A Fish For The Future Or Soon To Be One Of The Past?

The mere mention of hybrid saugeye (female walleye x male sauger) in states where they’re stocked, brings smiles to the faces of most fishermen. When fingerlings are stocked in adequate numbers (depends on fishery goals), saugeye easily are the most popular and tasty gamefish for the table. So why are states like Iowa, Tennessee, Indiana, and Ohio taking a more critical look at their saugeye stocking programs, with some opting to discontinue stocking? The biggest concern is the saugeye’s ability to spawn (back cross) with either parent species.

Saugeye, like their parents, can and will migrate out of reservoirs during high water, both upstream and downstream. Research in Ohio determined that saugeye of all sizes migrate intentionally, not moved passively downstream by high muddy waters. Small fingerlings are capable of moving upstream against fast turbid water soon after stocking. This movement can be triggered by instinct to find suitable habitat, better water quality, or relieve stress from overcrowding and lack of forage.

When saugeye come in contact with native stocks of either walleye or sauger, they have the potential to dilute the gene pool of these stocks if they spawn in the same areas at the same time. This genetic mixing could interfere with the genetic integrity Mother Nature has fine-tuned over a span of 10,000 years.

Good points are made on both sides of the argument as to whether stocking saugeye is a responsible fishery management practice. The most obvious objection is the saugeye’s being a fertile hybrid. Where native stocks of its parents exist in rivers that still retain historic spawning habitat, genetic dilution may reduce long-term survival. Another common concern is that saugeye may compete for available food with other gamefish or eat the young of other gamefish populations.

The positive side of saugeye stocking is readily apparent in states like Ohio, Oklahoma, and Kansas where tremendous fishing opportunities have been created where past walleye stockings have failed and other gamefish numbers are limited due to poor habitat or turbid water conditions. Ohio anglers have collected large petitions of appreciation to present to the Division of Wildlife—a saugeye fan club, if you will.

Overabundant gizzard shad are the primary food of saugeye in Ohio, as in many other states. It’s a great trade. Oily inedible shad converted into saugeye, a feisty, delectable gamefish that rivals the table quality of the yellow perch and the size of the walleye. Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas are stocking saugeye in small impoundments to help control stunted panfish populations, in an effort to increase panfish size. Since saugeye have extremely limited success spawning with each other, adjusting stocking rates will control their numbers. This gives agency biologists the option to reduce rates or discontinue stocking if an additional predator is no longer needed.

In central and southern Ohio, where ice fishing is a rare event, saugeye have opened up a whole new season of fishing. Fishermen crowd the banks, along the riprap, both above and below dams, to cast jigs and crankbaits to saugeyes all winter. The 1996 saugeye harvest estimates for the Deer Creek Lake, Ohio, tailwaters (two acres) was 30,000 fish.

The answer? Is stocking saugeyes a positive endeavor? Are managers taking the correct approach? The answer, like so many in natural resources management, isn’t a simple yes or no. Managers must balance their decisions among science, common sense, protection of the resource, and the needs and desires of sportsmen who are their customers.