# Indian 6-15-12 P.M.



## saugmon (Jun 14, 2006)

:T ***** this afternoon. Had to wait for my truck,but did manage to start trolling at 4:45 p.m. I set outside one of the tri-humps and had a nice 18" eye on the firecraw off the getgo. It was barely hooked and got off just before the net.. Tried out there for a good 45 mins and snag city. Then swung up by oldfield beach and put a tennessee shad on the other pole with no action. Got a 17" eye right off the getgo and it fell off right into the net. Nothing again for a while so swung out by pew. I put on a redcraw and got a 16" after a couple minutes. Then the game warden boarded my boat to check for fishing liscense,fish,and life jackets. No problem there,so I put all the gear back out and swung by #43 wp to pull out #3. Then back to pew and caught #4 at 7:30.. Nothing at 8 so I called it quits. Lots of pleasureboats out there and 1 cigar boat rung my eardrums with the ridiculously loud motor.Firecraw took 2,red craw 1,shad 1. Threw back a dink crappie and 2 dink channelcats.No lost baits.All eyes pretty much scattered. 

2-17"
1-16.5"
1-16"
Water Temp: 86
Clarity: less than 1'










I'll be out there early tomorrow morning!!


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## saugmon (Jun 14, 2006)

Got 5 this morning but it was really slow first couple hrs.Started trolling blackhawk at 5:30 a.m. Only a 13" crappie before 8:40. Then toward the moose, wp 43,then to pew and zilch.Then I headed to the humps and caught 2 in 20 mins.Lots of 4' water there and a spot at 3' that I marked for future reference. Hovered back and forth between the humps and nothing but a 3 lb channelcat and a few snags. Then trolled up to oldfield and picked up #3. Hover around there a bit and nothing.Then trolled up to the campground and caught #4,another 3 lb channelcat,and a white bass. Then around 10:50 picked up #5 at blackhawk. I marked tons of fish in the blackhawk thru campground area. I did throw away 1 fingerling and 2 eyes at 14" in the blackhawk area. I'll probably start out there tomorrow. They're all scattered and nothing big. 1st troll in a while that I didn't lose any keepers. .Tried til 10:45 and couldn't get #6.

All eyes were 15"-16.5". Firecraw on my main siderod took 4 and redcraw on my old broken basspro extreme took 1.

Water Temp: 82
Clarity-Less than a foot. Many,many snags but no lost baits.Lake's getting pretty low now. I'll be back out tomorrow morning!!!


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## saugmon (Jun 14, 2006)

Father's day weekend has always been one of the best weekends for fishing.I couldn't get my dad out or a couple other relatives so I went solo this morning.Got on the water at blackhawk at 5:45 a.m. and concentrated there because of yesterday's hot spot.I couldn't catch squat there at that time yesterday.

1st eye on at oldfield at 5:55 and roamed around there and snag city. Then hit the hot wp from yesterday and I got into a feeding frenzy. Pulled out triplet 15.5" saugeye in 10 mins. Then #5 by 6:30 and losing 2 eyes. By 7:00, I had my 6 keepers. It was only 2' waves out of the south so I started to cull out those 15"s. Headed back to oldfield, I pulled in the 20 incher. Made a few circles there and nailed a 20.5" personal best largemouth that was a heck of a fight. I didn't know it was a bass til it jumped 10' from the boat then straight down wrapping around a stump.Meanwhile,it had my other line tangled with that line wrapped around my kicker.Usually I lose 75% of the largemouths because of 8 1/2' salmon rods and low gear ratio line counters.They sure do peel off the line when I do get them. This one was gill hooked and heck of a time getting the firecraw out. Then trolled up to the hot wp from earlier and got a 17". Then by 8:30 I picked up #9 but it was only a 15". 1 monster snag before 9 a.m. and that did me in. No baits lost out of 8+ snags and even pulled up a chartuese hot-n-tot out by the campground. Hardly anybody around me and the few boats that were near my were hugging closer to the bank or 1/2 mile further out.1 guy started drifting 100' from my wp and I pulled out a 17" in front of him, LOL!

Only trash fish was that 20.5" largemouth weighing at 3.6 lbs.

One thing that bugged me was my main side rod has been pulling in 80% of the eyes compared to the other side rod. Same line,bumping bottom,and same firecraw, and that other side rod hasn't done squat.I used my broken extreme salmon rod and caught 1 yesterday,so I put on a brand new firecraw and that baby caught 3 keepers in a row. Maybe I got a bum firecraw on the other rod? Pretty weird because I use brand new baits as a last resort.The more chewed up they are,the more fish they catch.

