Unofficial State Record Sauger! Vandies Guide Ser!

Congrats guys. Way to go Mike. A good stick in the boat with a good guide and you just heard the end results.
Thanks, Bill

Great fish Mike and Vandy. I wish I would of taken a picture of you guys when you came up to tell us. Those smiles were priceless.

OK. We just got back home.
There is no record because we didn’t want to take the time off the water to do all the official paper work.

However here is what I will say. Mike did not want to kill this fish. I told him I would mount it for him, he said naa I have a walleye mounted all ready. He wanted to let her go back where we caught her.
So here is the story Mike and I were vertical jigging, 27 feet of water. We were each running Pro Blue ringworms. I was running two rods one with a Pro blue ringworm and one with a Pro blue Super Doo. Wouldn’t you now it the guy with one rod busts the biggest fish of the day.
Mike says to me Greg I might need the net for this one.
I set my two rods down, grab the net and go to the back of the boat. As soon as I saw it I said great Sauger Mike, I think it is a state record. I thought it would be 7 pounds.
So we unhook her and put her in the live well and turn the pumps on. I am trying to find the scale. I said heck lets go to Everts and use his scale. Heading down river I find my scale we stop and weigh her on my scale she weighed 6 pounds 4.8 ounces. So I am thinking heck state record for Minn is only 6 pounds 2 ounces. Mike lets go check her on Deans scale.
At Everts the fish tipped the scale at 6 pounds 9.6 ounces.

The pictures do not do her justice. She was very impressive in person this morning.
I will post a couple photos.
Mike may cime in here and tell his side of the story.
This fish was caught out of 27 feet with a Pro-Blue Ringworm and a 3/8 ounce Black H2O jig head.
I must also say that everyone of our 100 plus fish today came on Pro-Blue ringworms, Pro-Blue Super Doos, and Pro Blue Paddle tails.
All I can say is you better hold on to your rods because they are smashing the Baits.
I would like to say Thanks to B-Fish-N for all the baits we used to day.
Later guys I am going to hit the sack cause we are going to do it again tomorrow.

Here is one more photo this fish was 23 and a half inches long. She had great width..I really thought she would top 7 pounds. You needed to be there.

Fantastic photo and story, Vandy!

Tell Mike congrats from all of us jealous sad-sacks that stayed home to work today.

Congrats on the giant fish!!!!!! Big ups too for the conscientious release. That is a noble thing to do. Hopefully you will catch her again next fall when she is even bigger!!!!!!

Oh yeah! That second photo gives a guy a better idea of that mass of that fish.

The number of truely monster-sized saugers showing up lately has been impressive. I had a 23″ and a 22″ on Tuesday and I know Dustin had boated a couple in that 22″ – 22.5″ range.

Pool 4 is incredible!

Thanks James..I think Mike may respond to this post if he is not in bed yet.
It was good to see you on the water last week.
Take care Buddy and great job with the web sight.
Oh here is a photo of the release.

All I can say is AWSOME!

Congrats Mike and Vandy
The second pic truely shows the awesome size of the sauger. I am jealous

awesome fish

Hey everybody,
just thought i’d thank all of you for the congrats!! After we caught the fish we took it too deans and weighed it!! then we took some pics and talked over releasing it or taking it to get officially weighed and we both decided to let it go and keep on fishing!!
thanks
Mike

Congrats!!! That is one awsome catch. 100 fish a day makes me want to do a road trip in the morning!!!

Ben??? One cabin open…

Nice job Mike! There are many that wouldn’t have returned her to the waters. Someone has taught you well!

Vandy sets the Gold Standard for uncles!

Mike… you’re a very lucky young man to have Greg in your life.

I hope you catch the heck out of them tomorrow.

Congrats again Mike and Vandy!

I have to tell you how much I appreciated that without hesitation,or coaxing, Mike just wanted this fish to be returned.I really admire that these guys just wanted to get back to fishing.I am sure this wont be the last big fish we see from either Mike or Vandy!

Congrats gentlemen! That is one heck of a fish. You have certainly put in the time on the water. Congrats again.

awesome job guys congrats

Looking at the picture again…theres gotta be a football in that fish’s belly

Almost 3:00, been up since 1:30 anticipating todays outing…YOU DID THIS TO ME!! I do appreciate it

Hey MrMuskie….WAKE UP!

I just about have all the minnows dressed at Everts…and the coffees going!

Someone pinch Mr Muskie!

Quote:

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I just about have all the minnows dressed at Everts…and the coffees going!

Someone pinch Mr Muskie!

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Hope you are ready for a busy day BK! Coffee is going down well this morning.

Good Fishing,
Mike

Mike…no one brought donuts!

I have to resort to Sonny’s stink bait on micro waved shad this morning!

I was lucky enough to be at Evert’s when they came in to weigh her.Must say she was the biggest sauger I;ve ever seen. You could tell she was an old girl by the size of her head,very wide and thick.Catch and release does work.Congrats to you Mike Stuart
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Post deleted by SteveO

All I can say again damn nice fish! Also I have to say I am new to the whole walleye/sauger fishing and have had great success myself with tips from Dean at Everts and B-fishin baits! (Thanks again Dean) I also managed my personal best last week with a 21″ sauger with a belly about like that! I can’t imagine how pumped you were as I know I was on fire after that! Great to see the catch and release is in your blood! I am impressed and again congratulations!

All the female saugers are already full of eggs.

I’ve always wonder how to tell a male from a female…this time of year it’s pretty easy, big lower belly = female.

I’m still waiting to hear how everyones doing today…but the Stewart Pro Blue is a color of Ringworm and Paddle Tail that’s going to go down in infamey!

PS Dustin, Randy was just in and picked up a couple packs…among the few things he said was “Oh for crying out load, of all the colors!”
You know Randy, he was smiling the whole time!

Congrats on the fish!

What a great story.

“Ah…we got a state record here”

“eh….toss it back we’re wasting time”

Love it

Mike, Dean’s scale is good enough for me. You’re the IDA Sauger Record Holder in my book. Once again, great job!!

Greg
Mike
and on the release
You guys really beat those saugers black and blue
Vandy, thanks again for the tips, they helped us rookies get some nice fish

dave