Sauger Fishing in TN

[Kevin B.]

I have been wearing the Sauger out on the Tennessee River in the tailwaters of Pickwick Dam.

Here is a sample. In TN, there is a 14 inch size limit. These measured from 14 to 17 inches. Catching them on white swirly tail grubs.

[Jeremy]

Looks like some good eating there

[wilmsmeyer]

Do you cheek 'em out? From what I understand they are like our Walleyes. Good eatin!

[Kevin B.]

wilmsmeyer said:

Do you cheek 'em out? From what I understand they are like our Walleyes. Good eatin!

Until you said that,Wilmsmeyer, I had forgotten about it. I had read in an OLD Outdoor Life article about walleye having a morsel of meat somewhere in the head area. As you can tell, my memory is vague. But no I don't think anybody around here does it. We also have walleye in very low numbers in the portion of Tennessee river where I fish. I caught one last year that was around 17 inches. I thought it was a sauger till my Northern friend ID'd it for me. We also have saugeye, a hybrid of the two. If I've ever caught one, I'm unaware of it.
But yes, these fried up wonderfully well in an old seasoned cast iron skillet.

[mike3132]

I catch them in the Wabash River not far from my house. Just as good eating as walleyes. I use to have a boat on Lake Erie and did some chartering. Ive got so much walleye gear and baits that its not funny. A twister type grub bait is one of the best if not the best bait for jig fishing. Colors i use depend on water clarity. Clear water use silver, blue, white or pink, cloudy water use chartruse, yellow or green and dark water use black. mike

[wilmsmeyer]

I can not think of a better time then hitting a major walleye bite.

Each year we trek to the Gouin Reservoir in Quebec...usually 3rd week of June. Fishing is usually good and sometimes amazing. By good I'll say each boat catching 20-30 fish a day. By amazing you can't keep count. The amazing days are not common and you never know when that day will be until it happens.

That time of year finds us looking for large shallow bays and trolling in 4-12 feet of water. Sometimes you find hot spots and the action is so intense that we catch them in the prop wash 15 feet behind the boat in 4 ft.

None of our group likes to jig fish although that is more popular then trolling with the fishermen up there by far. All methods are good but we usually are moving constantly.

During that time of year I use only worm harnesses that I make and real night crawlers. Depending on water depth I usually have 1/4 oz- 3/8 oz "stick" sinker and 10 lb fireline. Others in the group use suspending husky jerks and leadcore. One guy uses worm harnesses and powerworms only. On the good days, one method almost always is more consistent then the others. On the great days you could throw a peice of roast beef on a hook and drop it over the boat using a tree branch and catch fish.

The cheeks are great if the fish are running with any size to them (2 lbs+) We save all the cheeks until late in the trip and make a cheek chowder that's to die for.

I gotta stop talking about it....I wanna go back. We're scheduled for June again this year.

[Kevin B.]

Wilmsmeyer, that sounds like some serious fun! And that cheek chowder sounds good too!