1-20"
1-19"
2-17"
1-16.5"
1-15.5"

3 keepers thrown back!!


Water Temp:82
Clarity: less than a foot,which has been the same since memorial day weekend.


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## misterbreeze (Dec 19, 2011)

Saugmon do you keep everything you catch? Are you selling them, cause you got to have a freezer or two full by now. Great reports,but wish you could do more conservative fishing so everyone can enjoy the resource.


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## speedyr (Mar 31, 2012)

good job...i knew I should have gone this am...but I had work to do... what a morn you had


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## G3BassGetter (Jun 9, 2012)

In response to: Saugmon do you keep everything you catch? Are you selling them, cause you got to have a freezer or two full by now. Great reports,but wish you could do more conservative fishing so everyone can enjoy the resource.

- If you eat 'em, keep 'em. If not, throw them back. As long as Saugmon is frying them up, I have no problem with keeping all of them.


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## speedyr (Mar 31, 2012)

misterbreeze said:


> Saugmon do you keep everything you catch? Are you selling them, cause you got to have a freezer or two full by now. Great reports,but wish you could do more conservative fishing so everyone can enjoy the resource.


to each their own. saugmon has just as much right to catch and eat as you do to catch and release.


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## saugmon (Jun 14, 2006)

Like 5o million others asked, They all get eaten! Part of em accidentally fell into my deep frier but you'll have that!!!The rest are vacuum sealed along with a double seal.

Whenever I take out guests ,they take the fish.Just ask Tom C! Little King will get a mess of them june 30 and 31. My entire extended family loves fish and I have a few fish fry's coming up after the water starts to boil.I give away a lot to personal and family friends.. I've had people offer me $ for fish but I've never taken a dime from them.

None goes to waste.I gotta ration it out to my mom and dad because mom will cook up a huge batch and ends up giving the leftovers to the cats. I was really PO'd about that last year,even though it was white bass.


SpeedyR: It was one of those days that I was at the right spot and the right time.They still wouldn't touch a bandit.Combination of some fronts moving through and new moon got them riled up! The one site I check out for game tables said today was a fair day with 1 star. Mon-Wed is 3 stars and no signs any cold fronts on the weather forecast!!


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## skysk8r11 (May 14, 2011)

looks like its been good fishin for you! i can see where you get your source of protein! lol


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## ron92 (Jan 29, 2009)

Good work saugmon! Enjoy your reports just wish I had the fish you are finding. My luck at Il this year hasn't been good. People need to be more concerned with the fish too little to keep that fishermen are keeping than the legal ones you take to eat. Enjoy!


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## fishmounter (Jun 24, 2008)

Misterbreeze. I don't know you, and you don't know me. And, obviously, you do NOT know Saugmon. If you did, you would not make such a foolish accusation on here. Jealous ? I think so. Saugmon has worked his tail off to figure out these fish, and this lake. He has earned every one of them. He is more than generous with information, which I would probably not be. I had the pleasure of fishing with him once, 2 years ago. And, he gave me ALL the fish we caught that day. I could not convince him otherwise. He is a class act, which is more than I can say for you. You should be ashamed ! Go get 'em, Gary !!


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## Had a Bite (Apr 15, 2012)

I don't know Saugmon but enjoy all his post. He has it all dialed in. He always gives his info on these post and isn't just blowing smoke. I can say that if I did know him and seen him on the water I would say Hi, good job and find another lake because it is just understood that he has them in his boat and I would just be wasting my time. I wouldn't say anything bad about him but yes I am jealous of his abilities and knowledge. 

Besides that they set daily limits and size limits for a reason. If someone catches their limit every day the scientist say it shouldn't hurt the population.


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## TomC (Aug 14, 2007)

And thank you again Saug for the eyes, my family loves em! Hey hes good at what he does and thats catch eyes. If your good at it keep going. He takes people out and showes em how to do it. Hes teaching others how to troll and fish for em and hes got alot of information on the subject so others can enjoy the resource.


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## IndianIslander (Jun 10, 2012)

Great day saugmon. What is wp 43?

I got on the lake about 6 am. Went to pew and spent the next hour and half towing someone whose boat had broke down to moundwood. Went to humps and got two but nothing else all day. 

