# Meldahl 3-8-10



## Karp (Jan 3, 2010)

First time out in 2010 and I got skunked

I had the day off work so I waited for my son to get home from school and we drove over to Meldahl, after stopping to purchase our 2010 fishing licenses. We arrived on the Kentucky side right around 5:45pm to fish from shore. There was already a lineup of fisherman 8-10 strong. The sun was still shinning and the air temp was pushing the upper 50's with little or no breeze, and the water was cold and fairly clear. We fished for a solid hour and did not see one person catch a fish. Shortly before 7:00pm just as the sun dipped below the horizon, the sauger turned on and everyone started to hook up on at least every other cast, except for me and my son. We were using 1/4 oz. lead headed jigs, tipped with white curly tails. which was pretty much what the rest of the bunch was throwing. We were the last in line and the furthest away from the wall, and noticed that everyone to our right were yanking them in while we only managed a few bites here and there. We finally left around 7:30 when it got too dark to see. The other fisherman simply switched on their headlamps and were still catching fish when we left. I don't mind getting skunked once in awhile, but it kind of adds insult to injury when everybody else is catching fish and you go away empty handed. Oh well, there is always next time.


----------



## cadyshac (Dec 9, 2005)

Were they catching any decent fish or mostly cigars?


----------



## Karp (Jan 3, 2010)

cadyshac said:


> Were they catching any decent fish or mostly cigars?


I saw a little over a dozen in the 18" - 20" range in the half hour between dusk and total darkness. There were about 5 or 6 fisherman still fishing with headlamps on as I pulled away from the parking lot.


----------



## Streamhawk (Apr 25, 2008)

Sounds like to me you guys need some headlamps?? If they are hitting that good at the dam, I would try the tribs of the Ohio, they gotta be in there also. Thanks for the report. better luck next time.


----------



## BMustang (Jul 27, 2004)

1/4 oz might have been a tad heavy, and tipping the the jig/twister-tail with a minnow would increase your chances dramatically.


----------



## cadyshac (Dec 9, 2005)

Karp, I don't mean to start anything but a 18" to 20" Sauger is HUGE, I have fished the river for a long time and Sauger of that size are not normal. A Sauger in the 14" or 15" range is a very nice fish and more common.


----------



## Bassky (Oct 7, 2008)

Your weight and color is fine. You MUST keep in touch with the bottom or close to it to catch sauger. Try down at the sand bar next time, beginning where the rocks meet the sand bar.
Bassky


----------



## multi species angler (Feb 20, 2006)

cadyshac said:


> Karp, I don't mean to start anything but a 18" to 20" Sauger is HUGE, I have fished the river for a long time and Sauger of that size are not normal. A Sauger in the 14" or 15" range is a very nice fish and more common.


Yea that's what I was thinking. Most likely saugeye or walleye. Although it's possible they were sauger but not probable.


----------



## riverKing (Jan 26, 2007)

I would say a fish under 21 or so is more likely a sauger than a walleye and saugeye are extremely uncommon in the mainstem of the ohio. So in my mind unless he's getting 5lb fish they're probably sauger.


----------



## Karp (Jan 3, 2010)

cadyshac said:


> Karp, I don't mean to start anything but a 18" to 20" Sauger is HUGE, I have fished the river for a long time and Sauger of that size are not normal. A Sauger in the 14" or 15" range is a very nice fish and more common.


Pure guesstimate on my part, and as I mentioned it was getting pretty dark. Close to a dozen of the fish that I saw caught I would deem "nice sized" but certainly not huge. If you are thinking 14" or 15" is more typical, then you are probably right. I am pretty confident that at least 3 or 4 topped 15 inches, if you are using that as your benchmark. Several of the fish were quite "meaty" looking as well. When the bite turned on, it turned on quick. Also, I did not see any of the other fisherman tipping their jig with minnows, after the sun went down since it would have been a waste of a good minnow since they were biting so well on jigs alone.


----------



## cadyshac (Dec 9, 2005)

The sauger can turn on and off like that, sometimes a change in current or a change in weather will do it. If I am going to fish for fun I use jigs but if I am trying to catch a mess of sauger to eat I make sure I have minnows with me, it can make all the difference some days.


----------



## multi species angler (Feb 20, 2006)

Yea a 15 " sauger full of eggs and or shad is impressive looking. Myself and 2 friends caught and released 562 sauger, saugeye and walleye in an 8 hr period 3 yrs ago from the Ohio River. We also caught numerous other non target species including a musky. Probably a 600 fish day as we didn't count anything except sauger, saugeye and walleye. Out of those 562 probably 550 were sauger and about 200 of those would have been keepers and none would have taped 20". So 18 to 20" sauger are quite rare. There are some, just not many compared to the 12 to 15" sauger.


----------



## cadyshac (Dec 9, 2005)

Here is a very nice limit I caught earlier this year. 3 of these were right at 18", all were full of eggs and shad, some real pigs.


----------

