Pool nine is in it’s normal early October pattern now. Tons of male sauger/walleye from 14-20 inches, within 4 miles of the dam. Every large piece of stucture is holding fish now.
The fish aren’t necessarily coming off the bottom , which is pretty much par for the course in early fall. The flow is often low this time of year so the current isn’t much of a struggle for them. Most wingdam fish are up on the face again this week not at the base. We did our best parking out on or near the end of wingdams and sliding ,(casting and retrieving just off the rock face), with Taylor Tackle Walleye killers , (hair jigs). Color really didn’t seem to be part of the pattern, We caught fish on at least five different colors with the same results. There are plenty of males around right now and if you are there to eat let the females go. You won’t have any trouble knowing which are which cause most of the females have their bellys showing already. AGAIN AS WITH LAST WEEK ADDING A MINNOW ALMOST GUARANTEES A DINK. We also upsized our jigs from 1/4 to (3/8s or 1/2) and only caught one fish under 15 inches. We did get 3 under 15 on 1/4 oz. Only one keeper came on 1/4 oz. This time of year before winter sets in we find upsizing or using something that appears to be bigger makes a big difference. The larger size jig head and a quality hair jig that fans with very little effort fits the bill. 
I assume it is because of the size of the forage,and the instinct to feedbag to survive winter… but I would only be guessing.
You might have thought the opening sentence regarding the fish being in an early October pattern was a typo but what I was really saying is that the larger females haven’t come and stayed yet. They will circle in for a day or two and then disappear again. Normally by now we have had at least a week and a half straight of huge females but so far this year it has been one day here or there.
I know a lot of you that we talked to this weekend only got one or two over 15 inches, but trust me if you move around on structure when you find them anybody can catch them and it is hard to not get a limit quite quickly. So what I am saying is something you have heard me say before. The fish are always biting somewhere and somedays that just means moving around until you connect. On cloudy days like yesterday we caught fish right up until 2:00 P.M. when the guide trip was done. 7-10 AM was the the best though.
Just a side note for John and those of you that like me have been cocerned about the saugers being a little scarce on pool 9. There are lot’s of them in the upper half of the pool right now. Last year they didn’t seem to show up in numbers. Even beter we are seeing a lot of 13-17 inchers both male and female.
