Lets talk fishing

Forgot to post here, it I got a new personal best small mouth in late October. I was driving to my sons last football game and I was going to get there too early (he doesn’t play until the 2nd half) so I stopped at a spot on the Ohio river and started tossing a chartreuse spinnerbait.

I ended up catching 6 sauger that were small and then I hooked into something different. Doubled my rod over and peeled some drag-river fish fight differently than lake bass. It ended up beating my old pb by 2 ounces, so my personal best smallie is now 3.2 lbs.
 

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nhbbear said:
Forgot to post here, it I got a new personal best small mouth in late October. I was driving to my sons last football game and I was going to get there too early (he doesn’t play until the 2nd half) so I stopped at a spot on the Ohio river and started tossing a chartreuse spinnerbait.

I ended up catching 6 sauger that were small and then I hooked into something different. Doubled my rod over and peeled some drag-river fish fight differently than lake bass. It ended up beating my old pb by 2 ounces, so my personal best smallie is now 3.2 lbs.
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Nice healthy fish! Looks bigger than 3.2 lbs.

Does sauger taste like walleye?
 
koquerelle said:
Nice healthy fish! Looks bigger than 3.2 lbs.

Does sauger taste like walleye?
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They do. To me, saugeye, walleye, and sauger are all exactly the same as far as taste. Though it has been close to 30 years since I caught a sauger, but I don't remember any difference at all.
 
koquerelle said:
Nice healthy fish! Looks bigger than 3.2 lbs.

Does sauger taste like walleye?
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Don’t know about the taste. 1. I always catch and release. 2. I would never ever eat anything from the Ohio river.

And I thought it looked bigger as well. I should have gotten a second weight on it, but I had the scale that hooks under the gill plate and I hate those because I am afraid I will hurt the fish. I couldn’t find my other scale. And I may have already posted this picture and just forgot about it
 
mjmj said:
Bringing this back to the top. The only kind of fishing going on around here right now.

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I weluld
Never ice fish. Two reasons. I hate the cold and my area the ice rarely freezes good. Last week, there were two local anglers that went through the ice.

Nice bass though. Did you get a weight?
 
nhbbear said:
I weluld
Never ice fish. Two reasons. I hate the cold and my area the ice rarely freezes good. Last week, there were two local anglers that went through the ice.

Nice bass though. Did you get a weight?
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No, the pic makes it look bigger than it was. Probably about a pound. We don't get a lot of good ice, maybe every other year if we're lucky. It's a lot more fun than it seems like it should be. My youngest and I just started trying it a few years ago. This was the first fish he caught through the ice. He had his hands full on an 18" rod.
IMG_2dbsg571.jpg
 
mjmj said:
No, the pic makes it look bigger than it was. Probably about a pound. We don't get a lot of good ice, maybe every other year if we're lucky. It's a lot more fun than it seems like it should be. My youngest and I just started trying it a few years ago. This was the first fish he caught through the ice. He had his hands full on an 18" rod.
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Nice. And good on you admitting that. I guess it was the ice rod made it look bigger. I assumed they was full size-again, I have never ice fished nor would I want to. I just hibernate all winter. But within the last two weeks, I have started watching my fishing YouTube videos and playing with my tackle like a child again. March is just around the corner and I plan to go back to that spot on the river and try to get some spring smallies
 
nhbbear said:
Nice. And good on you admitting that. I guess it was the ice rod made it look bigger. I assumed they was full size-again, I have never ice fished nor would I want to. I just hibernate all winter. But within the last two weeks, I have started watching my fishing YouTube videos and playing with my tackle like a child again. March is just around the corner and I plan to go back to that spot on the river and try to get some spring smallies
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Feb and March are usually when cabin fever gets the worst here. Not enough ice to ice fish, but no open water for the boat. A few spillways around, but its hit or miss. Usually takes several hours of fishing to catch a couple fish. Not something I expect my kids to enjoy.
 
mjmj said:
Feb and March are usually when cabin fever gets the worst here. Not enough ice to ice fish, but no open water for the boat. A few spillways around, but its hit or miss. Usually takes several hours of fishing to catch a couple fish. Not something I expect my kids to enjoy.
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Yeah, that sucks. I won’t fish until mid march after a week or two of warmer weather. Usually, by April, I am in full swing. Last year, my first proper day out, I caught three really nice smallies (one just under 3 lbs) on a berkley choppo.
 
