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WTM

WTM

Well-Known Member
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Joined
Oct 16, 2008
Messages
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Location
benton co.
if you ever wanted to catch some jack salmon, now until 1st of march is the easiest time. the days are getting longer and the water temp is getting right for the spawn. theyll start moving down stream from the dams and stage up off island points and creek mouths off the main channel swings. it only takes them 10 days to move from the dam to main pool ky lake. theyll be shallower than theyll be all year long, about 20 feet deep. if your not bouncing jigs off the bottom then you wont do to well. anyway good luck this season and release the big females if you can.
 
WTM said:
yeah habit i guess. it wasnt until i was in my 20's that i figured out they were sauger. last year was a pretty good year in about 5 years, since the last time we got on em pretty good.
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Pulling cranks in the summer is the only way i have caught any.I have never actually suuger fished for them though.
 
bluball said:
Pulling cranks in the summer is the only way i have caught any.I have never actually suuger fished for them though.
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the mouth of the big sandy river is the only place ive ever caught them in any numbers in the summer, but that was years ago and i dont go that far north any more. they typically scatter deep after april and i dont fish for them then.
 
WTM said:
if you ever wanted to catch some jack salmon, now until 1st of march is the easiest time. the days are getting longer and the water temp is getting right for the spawn. theyll start moving down stream from the dams and stage up off island points and creek mouths off the main channel swings. it only takes them 10 days to move from the dam to main pool ky lake. theyll be shallower than theyll be all year long, about 20 feet deep. if your not bouncing jigs off the bottom then you wont do to well. anyway good luck this season and release the big females if you can.
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Miss sauger fishing.
Used to go New Years Day and sometimes put a snow shovel in the boat.
The absolute best color jig was when I got some John Deere green powder paint and made my own. Used stinger hooks.
 
Chiflyguy said:
Miss sauger fishing.
Used to go New Years Day and sometimes put a snow shovel in the boat.
The absolute best color jig was when I got some John Deere green powder paint and made my own. Used stinger hooks.
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i use 1 oz hair jigs tipped with minnows. white with pink head or white and chartreuse head. stinger if they are short striking. dont like to use them unless i have to.
 
I've never fished for them this far north on the river.

From River Heights to Clifton Bridge is where we always fished for them.
Rocky points and rock bottom is what we always fished. When we clean them they would be full of small mussel shells.

I haven't fished for sauger since my Dad passed away 12 years ago.

If you need a fishing partner, give me a shout. I've probably got 40 to 50 jigs.
 
I've dipped them below Wilson dam in Al while dipping shad….Of course we released them.👍
I dipped 2 - 12" shell crackers there once as well…they were released too.
At a bed site closer too my house on Shoals creek..
Thanks for the tip WTM👍
 
BuckWild said:
I've never fished for them this far north on the river.

From River Heights to Clifton Bridge is where we always fished for them.
Rocky points and rock bottom is what we always fished. When we clean them they would be full of small mussel shells.

I haven't fished for sauger since my Dad passed away 12 years ago.

If you need a fishing partner, give me a shout. I've probably got 40 to 50 jigs.
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There isn't hardly a stretch of river between the two places you mentioned that I haven't bounced a jig at some point or another. There are 10-15 well known community holes between those two that seem to always hold fish, but I've also caught lots of fish in seemingly random places certain years that don't produce year in and year out.
 
tnanh said:
I haven't been yet this year. Will probably go one day this week.
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watch out for the current. pickwick and ky are spilling and have 4 generators running 24-7. i usually dont do well when they are spilling. i usually hit them the first two weeks in feb if the lake is back down and the current is not ripping.

good luck this year
 
bowhunterfanatic said:
There isn't hardly a stretch of river between the two places you mentioned that I haven't bounced a jig at some point or another. There are 10-15 well known community holes between those two that seem to always hold fish, but I've also caught lots of fish in seemingly random places certain years that don't produce year in and year out.
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thats were we caught them 5 years ago. probably 40 boats in one spot. i can remember when pawpaw and i used to fish there would maybe be 5 boats.
 
bowhunterfanatic said:
40 boats in one spot sounds like you were fishing at Hardin's Creek. I see more boats fishing that run than anywhere else on the river.
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the point of eagle island to the bridge. only place we caught them from there to saltillo and they were all males, no females. it was strange. the only thing i could figure they were there to get out of the current to feed. possibly had already spawned since there were no females. usually we would catch them at indian creek but not one fish.

lol 30 years ago pawpaw and i caught 100 head of white cats on that point one week. we fished in my stepdads memorial tournament the next week and didnt catch but two fish. the worst i had ever been skunked but at least we werent last.
 
WTM said:
watch out for the current. pickwick and ky are spilling and have 4 generators running 24-7. i usually dont do well when they are spilling. i usually hit them their
Click to expand...

WTM said:
watch out for the current. pickwick and ky are spilling and have 4 generators running 24-7. i usually dont do well when they are spilling. i usually hit them the first two weeks in feb if the lake is back down and the current is not ripping.

good luck this year
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I live across the bridge from Perryville in Perry County. Wish they would stop opening flood gates when they do every year. Went to Pickwick Dam Monday just goofing around. Wasnt fishing. There were 8 gates rolling hard. One boat had put in at the state ramp and I could see he was fishing the wall at the last barge canal. He was a brave soul with a lot of want to. Good luck to you too.
 
Smo said:
I've dipped them below Wilson dam in Al while dipping shad….Of course we released them.👍
I dipped 2 - 12" shell crackers there once as well…they were released too.
At a bed site closer too my house on Shoals creek..
Thanks for the tip WTM👍
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yeah they caught them around wheeler last year. the bad thing about al is they made gill nets legal again. this one was 30ft from the lock sitting on the bottom. some dude pulled it up when he hung it. i didnt think that was legal even for commercial fishermen.

1493134A-35B5-4A9E-855D-CFB1DFDC198E.jpeg
 

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