I didn't see very many fishermen out today.

Saugmon, when I grow up I want to be just like you......did you use planer boards today?


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## Saws21 (Jul 1, 2008)

Mister Breeze: More conservative fishing?

You must not know much about Walleye or Saugeyes. They don't take the stress of being caught very well. Most of the time they are lethargic , almost dead, floating on their side by the time you get them to the boat. Over 30% of fish caught and released die anyhow...


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## Had a Bite (Apr 15, 2012)

I have in the past seen them floating around, I didn't realize that about them. I know that when we catch small one we always get them back in that water asap. Some people I know wont even touch the real small ones. The use a towel and unhook them while still in the water guess that is why.


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## saugmon (Jun 14, 2006)

IndianIslander said:


> Great day saugmon. What is wp 43?
> 
> I got on the lake about 6 am. Went to pew and spent the next hour and half towing someone whose boat had broke down to moundwood. Went to humps and got two but nothing else all day.
> 
> ...


Waypoint #43 back in my record year of 2006. Set boat records of 17 keepers twice,and the latter was in 3 hrs of fishing in the p.m.. That 1 spot within a radious of 400' yielded 100+ keepers in 2006.It's an old buoy setting,which has never been put back on that exact spot.. I've only pulled out a dozen from there this season,but my baits do some weird stuff while hitting the bottom.I hope to see what exactly the structure is with my future DI sonar upgrade next season.

My gameplan was blackhawk/oldfield/campground,and then swing over to the humps. I never made it past oldfield or chippewa. No planerboards. Left it all at home.

Anybody that has ever been out trolling in hot weather with me,I finally fixed the vaporlock issue of my kicker. No more bending over and pumping up the primerball every 15 mins.I put the original portable tank in and mounted it on the back deck. After monitoring my mileage of the 6 hp nissan 4 stroke,I trolled friday 3+ hrs,sat 5.5 hrs,and sun 3.15 mins on 1.6 gallons of gas!! That kicker has payed for itself with 8 hrs per gallon.


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## Fishbaughzach (Oct 28, 2010)

Went to Indian Saturday morning was on the water by 530 and tolled til around noon. We fished everywhere around the lake pew, blackhawk, oldfield, even tried the deeper water by dream bridge. Could not catch a single eye only managed 4 catfish and a lot of snags. Saugmon what type of lure is your firecraw that you are referecing is it the color of a bandit or bomber?


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## saugmon (Jun 14, 2006)

Fishbaughzach said:


> Went to Indian Saturday morning was on the water by 530 and tolled til around noon. We fished everywhere around the lake pew, blackhawk, oldfield, even tried the deeper water by dream bridge. Could not catch a single eye only managed 4 catfish and a lot of snags. Saugmon what type of lure is your firecraw that you are referecing is it the color of a bandit or bomber?


You just have to cover many miles til you find the ones that wanna bite.You find that spot,you keep pounding it over and over and over.You can be at a spot one time,hit it 3 other times later,and the 5th time there and the bite is on. Oldfield is stump city,but I've pulled some hawgs out of that area.

Firecraws? Made by bomber. The ones I use are discontinued.Bomber reversed the crawdad profile to match their natural look in the water,but only on the 04 model.Speedyr is having good luck with the 04's.They always discontinue my hot bombers.I was prepared this time and stockpiled them!!! The firecraw doesn't even compare to a previously discontinued color I call Firebass.










They work well with my setup.Someone else using them may not have the same results.Same with others using rapala's and I've never caught squat with them.

Years vary as well.Some years they wouldn't touch a bomber and had to catch them on bandits. They were both working well til a couple weeks ago.They're treating my bandits like they have the plague.Even the white bass and channelcats won't touch them, LOL!


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## Had a Bite (Apr 15, 2012)

Might be a dumb question but do you tie them on or use snap swivels? For some reason my knots do not seem to hold as well when I tie onto a crank bait as they do on a jig or swivel. Maybe I'm doing it wrong but not sure.


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## speedyr (Mar 31, 2012)

firecraw--saugmon's holy grail lure...it could be the source of his power...none to be found...I tried to find some on the internet, but everywhere I found saugmon had been...


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## speedyr (Mar 31, 2012)

i use snap swivels-the ones that have the right angle at the end...bad description, but I think I am going to get some cross lock snaps. If I tie on I use the polymer knot.


