Bonus Bites Below--Right Now!

"As sauger grow bigger they eat bigger forage. Big sauger are a lot like average-size walleyes except for two things. One, they're more light sensitive, and two, they're more streamlined. So if sauger are big enough to forage on walleye prey, they feed in the same places, but earlier and later in the day. And they tend to hold closer to current. Sauger like some current. Big sauger don't hold long in areas that aren't right next to or in current."

Harry Stiles, professional walleye fisherman and Mississippi River guide, agrees with Stange. "Every sauger over 5 pounds I've taken from the big pools of the Mississippi came from the 12-foot level," Stiles says. "I've never caught one over 5 pounds in really deep water. From January through March, most sauger hold from 20 to 35 feet deep, but any over 3 1/2 pounds generally are at 18 feet or above."

Prime winter holding areas in rivers include outside bends where deeper water comes close to shore, and the mouths of creeks or smaller rivers joining the main stem. In these areas, big sauger typically hold sway over points farthest upstream. In late winter and early spring, sauger also congregate in tailwaters. Upstream movements at this time of year are triggered by the urge to spawn.

"Tailraces are magnets for walleyes, sauger, and saugeye this time of year," Stange continued. "It's a great time to observe differences in behavior among these fish while catching lots of them."

Tailrace fisheries typically extend downstream from a dam for 10 miles, maybe more. Wing dams, points, sand or gravel bars, holes, and humps in tailrace areas draw both sauger and walleye. Small sauger may use any of these features, but they're typically drawn to holes or deeper areas around the base of these structures. If walleyes are using an area, it's to feed on prey of an appropriate size. If it's the right size for walleyes, it's right for big sauger.

But they may not feed in exactly the same spot, just in the same general area. Consider a sand bar topping out about 10 feet below the surface. Even though sauger seem to like areas with a sandy bottom, small sauger may use only the base of this structure if they use it at all. The top of the bar is too shallow.

Most walleyes and big sauger feed at the upstream head of the bar. Sauger arrive earlier in the morning and locate on the current side. Walleyes use the void on the front face of the bar as a current break, or they hold off to the side. Big sauger nose up tight to the front of the bar. "Sauger," Stange says, "use current walleyes won't use. But it's still modest current at this time of year."

Mike Kohler, another tournament pro, observes that sauger in larger rivers orient to sharp, deep breaks and deep midchannel runs during winter. He also notes that "walleyes and sauger are in the same segment of a river, not miles apart." Stiles went one step farther. "Typically, walleyes are within 50 to 100 yards of any major school of sauger."

Both pros agree that sauger can be used to find walleye. Sauger are the more aggressive biters, so they're easier to find. "If a shallower flat (5 to 15 feet deep) with downed timber, boulders, or some kind of current break is nearby, walleyes will be there, " Stiles says.

"Draw a line at 15 feet," Kohler says. "Walleyes will be shallower, sauger deeper, with a zone of overlap between 12 and 16 feet." Big sauger are more often in that overlapping zone.

"Whatever structural element you fish--a hole, a hump, a sand bar, a break--check the head of the item first, last, and always," Stange added. "The biggest sauger push forward to the head of a hole, the head of a sand bar, the head of anything."