Saugfishes

The Little Miami contains both sauger and saugeye. The saugeye is a cross between a sauger and a walleye and telling them all apart where they overlap is not always easy. Sauger have many dark spots usually in rows on their dorsal fin. The first dorsal fin is usually relatively clear in unspotted areas, and there is not a large dusky area at the rear base of the fin as in walleye. The over all body coloration of a sauger is a bronze or brown color compared to the usual gray or more silver color of a walleye. The sauger has large dark oblong blotches on the sides of their body which I've heard compared to camoflauge. Sauger do not have the white edges to the bottom part of their tail and anal fin like a walleye, at best they have a very thin lighter colored edge that is often more yellow in color. Possibly the easiest way to identify saugeye are the dark bars or oblong vertical spots between the spines of the first dorsal fin. The membrane of this fin in the unmarked areas is often a dusky color and not as clear like that of a sauger. A large dark spot at the rear base of the first dorsal fin is usually visible on a saugeye but not as clearly defined as it is on a walleye. Saugeye have dark laterally oblong blotches on their sides but they tend to be smaller than those of a sauger. Saugeye also have white tips on the lower part of the tail and anal fins. These are more defined than the very thin light colored margin of a sauger but less defined than the large white tips found on a walleye. To me a sauger in hand is easier to ID than a saugeye, a saugers clear fin and lack of a spot at the rear of it's dorsal are obvious. When I hem and haw and wonder which species it is, it usually turns out to be a saugeye. For all practical porposes except for records they can be treated as the same fish, in the LMR they are fished for exactly the same. Speaking of records the Ohio record sauger is 7.31 pounds and was caught in the Maumee River in 1981 by Bryan Wicks. The world record sauger is an eight-pound,12-ounce fish caught in 1971 in North Dakota. Roger Sizemore of Orient, Ohio caught a new state record saugeye weighing 14.04 pounds from Antrim Lake in Franklin County. Sauger spawn in the spring when water temperatures reach the upper 40s. Females lay between 10,000 to 50,000 eggs. The eggs are adhesive and stick to vegetation, sticks, and stones until they hatch in about 10 days. Saugers are migratory and spawning runs occur in early spring. Fishing below lowhead dams at this time on rivers like the Great Miami can be very productive. The lowhead dam on the Little Miami in Corwin also has good sauger fishing but is not the obstacle to fish that the dams on the Great Miami are and so sauger are more spread out thru the river. Perhaps the most important difference from a fishing standpoint between sauger and walleye is the difference in their eyes. Both have a light-gathering layer in their eyes this layer covers more area in the eyes of sauger. Sauger are even more light-sensitive than walleyes, explaining their preference for deeper and murkier water. Sauger thrive in turbid environments like rivers while the walleye does better in big lakes. This means that water may get too swift to fish well for sauger when the water is up but it never gets to muddy for the fish to bite. For this same reason sauger often bite best at night and even continue to feed at night all winter. Sauger seem to be a bit more bottom oriented than walleye and less inclined to look up to feed. Sometimes your lure must be presented right on the bottom and a difference of just a few inches can make or break your chances of catching fish. Sauger and sauceye remain active and feeding in low water temperatures. Many fishermen often don’t even start fishing for sauger until the water temperature has dropped to the 40’s and other game fish have shut down for the winter. If your busting the ice out of your guides every few casts its prime sauger weather. The Little Miami River is second only to the mighty Ohio River in producing Fish Ohio awards for trophy sauger while the nearby Great Miami is fourth in trophy saugeye. Both the saugfishes do not fight like smallmouth bass and are treasured more for their tolerance for cold weather and the fact that they are the best eating fish there is. In a case of damning with faint praise I've heard it said they have "moderate fighting abilities" but any fish that bites in the middle of january is plenty game in my book. They certainly look tough with their camo good looks and a mouth full of sharp teeth. Be sure and carry some needlenosed pliers to unhook deeply hooked fish.