I've never been ice fishing, but I would imagine there is no need to bring an iced cooler for the fish or beverages. Win-win.
 
mjmj said:
They do. To me, saugeye, walleye, and sauger are all exactly the same as far as taste. Though it has been close to 30 years since I caught a sauger, but I don't remember any difference at all.
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Cool. I didn't know sauger and saugeye until today. I'm not sure we have them in the places I fish (upstate NY and Vermont, Ontario and Québec).

I think many panfish taste similar to walleye. Give me a nice, fat, fall sunfish or bluegill and I'll be a happy man. They give a good fight for their size and taste delicious.
nhbbear said:
Don’t know about the taste. 1. I always catch and release. 2. I would never ever eat anything from the Ohio river.

And I thought it looked bigger as well. I should have gotten a second weight on it, but I had the scale that hooks under the gill plate and I hate those because I am afraid I will hurt the fish. I couldn’t find my other scale. And I may have already posted this picture and just forgot about it
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You don't like fish? I do 90% catch and release and I love fish. My wife loves them even more than I do. She wants to try every specie. She specially love walleye and pike.

Size: Yeah. I'm 99% sure that bass was heavier than 3.2 lbs. Anyway, all it matters is the thrill you had when it bent the rod and the fight it gave you.

So glad this thread is coming back to life.
 
koquerelle said:
Cool. I didn't know sauger and saugeye until today. I'm not sure we have them in the places I fish (upstate NY and Vermont, Ontario and Québec).

I think many panfish taste similar to walleye. Give me a nice, fat, fall sunfish or bluegill and I'll be a happy man. They give a good fight for their size and taste delicious.

You don't like fish? I do 90% catch and release and I love fish. My wife loves them even more than I do. She wants to try every specie. She specially love walleye and pike.

Size: Yeah. I'm 99% sure that bass was heavier than 3.2 lbs. Anyway, all it matters is the thrill you had when it bent the rod and the fight it gave you.

So glad this thread is coming back to life.
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No, I love salmon and rich from the ocean. But I prefer ocean fish over fresh water fish with the exception being the salmon best


Unsure whether the salmon was ocean or fresh
 
koquerelle said:
Cool. I didn't know sauger and saugeye until today. I'm not sure we have them in the places I fish (upstate NY and Vermont, Ontario and Québec).
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Probably don't have saugeye up there. They're a cross between walleye and sauger, they're a "put and take" fish raised and stocked by the DNR. All of our lakes and rivers used to be stocked with walleye, but 30 or so years ago they switched over to saugeye, I think because they survive hatchery life and stocking much better. In appearance, they're nearly identical to walleye. Since you have good populations of walleye, I doubt they stock any saugeye. Not sure about sauger. The only place we have them around here is down on the Ohio River, and a little ways up the Muskingum River. Smaller than walleye and saugeye, but they're a cool looking fish, with really pronounced markings.
 
mjmj said:
Probably don't have saugeye up there. They're a cross between walleye and sauger, they're a "put and take" fish raised and stocked by the DNR. All of our lakes and rivers used to be stocked with walleye, but 30 or so years ago they switched over to saugeye, I think because they survive hatchery life and stocking much better. In appearance, they're nearly identical to walleye. Since you have good populations of walleye, I doubt they stock any saugeye. Not sure about sauger. The only place we have them around here is down on the Ohio River, and a little ways up the Muskingum River. Smaller than walleye and saugeye, but they're a cool looking fish, with really pronounced markings.
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I was reading up about saugeye. They can breed with any parent species, so the gene pool would get really muddled I would imagine. We have hybrid striped bass here, which is a striper/white bass cross. Really tasty and fun to catch.
 
Crazy Source said:
I was reading up about saugeye. They can breed with any parent species, so the gene pool would get really muddled I would imagine. We have hybrid striped bass here, which is a striper/white bass cross. Really tasty and fun to catch.
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Yeah, I think they try to avoid stocking saugeye where there's already good walleye populations. Though they can spawn and do go through the process every year, for whatever reason they don't seem very successful at it. There have always been a small percentage of natural occurring saugeye where both species overlap, but both species have always stayed fairly "pure". I'm not sure why that is, maybe low fertility or something. We have hybrid stripers here too, wipers they call them here. They're a ton of fun to catch, especially in heavy current. We used to catch them in the white water of roll over dams, they'd damn near spool us before we got them stopped.
 
I've dam fished for stripers and wipers. Great fun! I wonder why they can't make saugeye infertile like wipers? Maybe interbreeding just isn't an issue?
 
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