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## speedyr (Mar 31, 2012)

ps... this is my first year saugeye fishing and trolling. my initial tackle box was set up from the picture Saugmon posted. It gave me a good start. Now, for me, I seem to do better with the bomber ab04's where Saugmon likes the Ab02's. 
Once I figure out WP 43, I may reduce him to mortal status or become a contender.!!!

I all seriousness, just saugmon's posts and answering my questions has made this first year so much better. I have had 7 different boaters and been out 10 times or so, so he am passing it forward to them too because they have a better time when they catch fish.


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## IndianIslander (Jun 10, 2012)

saugmon said:


> Waypoint #43 back in my record year of 2006. Set boat records of 17 keepers twice,and the latter was in 3 hrs of fishing in the p.m.. That 1 spot within a radious of 400' yielded 100+ keepers in 2006.It's an old buoy setting,which has never been put back on that exact spot.. I've only pulled out a dozen from there this season,but my baits do some weird stuff while hitting the bottom.I hope to see what exactly the structure is with my future DI sonar upgrade next season.
> 
> My gameplan was blackhawk/oldfield/campground,and then swing over to the humps. I never made it past oldfield or chippewa. No planerboards. Left it all at home.
> 
> Anybody that has ever been out trolling in hot weather with me,I finally fixed the vaporlock issue of my kicker. No more bending over and pumping up the primerball every 15 mins.I put the original portable tank in and mounted it on the back deck. After monitoring my mileage of the 6 hp nissan 4 stroke,I trolled friday 3+ hrs,sat 5.5 hrs,and sun 3.15 mins on 1.6 gallons of gas!! That kicker has payed for itself with 8 hrs per gallon.


Saugmon thanks for the reply. 

For the life of me I could not figure out what wp43 could be. I had a good laugh when you explained. 

Wife and I out this a.m. And got my normal 2 keepers. One at pew and the other at Chippewa. Last few times out I just cannot find that third one. Both on the redcraw. 

Have you or anyone you know used lakemaster or navtronics?


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## saugmon (Jun 14, 2006)

IndianIslander said:


> Have you or anyone you know used lakemaster or navtronics?


I'm almost amish, LOL! No cell phone either.I use a 12 year old eagle explorer gps and the only good my graph is is for depth and fish not on the bottom.I even use a pool thermometer in my livewell for the water temps, LOL! I'm upgrading all 3 next season to something on the line of the hummingbird 597 HD DI combo and see what I have been missing on the bottom. My rods do some weird things when dragging over some of those waypoints like #43. 

I've been up since 3 a.m. anticipitating the early bite this morning!!! New Moon Baby!!! Blackhawk is my destination and as usual,I couldn't find anyone to ride along! Same game plan as sunday.Still have the same southwest wind!


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## saugmon (Jun 14, 2006)

Got out extra early this morning after waking up at 3 a.m. I forgot my main side rod,UGGH!Trolling gear in the water by 5:30 and still dark.White bass dink on as before I could get that second rod halfway out. and and snag city. I lost 2 cranks in front of oldfield before daylight, UGGH! Anywho,trolled on over to sunday's hotspot and snagged a shad.Then back to oldfield for more snags but got lucky and they popped up. Then went with my gameplan to hit the humps when an 18" eye hit on the south edge of oldfield. Hung around there a bit and nothing. Then to the humps,but all water south of oldfield was 5' and less. Nothing. Around 7 a.m., I decided to try the 1st spot again and zilch. Then I set a heading to a 7' water hotspot from may 24 this year. Not too far from passing that wp,fish alarm going off like crazy, eye #2 hit at 7:23 and wp set.,Then #3, #4. Lost a couple there as well. Then the marks disappeared. So I headed with the wind and 2' waves and marked some nice fish on the last pass. Nailed #5 at 8:15 on the gps wp and #6 was 5 mins after that. #6 was a scrawny 15" so it went back in. #7 was another 16" and it went back in. Threw back #8 in the 16" range. A slew of 16" in that area for about an hour.Usually I get no marks when the saugeye bite is on. The best part,not a single snag in that 6'-7' water. By 9 a.m., I decided to troll back to my original spot in white cap city and #9 was another 16" within 5 mins and done by 9:20.

All caught on firecraw. Tennessee shad got lost,red craw,brown craw,and taco salad went biteless.

1-18"
1-17"
4-16"-16.5"
1 vac sealed shad for future catfishing.

