A Fish For The Future Or Soon To Be One Of The Past?

When saugeye are making their nightly runs along riprap during the prespawn and spawn, crankbaits rule. Stake out prime locations (close to the deepest water available) along the shore of the dam and cast shallow-diving minnow imitations parallel to shore in 1 to 8 feet of water. The bigger females seem to hit consistently in the couple hours before and after dark. Males roam in packs, and if you’re trolling multiple lines, doubles and triples aren’t uncommon. The hour before sunrise seems to be the second best time.

I like to troll with my transom trolling motor. Sometimes, however, the outboard is necessary in heavy wind. But when trolling at only 1/2 mph, a lot of time is required to reposition the boat after yielding the right of way to another boat or shore fisherman. Be courteous and patient; most people don’t stay long after dark, anyway. And you’ll have the water to yourself.

Your rig can be as simple as a standard spinning outfit and Rattlin’ Rogues, Husky Jerks, Ripsticks, or ThunderSticks. Or get a little fancier and use long trolling rods or planer boards to reach shallow fish. I wouldn’t recommend more than one board for night fishing, if any at all, since keeping things as simple as possible is best.

When fish are holding deeper in say 10 to 14 feet of water, my favorite combination is the new Penn line-counter level-wind reel, a 7-foot Ugly Stik Lite, and 14-pound FireLine with a ball-bearing swivel and 4-foot green Trilene XT leader of 8- to 10-pound test. The heavier FireLine is a little easier to handle at night, but still gets lures down. A rod with a soft tip like the Ugly Stik is ideal for low-stretch line and helps keep the big girls from shaking out hooks. The line-counter reel makes returning a lure to the right depth simple, which is critical for staying right on bottom without snagging.

Another rig I’ve found useful for saugeye consists of low-stretch line running to a three-way swivel. A 3- to 5-foot leader is added, depending on the type of lure, and a 2-foot-plus dropper line with a hollow egg sinker held in place with split shot. The distance between the swivel and the weight of the egg sinker depends on current and depth, plus lure type. This rig can be adjusted to tick bottom without becoming snagged. If the weight snags, only one split shot and your egg sinker is lost. This rig works great when casting from the bank and also from a boat.

Trolling crawler harnesses from May until the heat of July is another excellent way to locate saugeye once they begin spreading out on bars. In turbid water with active fish, big thumping Colorado blades in chartreuse and green, fluorescent red beads, and ultrasharp #1 or #2 worm hooks work well. For finicky fish, try smaller blades and pieces of nightcrawler. At certain times, try Rat-L-Traps and jigging spoons. And remember to carry along plenty of Shore Lunch batter mix to fry those tasty saugeye fillets.

* Elmer Heyob Jr., an avid multispecies angler and In-Fisherman contributor, is a veteran Ohio Department of Natural Resources biologist in the Columbus, Ohio, area.