# First alum keeper saugeye



## moke11 (Apr 15, 2004)

Fished from the boat today in the middle of the crazies at 2pm yesterday. The fish were hungry. Had to sift through channel cats to find some eyes and was rewarded with my first legal saugeye at alum this year. fish were in 10 to 13 ft. of water along some structure.

Jig tail with meat.


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## pplulu (Aug 31, 2009)

Congrats on your first keeper!


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

Nice job...sounds like fun!


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## moke11 (Apr 15, 2004)

Thanks fellows. It was fun. I had the boys with me and it was the youngest turn to wind him in. The saugeye put up too much of a fight, so the youngest handed the rod over the oldest. When I saw it was a good eye, I said its dad's turn. LOL!!!

Here is a pic. Nice healthy fish; returned to grow up...










Went back out last night from shore and after dark and got 4 more short eyes.


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

SWEET!! Cant wait till my kids are old enuogh to participate intthe boat


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## buhrandon (Jun 9, 2012)

Nice catch. I've caught some tiny ones on a crank bait before. How big do these guys tend to get around here


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

LOL at alum the average is just under 15 inches it seems right now.. But thatll change soon... normal average is about 14-18 inches id say with fish up to 25 inches not uncommon and bigger caught up to just over 14 lbs...


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## fishslim (Apr 28, 2005)

Congrats Moke they do seem to be rare lately on Alum!! Went out in boat first time in along time tried to shake some rust off. Had Big Joshy with me we had a great time landed some bass one eye and some crappies man was nice out there after sun went down would have loved to stay out there all night.


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## moke11 (Apr 15, 2004)

Slim glad to hear you got out, and tell big joshy I have an order to send in. My stash of big joshies needs replenished, and i have a gift certificate to burn. 

I went to Alum today and fished from 10am to 3pm. In the past 13 months, I have logged 380 hours of fishing from my boat and undocumented amount of hours from shore. The saugeye finally cooperated.

I ended with 21 eyes, 1 crappie, and 1 catfish. It was crazy. A couple of times I had three bites on the same cast before I hooked the fish. The best part is that 13 of the 21 were legal with 2 over 20 inches. I was fishing in 12ft. of water, anchored and casting. All fish were turned loose to grow up. The only bad part is my sons were not with me today. 2 eyes on vibe, and 1 on red eyed shad, the rest were on a whistler jig head, orange jig tail, tipped with half of worm.

The fish kept me about 1/2 hour too long. At the ramp, I had to wait on watercraft to rescue a capsized boat.

Below are some pics.


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## Big Joshy (Apr 26, 2004)

Wow congrats that will make some guys pull out the boat that would never have dreamed of it in this heat! Glad to see some quality fish too. Thats the best alum eye catch we have seen on the board in a very long time, you should be proud!


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## lacdown (Apr 25, 2007)

Great job, Moke. Do you (or anybody else) have better luck fishing slopes/points/dropoffs or flats for saugeye? If slopes, is it better to fish upslope or downslope? Bass fisherman tend to fish downslope, but it makes more sense to me to go upslope because the lure tends to lose depth as it gets closer to the boat anyway. 

Last time out got 3 saugeye and a few white bass trolling a vibe in about 10 feet of water. Couldn't get it anything to bite casting though.


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## moke11 (Apr 15, 2004)

thanks big joshy and lacdown. I am proud, but also sharing, so maybe someone else has a day like I did. 

lacdown, I definitely like some depth change. You will see posts where others have talked about fishing the points, and this is a good place to catch them. 

One thing I noticed is today, we had the high clouds. I noticed I got more bites when there was cloud cover. When I need a bottle of water or more worms, I waited until the sun was shining bright. I had worms on ice in the cooler. I cleaned 4 worms at a time and kept them in the shade and on ice to keep them firm.

FWIW, I was also using about 4 ft. of 14lb. fluorocarbon leader. The lake water is really clear. Not sure this makes a difference, but thought I would share.


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## st.slippy (Oct 3, 2008)

Great job man! That is a great day on alum! All your hard work payed off.


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## hang_loose (Apr 2, 2008)

Very nice fish and" post's " moke11!!! To bad your sons were not there to hold up the eyes for a picture. Tell your sons we want to see pictures of them holding "Fish Ohio" eyes that they caught (not dad)!. Nothing against you moke11.... Spend as much time with them and teach them as much as you can.

