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I know this is a little off topic, but is anyone catching sauger around kentucky lake. I have a buddy that is going sauger fishing below smithland lock and dam next friday and he asked me to go. I have only caught 2 sauger while crappie fishing in the Mississippi river tributaries but I have wanted to start fishing for them.
My buddy says they are really catching them. anyone doing any good?
rushcreekoutdoor
Below Smithland is a great Sauger spot. I have caught some good fish in there. For the last few years it has been tough though. The water's been too high during the good sauger fish'n season. You can also catch some good sauger in the lower part of the Cumberland River.
If you fish below Smithland BE CAREFUL!!! It seems like every year of so somebody drowns up there. STAY AWAY FROM THE SPILLWAY! There are some sunk barges below the dam & at certain stages of the river you can't see them and next thing you know you've nocked off a lower unit, ripped a boat open, or both! :eek: You'll catch most of your Sauger over on the flats below the coffer dams anyway.
I haven't been sauger fish'n this season but I have heard they are starting up. I usually start catching sauger below Ky & Barley starting about the middle of Oct. but they are not nearly as big as you'll catch below Smithland. :D
Good Luck!
This isnot from the Kentucky Lake area,but we have been limiting out on the Ohio Rvr. for the last 4 week ends . Lot of 1 1/2 to 2 lb. sauger.....Norm
I've only caught a few sauger, actually trolling crankbaits on KY lake. To me, they are the best eating fish. I love crappie, but would jump over the table for fried sauger.
HEY wiskers didnt they get most of the sunk barges out this summer?
Caught some real nice ones last weekend. We have a good time fishing for them. You never know what you are going to catch we have caught white and yellow stripes, smallmouth and largemouth, crappie, catfish and huge drums while sauger fishing.
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. So we went to the left of the lock wall and their were 7 boats lined up along the lock wall on the Ohio side. 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'. All of the boats on the wall were catching as many as we were. In fact the next boat up from us were catching more thanwe were. 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
The limit for sauger on the Ohio is 10,
and there's no size restrictions :cool:
Okay, that begs the next question. My buddy said that a friend of his reports catching Walleye in the Ohio below the Smithland dam. I did not know that we had Walleye this far down the river. Is that for real? If so that is awesome. I live in Fulton Co. and I did not know that walleyes were as close to us as Smithland.
Is this for real???
rushcreekoutdoor
Yes, they are there.
I have caught only two walleye out of all the hundreds of
sauger over the years. But they are there.:cool:
That is neat. Thanks
rushcreek
I was informed today that smithland dam is currently undergoing some serious deforestation process, in fact, flying debris can actually be dangerous if fishing the koffer dam. Good luck buddy, if you keep trying you will catch the over-rated sauger.
WOW....overated??? :eek: Lol, to each his own I reckon. Yes, they are a bit slow and fight like a log but they make some dang good tablefare.
I believe that Smithland dam is getting fitted for a hydroelectric plant along with Cannelton dam upriver :(. I have heard that bank fishing the Ky. side at Cannelton may soon be a thing of the past. Hopefully this will just be a vicious rumor.
Been catching a limit of sauger below Markland dam on the Ohio whenever the water level is right. The sauger fishing there is better than it has ever been for a long time.
Hey Rushcreek, today was a good day at the Koffer Dam. Three boats limited out this afternoon. They were all using chartreuse jigs and a minnow trailer. I am still at a loss about the gas station down there selling minnows. The only one I am aware of is about five miles out of town and at the Y. Is this the one you are referring to?