Lake Wisconsin Late Fall Sauger Fishing Report

Late fall walleye & sauger fishing can be pretty hard on a fisherman if they are not dressed properly for it. Saturday morning we endured strong westerly winds that tried to discourage us by blowing lite snow mixed with rain around us as we fished. The afternoon wasn’t much better but at least the precipatation came to an end.
Sunday was down right brutal at times when fishing in open water areas where you would be fully exposed to the really cold winds. High temperatures barely climbed to 35 degrees. Most of the time, the fishing was as tough as the weather.

By switching between blade baits, jigs tipped with plastics or minnows and occaisionally trolling crank baits on lead core, we were able to put some decent fish in the boat.
Boat control was really tough when fishing in wide open areas of the lake regardless of which technique you chose to try. Trolling was probably the easiest method in those open areas.

When using blade baits, switching colors often till you found something that worked was the key. Quite often, the color that would put a fish or two in the boat during early morning hours was not the best color to use during the day. Two of our better colors were B3 Blades from B’Fish’N tackle in mud minnow and red tiger. Firetiger also caught a few fish for us.

A double minnow jig has been one of my better late fall sauger fishing tricks. The real trick is putting the minnows on the jig correctly. The first minnow should be the bigger of the two. Run the hook into the mouth and bring it up through the middle of the head. You don’t have to use a stinger hook but if you do, I really like to put it on now between the two minnows. The second minnow is hooked through both lips from the bottom up. When done correctly, the two minnows swim in unison, one right on top of the other just like a couple of syncronized swimmers. The stinger hook should “not” be hooked into either one of the minnows. It will usually ride in the perfect position when put on between the two minnows.
The sauger in this picture somehow drilled this H20 precision jig rigged with two minnows hard enough that he ended up with the stinger caught in his gills. (look just above its pectoral fin) After a quick picture, he was released unharmed and with no loss of blood.