Water Temp: 82


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## MassillonBuckeye (May 3, 2010)

Thats a monster shad!!??? 

Ever trolled Alum?? 

How do you fish "the humps"? Any different than trolling the flats?

I really enjoy your reports and hopefully can use some of this info to get my first keeper saugeye. Thanks for sharing!


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## saugmon (Jun 14, 2006)

First snagged shad ever while saugeye trolling.Usually I get them white bass fishing.

I've never been to alum.Some day! I think my setup would work well on buckeye.

They call them tri-humps,but I call them flats, LOL.The main one where everyone seems to huddle around is 3'-4' and slightly tapers down to 5'.Lake's at least a foot low now.. That waypoint is about 1/4 mile wide north to south. Not sure how long it is east to west. That's where the boats stack up early in the season but hard for me to get through there when running planerboards. The dink % usually escallates over there. The other 2 are smaller.

I just shorten up the yardage.The mis-matched reels I ran today, 72' and 61' out in the 6'-7' water.That hump area I ran 60'-50' with the tips way up in the air and they still dragged that entire 1/4 mile.Luckily no snags,but calmer water and easier to use my retriever.My main rod, 13 yards in the 6' depth and as little as 9 yards. I've caught them in 3' of water with 7 yards released.


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## IndianIslander (Jun 10, 2012)

> I use a 12 year old eagle explorer gps and the only good my graph is is for depth and fish not on the bottom. I even use a pool thermometer in my livewell for the water temps, LOL! I'm upgrading all 3 next season to something on the line of the hummingbird 597 HD DI combo and see what I have been missing on the bottom.


I saw that model in Gander Mtn today. It is real nice but, you limit out most days. What improvement you looking for? Maybe to do it quicker? LOL



> My rods do some weird things when dragging over some of those waypoints like #43.


what kind of weird things are you talking about?



> I've been up since 3 a.m. anticipitating the early bite this morning!!! New Moon Baby!!! Blackhawk is my destination and as usual,I couldn't find anyone to ride along! Same game plan as sunday.Still have the same southwest wind!


i couldn't get out today and i am not going to get out tomorrow. i plan on being out thursday p.m. and early friday. from your post it sounds like you had a real fun day. good catchin.

explain this new moon thing.....you are going to be unbelieveable once you get that new technology.

you know much about planer boards?


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## saugmon (Jun 14, 2006)

IndianIslander said:


> I saw that model in Gander Mtn today. It is real nice, What improvement you looking for? LOL.
> 
> 
> 
> you know much about planer boards?


TomC says it'll show the fish hugging the bottom and you can tell what the structure looks like. I wanna see what I've been missing over the past 10+ years.Maybe even future night trolling? 

Planerboards: What kind?
I run duals made out of redwood.Sorta like a downsized erie rig without jets and dipsys. About 50' wide-100' path.Shorten up the yardage (8' or so).The line of your planerboard rod will be lower to the water and dive deeper.Release the line down the side,Partially snip a rubberband,loop it on a certain spot of line,slap on a showercurtain ring,and slide-em down to the planerboards. Fish hits bait,rubberband is suppose to break.Fish on planer rod,move side rod to the back,pull fish in on the side that siderod was.Fish-on side rod,reel it in normally without touching the planerboard rods. The wider out the rod,the higher the tip to prevent tangles. If I wanna get crazy and have 3 people,I can run up to 2 lines per planerboard plus both side rods. You'll get more rods.You'll still lose some fish but cover more area. You can slow down,but no stopping and lots of headaches.If you stop, then boards can criss cross.Boards crisscross= major tangles,line in prop,and rod damage.
Wind and wave action is critical let alone the snags.

More rods=more different colors and different models of baits.Sometimes they prefer planerbait,sometimes 50/50,and sometimes they won't touch them.Just something to add to the arsenal.

Slow calm days I'll run starboard side planerboard so I can look 1 way and see both rods.


Wind 5-10 mph tomorrow and I have a guest,so I loaded up the planerboard gear!


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## TomC (Aug 14, 2007)

I love the 597ci hd di. I have found some interesting features at indian with it. The 2d is very scensitive, and the down imaging is great. The down imaging works better in deeper water but i can still see alot with it in shallow water. Indianlislander i took some screen shots with mine and posted them under the electronics section in the 2d vs down imaging thread. Ive got a few other nice pics since then. If you got any questions let me know.


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## speedyr (Mar 31, 2012)

i use navtronics


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