Saugers

Spent the holiday weekend fishing on Lake Wisconsin as much as the family would allow considering it was Thanksgiving and all.
Wenesday afternoon from 3pm till dark, the fishing was excellent. Caught and released 9 saugers between 16″ and 21″ long. Had four fish between 19 and 21″ long. Did not keep any.
Thursday morning caught and released 7 more. Biggest ran 19″ on this day. Only one was smaller than 15″ and that was a walleye. First undersized fish that I’ve caught on this particular spot in the last 3 or 4 outings.
Thursday afternoon, fishing slowed up quite a bit. Didn’t have any minnows due to a lack of foresight. Bait shop was closed. Used blades and in the last half hour managed to pull 3 legals in the boat. Didn’t keep any.
Friday, to cold and windy to fish. Had the in-laws over for dinner today anyway.
Saturday, took my younger brother along. We got on the lake at about 9am. Windy and cold! Hard to keep position but Gerard did catch one nice 18″ sauger. Between the two of us, we lost at least 3 or 4 more. Besides being windy, they decided to bite exceptionally lite. We had to remove ice from the rod guides all morning. We finally called it a day at about noon.
Sunday morning, took my brother Paul along today. We got on the lake by 8:30am. Wind finally has let up a bit but the forecast is for more strong winds this afternoon. We fished till noon and each of us caught two nice saugers. Lost another one at the side of the boat.
A plain jig tipped with a large fathead minnow has been working the best for me. Fished along the top of the sharper dropoffs in 18′ to 22′ of water. The drop off went right into the main channel and bottomed out in 28′ to 30′ of water.
Surface water temps on the first day that I went out was 41 degrees. On Sunday, surface water temps had dropped to 34.5 degrees.
Here is a picture of my brother Paul with the four we caught Sunday morning. He took them home for dinner.

Great report and photo. Those look like they would make a dandy meal. Just wondering if you use super doo’s, ring worms or K tails down there. Steve

I use both kalins grubs and ringworms when I fish below the dams or in areas with more current on the Wisconsin river system. They work very well at times. Do not own any super-doos but have been intending to get some and give them a try.
There is some current here, but not very much. There are also quite a few stumps and logs laying in and around the drop-offs that we have been targeting. It may be possible to anchor and cast 1/8oz or lighter jigs/tails, but you better be ready to give up a substantial number of jigs to the snags. The wind has been our biggest obstacle. Holding vertical is critical to catching these fish.
JWB