I'd like to see one day a picture of you with a "Fish Ohio Eye" that you caught on one of your sons boats


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## Timmypage16 (Jul 12, 2005)

Good job! I was on alum Monday night and caught 14 saugeye trolling, but not one was a keeper. Guess I was just in the wrong spot or using the wrong bait and technique.


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## MassillonBuckeye (May 3, 2010)

that second one looks like fish ohio to me. 21" !!
Nice report. I'm heading out tonight with 2 buddys from work. Hoping to catch into some.


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## 93stratosfishnski (Aug 25, 2011)

Good job moke , my dad and I have been laying it to the eyes lately in the center and south basins but can't seem to get many keepers out of the group, out of over 80 eyes in 5 trips I think 10 have kept... Good job once again


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## fishslim (Apr 28, 2005)

Nice work Moke knew you would find em one of these days. Well hmmm i told a few guys about whistlers in a few p.m.s awhile back love them this time of year if they don't want the worm chunk try a bass minow on it and lift and drop the bait. They will suck it in on drop. hope to get out soon again. Great job!!


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

Yea i was one of them, I still havent had a chance to give them a shot, but plan on it soon..... wonder what it is that makes them so hot this time of yr?


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## moke11 (Apr 15, 2004)

not sure what makes the whistler jig hot this time of year. I have noticed that you have to keep checking the spinner to make sure its spinning, especially, after catching a couple of fish or putting a new jig tail on. If the spinner is not spinning, you lost the advantage of this jig head.


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## moke11 (Apr 15, 2004)

I dug up this old post because every 4th of July, it brings good memories and today we made another. 

Today with cool temps and threat of rain, I knew pleasure boaters would be thinking twice about heading out. Only 5 or 6 trailers in the parking lot when we arrived at 11am, and no line at the ramp. Thumbs up! The weather was cool and comfortable with cloudy skies. The water was noticeably clear for a holiday weekend. 

Here is the sequence that we will remember for a long time. Luke used Big Joshy Solar Flare tipped with worm and battled a chunky 14" smallie to the boat. When Kurt netted the smallie, it coughed up a whole crayfish. Kurt immediately says I am putting that on my hook. Kurt tipped his sunrise big joshy with the crayfish, and lands a 20" saugeye. While netting Kurt's saugeye, I saw a 2nd saugeye of similar size swimming beside it.

White bass are busting the surface right now, and my boys really enjoy casting and cranking in the schools of white bass. Today we caught whisker fish, smallmouth, saugeye, whitebass, and a crappie. All on big joshy sometimes tipped with worm and all in 12fow or less.


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## lowridns1020 (Jun 25, 2012)

I saw you out there. It was a great afternoon traffic wise. I went out Sunday morning solo and kept a limit of eyes. Caught 8 with only two shorts, was off the water by 8:30. Yesterday afternoon my buddy and I caught 7 or 8 only 2 were keepers. Also got into perch both days, trolling worm harnesses. My depth of choice was 14-20 ft both days.


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## OnTheFly (Jul 30, 2010)

Nice posts, always good to get kids on fish... quick question going back to the previous year and whistler jigs, what weight do you use for different depths??


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

OnTheFly said:


> Nice posts, always good to get kids on fish... quick question going back to the previous year and whistler jigs, what weight do you use for different depths??


Ive used whistlers alot the last year or so. I pick them just like would a standard jig head. I use 1/16 alot at buckeye as well as 1/8 oz. An up to 1/4oz for slow trolling.
I like them best when snapjigging the bait back to me


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## Brutus (Apr 25, 2004)

Big Joshy said:


> Wow congrats that will make some guys pull out the boat that would never have dreamed of it in this heat! Glad to see some quality fish too. Thats the best alum eye catch we have seen on the board in a very long time, you should be proud!





moke11 said:


> Slim glad to hear you got out, and tell big joshy I have an order to send in. My stash of big joshies needs replenished, and i have a gift certificate to burn.
> 
> I went to Alum today and fished from 10am to 3pm. In the past 13 months, I have logged 380 hours of fishing from my boat and undocumented amount of hours from shore. The saugeye finally cooperated.
> 
> ...


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## Brutus (Apr 25, 2004)

Good thing boys were not with you as they would have caught all the fish. I have fished with you many times and we don't catch fish because the boys catch all the fish. LOL


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## moke11 (Apr 15, 2004)

yes, my boys think i am the "first mate" instead captain. i get to fish after completing requests for untangling lines, bait, and depth checks but i would not want it any other way. lol.


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## fishslim (Apr 28, 2005)

Good work as usual was getting eyes shore casting swims that afternoon. Perfect fishing day


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