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| I have only caught TWO tigers in my lifetime a 34" and 36" out of Pewaukee Lake. Pewaukee was last stocked with tigers in 1987 so I was very suprised to see those young fish in 1998 and 1999. Maybe a some natural reproduction occured..I dont know. Those fish were only 5 to 6 years old so they cant be from the last batch in 1987.
My goal is to get a great big TIGER! I hear Sabaskong has a good number of them, I cant wait to try.
Maybe I would catch more if I fished for tigers.....maybe someone has a HOT PATTERN on how to catch tigers.....anyone want to add to this.[:p] |
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| I have some experience with Tigers in a number of Wisconsin lakes as well as Illinois. I have to say that my experience isn't the same as what I read about all the time. That is to say that the "smaller bait" and "more easily caught" theories don't seem to hold true for me.
The lake in Illinois that I fish has only Tigers as the tip top of the food chain. There are no trues and no pike. The tigers there are some of the most frustrating fish that I know. You can fish it one day and get several very nice fish and yet the next day, under what appears to be similar conditions, you get the giant goose egg (don't even see one). On this lake I've thrown small baits for days on end and got almost nothing in return. The smallest bait that I've caught a tiger on was a 6" Crane bait.
One thing that I have seen as a pattern is that they tend to be more likely to hit lures or live bait when the sky is at least partly sunny if not cloudless. There are always exceptions and it just so happens the largest that I caught (45 inches) was on a very cloudy day.
The Wisco Tigers that I've tangled with have almost all hit larger baits... Magnum Bulldawgs, 9 inch Grandmas and so on. I don't throw too many smaller baits in Wisconsin so you may want to take that with a grain of salt. I'm pretty much a big bait / big fish believer and since I don't fish any "Tigers Only" lakes in Cheeseland I have not experimented with the smaller baits like I have in Illinois.
I guess that's the long winded way to say that I have no hot tips for catching tigers except for maybe that same old advice about "fishing where they are" - lakes that have produced healthy tigers in the past.
Another interesting thing that I've seen over and over and have no explanation for; Naturally occurring tigers have a different pattern than the man-made variety. Anyone have any science behind that?
Craig Eversoll |
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| My favorite subject. Never caught a "Natural." (none here in my lake). You will note that what I have to say is almost the opposite of the previous post by Craig Eversoll. The lakes I fish have Tigers only-no "naturals. I've been fishing for them for about seven years now. I initially started fishing for them using the normal "natural" methods (didn't know there was a difference). I've found that they have a tendancy to hit smaller lures in the spring, especially Bass (Yamamotos) sized jigs and 4-6" minnow baits. The lake I fish is loaded with hydrilla. These weeds (lake is very clear) go out to fifteen feet or so and end at the first drop off. This seems to be the best place to fish during the early spring. In our lake, the Bass guys catch as many Tigers as Tiger fisherman (few here in Maryland)do. I think the reason is they use small baits and fish shallow in spawning areas. Although Tigers do not spawn, they must think they are spawning because that's the way they act. Either that or they are eating the spawning Bass eggs.
Summer: I've had good luck trolling 8" Perch Believers thru underwater timber- 15-25 feet. They suspend in the trees in the hot times. Early in the morning I've hooked (but never caught) them early in the morning on large "Musky sized" topwater propellor type lures. Any color works as long as it's black. I've never caught a Tiger after dark.
Fall: use conventional "Natural" methods. I like to troll adjacent the first drop off (15 ft.) with 8" perch Believers. I put a line out on each side of the boat with planers and one in the wash. Half my fish come from the propwash. I also like 5" tubes in the early fall. Seem to work well in about 20' of water. This year we had very good luck by going to the north end of our lake and looking for bait dimples (golden shiners). Cast minnow baits (4-6" Rapala type baits) to the bait dimples and you will find them. Of course, you might also hook a "Natural."
Figure 8 - yes, Tigers will hit on a figure 8.
Best weather - overcast before a storm.
Everytime I think I'm figuring them out...skunksville!!!
There are some good pictures of Tigers on my site (below). The picture on the front page of the site is with a 50 1/2" There are also several other good Tiger pictures under "Friends photos" on the site.
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| Funny you should talk about catching tigers years after the last known stocking. I've boated a 41(2 years ago) and 37 and 39 this year from local waters that have not had recent hybrid stockings(must be naturals). I can believe there to be alot of pike/musky spawning time crossover on the river systems here, but seems a little more odd on a lake like Pewaukee(though definately not impossible). My friend got a hybrid out of the WI river a couple years ago that was 49"and upon aging the fish, it was only 7 years old(he kept it), interesting.... We've actually done the best with large bucktails in the summer, and suckers in the fall to catch our tigers(though only three fish is not much of a pattern to go by). |
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| I have caught 4 of them. Two out of shabbona as a kid and two this year, both 34". I had another one strike a bait and miss and my dad figure eighted one. I know where some big ones live and will target that lake next year. |
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| Are some of these lakes in il cooling lakes?Being a bass head in the past I found small spider grub jigs to work for tigers also.I have seen many smaller fish in il caught on spinnerbaits.0723 |
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| I have also caught quite a few out of Shabbona in the past, however i was never targeting them specifically. All but 2 came on the same stuff i was throwing for muskies, mostly super shad raps and bucktails. The other two came on a jigs with a leech fishing for walleyes, but overall it has seemed that they didnt prefer smaller stuff than normal. |
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| The few I've caught were natural cross overs. I was using bucktails in all cases. I think they are more aggresive than either the muskie or the northern. I also think they can spawn but are sterile. I may be wrong there? |
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| I have caught a few Tigers in some Metro lakes while targeting Pike a few years back. I caught them on spoons, sucker rigs, and bucktails. It was fun hooking into them as they did seem to be a it more aggressive.
A few Metro lakes hold some nice Tigers - I think I'll try in the Spring! |
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| Jonfloater: from what I've heard, they act out the spawning ritual, but don't actually reproduce. However, I've read (somewhere)that some biologists believe they do reproduce. What do you think? [:bigsmile:] |
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| Kid, You are correct! They don't spawn. I found a site for the Utah DNR or Fish and Game Dept. and they say the tiger grows faster than both the muskie and the pike because there is no egg production or even looking for a mate. |
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Lets talk TIGERS