How deep does a creek have to be?

We fish Acton for saugeye in spring and early summer and are now wondering what our best tactic is for fall/winter fish. The main feeder creek is pretty shallow, but we can access it by canoe. Will they still follow instinct and move up into the creek channel or stay in deeper water? Our other option is to hike the creek bed below the spillway and fish the pools there from shore or wading.

We haven't had any luck finding them in the main lake the past two trips. Water temps in our area are now in the high forties.

Thanks for any advice - Roberta.

Your more likely to find them in the shallow creeks in the spring when spawning, and now they would be chasing bait off the creek mouths where they might run in the spring. Your probably better off with the hiking option you mentioned right now. I'm assuming that saugeyes will act like walleyes in that respect because my experience is with them. The rule of thumb with walleyes and the like is find the bait and you find them feeding on them.

Since we had unseasonably warm weather on Friday,we took the canoe out to explore the feeder creek in question. It is filled with huge schools of baitfish, but we only saw two larger fish. Water was clear and less than three feet deep.It is also silted up with a muddy bottom,so not much in the way of macroinvertebrates.
Caught abunch of itty bitty sunfish in the laydowns and roots. It's a lovely creek t ocanoe and splits off in severa ldirections toward the lake, but not a likely place for large fish. We'll hit the spillway. - Roberta

One thing I forgot to mention, shallow fishing for walleyes is night fishing only. They hit cover or the depths during sunlight times.

That's what I figured fromall the articles I've read in In-Fisherman. The saugeye we caught in early summer were ten feet deep and hanging in weeds along a drop off. When we were out Friday, we stayed until early evening, hoping something like bass or cats might start to wander into the creek, if not the saugeyes. - Roberta