# Incredible Indian Saugeye Bite



## Brahmabull71 (Jul 30, 2014)

Had a pretty special day today with my dad and my buddy so I had to share. Went to Indian this morning and started fishing a little after 11am dragging minnows and worms with various approaches with zero success. Tried casting jigs and rattle traps etc with no success. We finally broke out the trolling gear around 1pm and immediately started putting a program together. I ran Flicker Shad #6 back 11’ and ran 4 rods / boards with Slum Dog, Uncle Rico and Purple Tiger being on fire. Absolutely could not keep 4 rods in the water most of the day. Best speed was 2.5 - 2.8 SOG and direction didn’t seem to matter much. Water temps started around 57.5 and cooled off to 55.3 when we left. South shore line was OK, but smaller grade of fish piled in there. Until a little after 6pm we conservatively boated over 40 saugeye (lost count) and had so many doubles and triples it was crazy! Also caught two very nice (12.5 & 13”) pre-spawn crappies. Ended up sorting with a nice 3 man limit of fish. I usually don’t fish Indian this time of year because of being at Erie so much, but this weather has been absolute crap. I’m so thankful for the top and good rain gear!

Tight lines!

Brahmabull


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## Redhunter1012 (Feb 6, 2006)

Hell yea man! That's a good time there. Congrats on a great day


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## Salamander (Apr 11, 2004)

Great report! Glad you got into them.


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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

Great catch BB71.
Congrats to you all!


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## linebacker43 (Aug 3, 2009)

Man!! I was almost ready to make the drive this morning but stopped at Alum instead. If not for having to work tonight I would have made the trip. Congrats on a stellar day!


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## All Eyes (Jul 28, 2004)

Looks and sounds like you guys had a great time! Just awesome! Thanks for sharing.


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## dcool (Apr 14, 2004)

Nice Box of fish. Bet the lake wasn't crowded either.


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## Shinji (Apr 7, 2013)

Congrats on the fish. I was there from 8-10:30 in the evening without a nibble from the shore. Just didn't find them yesterday. Thought with all the current and wind I'd find one hungry toothy critter.


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

The saugeye were way more active yesterday than the crappie were for me. I fished a crappie tourney and couldn't catch 8 weigh in only weighed in 6, BUT I caught 13 saugeye. The crappie did just fine in the north end of the lake, I fished the South end. Winning team had almost 10 lbs for 8 fish. The big fish was huge, 2.05 lbs. The largest ever weighed in during a COCC tourney. To make it better it was caught by one of our youngest fishermen.


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

Nice job on the saugeye, the weather yesterday was no fun, especially on the heels of the winds on Indian Friday that I was out in and then just to complete the circle of hell the rain got us the last couple of hours.


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## polebender (Oct 29, 2011)

Deerfarmer and I saw you out on the lake pulling boards as we were heading back to weigh in! Congrats on a great day of fishing!


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## papadeer (Aug 30, 2017)

Brahmabull71 said:


> Had a pretty special day today with my dad and my buddy so I had to share. Went to Indian this morning and started fishing a little after 11am dragging minnows and worms with various approaches with zero success. Tried casting jigs and rattle traps etc with no success. We finally broke out the trolling gear around 1pm and immediately started putting a program together. I ran Flicker Shad #6 back 11’ and ran 4 rods / boards with Slum Dog, Uncle Rico and Purple Tiger being on fire. Absolutely could not keep 4 rods in the water most of the day. Best speed was 2.5 - 2.8 SOG and direction didn’t seem to matter much. Water temps started around 57.5 and cooled off to 55.3 when we left. South shore line was OK, but smaller grade of fish piled in there. Until a little after 6pm we conservatively boated over 40 saugeye (lost count) and had so many doubles and triples it was crazy! Also caught two very nice (12.5 & 13”) pre-spawn crappies. Ended up sorting with a nice 3 man limit of fish. I usually don’t fish Indian this time of year because of being at Erie so much, but this weather has been absolute crap. I’m so thankful for the top and good rain gear!
> 
> Tight lines!
> 
> ...


Yea we were out Saturday as well caught a two man limit in 5 hrs and bunch of just under size all trolling flicker shad 5s and 7s 2 to 2.5 mph


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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

great memories with dad. you'll remember days like that with dad well after he's gone. great bunch of fish and a great day on the water.
sherman


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## Jim Stedke (Dec 5, 2005)

Heck yea! You know your 20 minutes from my house when you're at Indian. Little Rippers kick butt there too. Shallow ones 23’ back. Purple wild thing or Eriedescent. Nice job. Let me know if you ever need a butt for a seat there.


