If walleyes are the gilded kings of clear to stained-water rivers and reservoirs, then saugers, their closely related cousins, perhaps are royal family of the down and dirty variety. Common in warmer and muddier big-river environments of the mid-South, saugers flourish in the Tennessee, Arkansas and Ohio river drainages, as well as in the more northerly Mississippi and Missouri. Where visibility diminishes due to runoff or stained water color, the sauger’s penchant for a turbid environment, fast current, and deeper habitat give them a competitive advantage over their larger and more glamorous golden cousins.

Legendary tailrace fisheries develop below major power dams like Pickwick, as sauger by the jillions concentrate in fall-winter hordes prior to spring spawning. Vertical jigging heavy jigs along current breaks in and around deep pools generates catches often exceeding 100 fish, though the typical sauger ranges somewhere between 3/4 and 11⁄2 pounds, seldom exceeding 3.

That’s not big by walleye standards, though sauger are feisty and willing biters in cold water. Where river walleyes and sauger inhabit the same areas, light-sensitive sauger often position deeper than walleyes, with 12 to 30 feet being common, compared to walleyes typically being between 6 and 18 feet. Catching both on the same drift pass isn’t unusual.

In most areas, sauger are naturally occurring as opposed to being stocked. Their preference for current makes them likely to leave a reservoir during periods of high flow, potentially defeating the purpose of stocking them in the first place. Even so, flatland impoundments like Kentucky and Barkley host significant summer sauger fisheries. To target these fish try jigging or cranking along channel structure.

Where significant walleye and sauger populations coexist, natural hybridization in low numbers occurs, as both species spawn in shallow rock-rubble areas once water temperatures rise above 40°F. Hybrid saugeye (walleye-sauger cross) are incapable of breeding with each other, though they can spawn successfully with either parent stock, primarily walleyes. Thus fisheries personnel are reluctant to stock saugeyes where significant sauger or walleye fisheries exist, to prevent interfering with existing gene pools.

On rare occasions, significant numbers of large saugers, saugeyes, and walleyes coexist in the same system. Myron Kibler, Montana fishing and hunting guide (406/557-2503) and world-record saugeye holder, says, “At Fort Peck Reservoir, walleye reproduction is sparse due to a lack of suitable rock bottom in the main reservoir. Another reason is the predominantly muddy water in the rocky upper reaches of the Missouri River Arm, where saugers spawn successfully but walleye spawning success is limited.

“The walleye population is maintained by stocking, though many fish at least attempt to spawn. Where walleye and sauger spawning overlaps, however, natural hybridization occurs. With limited fishing pressure and abundant forage, Fort Peck regularly produces some of the largest saugers, walleyes, and saugeyes anywhere.” It’s our top pick for a trophy troph-’eye triple-header, followed perhaps by Lake Sakakawea, a few hundred miles downriver in North Dakota. ‘Eye-’eye-’eye—three ‘eyes are better than one, or two.

Saugeye share many of the characteristics of each species—the sauger’s preference for dirty water with the walleye’s tendency to remain a bit shallower. Saugeye also grow bigger than sauger, often rivaling the walleye in size. This combination of characteristics makes them an ideal stocking option in lakes and reservoirs that are too warm and turbid to support stocked walleyes or stripers. Plus, adjusting saugeye stocking rates based on forage fluctuations keeps baitfish-forage populations in balance. Crossing female walleyes and male sauger in hatcheries provides economical, hardy, easy-to-raise hybrids for stocking.

Oklahoma and Ohio, for example, make extensive use of stocked saugeye to produce fine gamefisheries—in small impoundments with strong shad forage in the southern half of Ohio and in turbid lakes in western Oklahoma, where stunted panfish populations provide forage. In dingy-water impoundments where water fluctuation doesn’t provide enough flooded wood cover to develop and support largemouth bass fisheries, saugeyes often make use of open water and clean structure. Where largemouth bass and saugeyes coexist, bass tend to remain in shallow wood, saugeyes in more open areas, exhibiting little interspecies competition.

Saugeyes not only prey on unused forage but also thin stunted panfish populations, allowing the remaining crappies, white bass, bluegills, and (in northern states) perch to grow larger. Saugeye in turn grow large in food-rich environments, producing state-record fish approaching 10 pounds. Experimental stocking in 700-acre Lake Kirby near Abilene, Texas, has produced saugeyes over 7 pounds in just three years.

Whereas saugers in big-river environments often must be fished in deep or swift water, stocked saugeyes likely move right up to shore, particularly during lowlight periods or at night during cool months. Anglers casting a crankbait or spinnerbait from shore along rock points or causeways catch record-class fish. During the day, traditional structure fishing with walleye tackle excels, though generally not too deep. And during early spring when tailrace areas below some impoundments run rich with mud, saugeyes continue to bite aggressively, despite near-zero visibility that would shut down walleye activity. The saugeye’s a perfect target for anglers who prefer a little mud in their ‘eyes.

Saugeyes generally are bonus fish in waters containing good numbers of sauger and walleyes. Where stocked to create new fisheries, however, fast-growing saugeyes are becoming a modern success story in fisheries management and should play an expanding role in the next century.