TBC in Lake City, about 3 miles from Ky and Barkley dams.

[siddhartha]

Dumb question Huck; do you insert the stinger into the bait or let hang/lay next to it?

[Huck Finn]

I normally insert the stinger hook into the tail of the bait, but my Dad likes to let the hook hang loose. Either way is fine.

[siddhartha]

Thanks again Huck. I've never tried a stinger hook before but it's something that I intend to include into my arsenal. The only problem I see with inserting the stinger into the baitfish is that I like to try to keep them as live and wiggly as possible for as long as possible and impaling them a second time would not be condusive to keeping them alive longer, IMHO.