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## Brahmabull71 (Jul 30, 2014)

Jim Stedke said:


> Heck yea! You know your 20 minutes from my house at Indian. Little Rippers kick butt there too. Shallow ones 23’ back. Purple wild thing or Eriedescent. Nice job. Let me know if you ever need a butt for a seat there.


I’ll take you up on that in a couple more weeks!


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## jbanker (Jun 7, 2009)

Wow, that's a hell of a day & great info! I was planning a camping trip tues - thurs to take the lund somewhere other than erie for some crappie and eyes. I couldn't make up my mind on alum or indian since they both have great campground access to the lake. I think this report made the decision for me! 

Are you pulling flickers with full size erie boards or smaller ones?


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

Great stuff man!


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## Brahmabull71 (Jul 30, 2014)

jbanker said:


> Wow, that's a hell of a day & great info! I was planning a camping trip tues - thurs to take the lund somewhere other than erie for some crappie and eyes. I couldn't make up my mind on alum or indian since they both have great campground access to the lake. I think this report made the decision for me!
> 
> Are you pulling flickers with full size erie boards or smaller ones?


Well that’s a tough question...

Without going all ‘nerd’ on you, the correct answer is it depends.

I ran both yesterday. Indian gets choppy very quickly. When I started, it was pretty calm but then periods of wind came through and made it kick up some. To me it is much more about your rods. I have very specific rods for inland lakes trolling and no joke I can tell when a 6” Saugeye is on the line with my larger (OR12) Offshore boards. The little (OR38) Offshores will skip and bounce when you are trolling into the chop and make boards unreadable in my experience. I like to have the heavier drag through the water in chop and closely monitor the rods ‘load.’ I use a 8’ medium light rod that is most similar in action to a salmon noodling rod. Has a super soft tip and light backbone. It will handle the occasional large muskeyes, catfish and carp. I troll crappie with 1/16 ounce jigs all the way up to Reef Runner Ripsticks on them with 1oz weights. I use 7’ medium light Taloras for Erie and they have a different purpose than these rods. I’ve used the Taloras on inland lakes but they are more difficult to read small fish on.

I’m a fan of boards too. Not because Saugeye really care and are boat shy, but because I like to spread lines. My dad who is old school and has caught more saugeye than I’ve seen, believes that you can just flat line all the time. I don’t disagree, you can. I believe and have proven to myself and others that you catch more spreading them away from the boat. Yesterday was a prime example. I started with two boards out and two flat lines. After 45 minutes using the same baits at the same leads, the two flatlines literally never caught one fish. That’s when I told them we were putting out two more boards. I truly believe had I not done that, things would have been different. Maybe it’s a confidence thing? I always like to test theories and form my own opinions and judgements. Dad said at the end of the day that it made him a believer...FINALLY! He, like many, gets comfortable and lazy doing the same thing. The difference is varying your routine and limiting your variables. It just might save your trip! I’m super technical almost to a fault but I’ve learned to embrace it and still try and have fun.

Well crap...I went ‘nerd’ on you after all. Short answer...it depends


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## Pistols Charters (Jan 5, 2010)

Brahmabull71 said:


> Had a pretty special day today with my dad and my buddy so I had to share. Went to Indian this morning and started fishing a little after 11am dragging minnows and worms with various approaches with zero success. Tried casting jigs and rattle traps etc with no success. We finally broke out the trolling gear around 1pm and immediately started putting a program together. I ran Flicker Shad #6 back 11’ and ran 4 rods / boards with Slum Dog, Uncle Rico and Purple Tiger being on fire. Absolutely could not keep 4 rods in the water most of the day. Best speed was 2.5 - 2.8 SOG and direction didn’t seem to matter much. Water temps started around 57.5 and cooled off to 55.3 when we left. South shore line was OK, but smaller grade of fish piled in there. Until a little after 6pm we conservatively boated over 40 saugeye (lost count) and had so many doubles and triples it was crazy! Also caught two very nice (12.5 & 13”) pre-spawn crappies. Ended up sorting with a nice 3 man limit of fish. I usually don’t fish Indian this time of year because of being at Erie so much, but this weather has been absolute crap. I’m so thankful for the top and good rain gear!
> 
> Tight lines!
> 
> ...


Great job Josh


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## Ranger6 (Dec 27, 2015)

Good job Josh.


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## Brahmabull71 (Jul 30, 2014)

Thanks guys! Love it when a plan comes together! My girls tore dinner up tonight!


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## RMK (Feb 21, 2017)

great job! thats an awesome day right there! 11' back? what kind of depth is that on those 6cm flicker shads?


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## Brahmabull71 (Jul 30, 2014)

Around 4.5’. I tried 13’ and it had me snagged. All my rods are kept calibrated.


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## RMK (Feb 21, 2017)

good stuff. thanks alot. and again..... great job


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## RiparianRanger (Nov 18, 2015)

Brahmabull71 said:


> Around 4.5’. I tried 13’ and it had me snagged. All my rods are kept calibrated.
> 
> View attachment 303707


Hmm pretty nifty app. I just downloaded it. Any idea if there is a way to enter different line types other than the four default options? I run flicker shad on 17 lb test to salvage a few by buying precious seconds when snags occur. Was just inquiring about this exact topic a few days ago in the thread below. 

https://www.ohiogamefishing.com/threads/flicker-shad-dive-chart-line-choice.345595/


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## 1more (Jan 10, 2015)

Brahmabull71 said:


> Thanks guys! Love it when a plan comes together! My girls tore dinner up tonight!
> 
> View attachment 303705


What kind of batter is that? Looks really good!


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## Brahmabull71 (Jul 30, 2014)

RiparianRanger said:


> Hmm pretty nifty app. I just downloaded it. Any idea if there is a way to enter different line types other than the four default options? I run flicker shad on 17 lb test to salvage a few by buying precious seconds when snags occur. Was just inquiring about this exact topic a few days ago in the thread below.
> 
> https://www.ohiogamefishing.com/threads/flicker-shad-dive-chart-line-choice.345595/


Mike,

This was developed by Mark Romanack and was based off the Precision Trolling Bible. It has been fine tuned and tweaked with new info added every few months or sooner.

The reason the line choices are as such is mainly because this app was developed for walleye and salmon anglers who troll. Most on Erie run lines with 10lb test diameter (.014). They have actual divers in the water to collect data of where the lure is running in the column and to validate actual depths achieved. It is a very useful tool if you troll. Obviously, the thicker diameter your line is traveling through the water, the more resistance / friction and LESS depth you will achieve. How much? Not sure. Test it somewhere with a flat muddy bottom.

Good luck!


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## Brahmabull71 (Jul 30, 2014)

1more said:


> What kind of batter is that? Looks really good!


I make everything from scratch. It’s an old family recipe that I’ve modified and it’s absolutely incredible!


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## tomknous (Nov 10, 2014)

Brahmabull71 said:


> This was developed by Mark Romanack and was based off the Precision Trolling Bible. It has been fine tuned and tweaked with new info added every few months or sooner.
> 
> The reason the line choices are as such is mainly because this app was developed for walleye and salmon anglers who troll. Most on Erie run lines with 10lb test diameter. They have actual divers in the water to collect data of where the lure is running in the column. Very useful tool if you troll. Obviously, the thicker diameter your line is traveling through the water, the more resistance and LESS depth you will achieve. How much? Not sure. Test it somewhere with a flat muddy
> 
> ...


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## Brahmabull71 (Jul 30, 2014)

First I would wonder where all do you fish? I will assume for sake of discussion we are talking trolling inland lakes with 80% of depths under 14’, then my suggestion would be not to over think it. I currently run Maxima Ultragreen and have ran many line brands. The standard is Trilene XT (.014 diameter), Big Game, Blood Run and Maxima Ultragreen would be my top 4 with Trilene being the last choice of the four. I’m a big fan of Maxima as it is soft enough yet tough enough and has great breaking strength at 12lb test with .013 diameter. Blood Run absolutely wears like iron. It’s almost too tough at 16lb test and .013 diameter, but I would definitely buy it again. Big Game is also great, cheap trolling line. I have bought several bad spools of Trilene over the years and lost confidence in it. I buy 3,300 foot spools and redo lines twice a year for inland lakes typically as much as I troll. A cheat you can do is to tie a flouro leader 25-50’ and connect with a small barrel swivel or if you don’t like them beating up your guides like me, an F/G or Improved Albright knot to the flouro. This simply allows you to quickly recalibrate reels by taking off just the leader when it gets damaged or too much breaks off. I use Seaguar AbraizX in 15lb test for leader material. I troll for everything this way from Saugeye to Salmon rods because I’m lazy and hate to calibrate but understand the importance of limiting variables!


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## mashunter18 (Jun 23, 2005)

Iv only been trolling a few years, but I will add this ,brahmabull mentioned it, but make sure your reels are calibrated. My daiwa line counters need to be full to be accurate, that's a lot of line. Alot of guys use cheaper line for filler. I don't I also buy the big reels and redo a couple times a year.


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