Saugfishing the river....

Especially after the big fish of last week and really after every time I catch a good sized saugeye I receive a bunch of questions about the fish and how to fish for them. Considering how widespread and common sauger and saugeye are they seem a bit of a mystery to most folks. In no way do I claim to be any kind of an expert on these fish. But I river fish a lot, more than anyone I know and because of that I've caught quite a few. I'm also very passionate about learning just how a river works and the movement of fish in rivers so between those two things I have stumbled across a few things about saugthings I'll try and share here.
First a physical description of sauger and saugeye and how to tell the difference between the two...
The body of the sauger is long and cylindrical.  Biologists call this a fusiform structure and this minimizes the drag on the fishes body and makes them very well adapted to fast currents. The body is usually an olive grey and has three or four dark patches or saddles making the fish look like it is decked out in camo. Which it is I guess. Sauger have a white belly but this does not spread out at the tail and form the white tip on the tail like it does on a walleye. The first dorsal fin is covered in rows of spots with a dark blotch at it's base. The membranes between the spines of the first dorsal fin are clear and you can see light thru easily. A saugeye is the result of a hybrid between a sauger and a walleye. Saugeye look more like the sauger side of the family except for a few key differences. The membrane between the spines on their dorsal is not nearly as clear as that of a sauger and after you have seen a few and paid attention this is readily apparent. The saugeye has a white blotch on the bottom tip of it's tail like it's walleye parent as well. Now for the problematic part. Most of the time these markers are the case but not always. In fact the world record saugeye looks an awful lot like a walleye and genetic testing had to be done to determine that it was in fact a saugeye. I kind of go by the rule of thumb that if there is doubt it's probably a saugeye rather than a sauger since saugeye vary and sauger do not. Sauger, walleye and saugeye are extremely well adapted to seeing in low light and prefer to feed at night whenever possible, even in the winter. 
Though most saugeye anymore are stocked, hybrids have always occurred and do occur naturally anywhere walleye and saugeye cross paths. I think something like 4% of the natural population is a hybrid. Contrary to popular belief saugeye can reproduce with other saugeye and with either parent but only on a very limited scale. And many places saugeye are stocked do not have suitable spawning habitat and when you combine this with the saugeyes limited ability to reproduce not much natural reproduction ever occurs. Sauger and saugeye are noted for the long runs they make when the spawning season arrives. Spawning takes place in the upstream regions of rivers in the early spring; where dams are present, Saugeyes (as well as Sauger and Walleye where all three are present) may bunch up right below dams to spawn. Eggs are sticky and adhesive, and are typically laid on rocky substrates where they are fertilized by males. Following the spawn, saugfish slip gradually back downstream to their summertime location in the main channels of large rivers, the deepest pools of medium sized rivers or to lakes if the spawning run was upstream of a lake.
Saugfish spawn in the early spring when the water is between 39 and 44 degrees. spawning occurs at night usually. Often saugfish spawn right after walleye and sometimes at the same time and in the same locations. Eggs hatch in 25 to 30 days, Young saugs eat mostly zooplankton and insect larvae at first and then at about a half an inch in length begin eating other fish. Although saugs will eat other things at times like crayfish they are first and foremost fish eaters. One interesting thing I found out from reading studies about saugeye is the impact they have on crappie when they are stocked in lakes. In almost every case the average size of the crappie went up. I think the biggest limiter in the size of crappie is having too many crappie and having a few get eaten by saugs helps the rest. 
In all honesty almost every sauger and saugeye fisherman I know uses just a couple baits 90% of the time. A long skinny minnow plug like a smithwick rogue and a soft plastic like a curly tail grub or swimbait on a lead headed jig. 
Fishing a minnow plug...
I feel that when it comes to minnow plugs most beginning fishermen get hung up on fishing minnow plugs that are too small. Most always the best time the best time to hook up with a big saugeye is after dark.  After dark a big minnow plug is easier for a fish to feel, to see, to hunt down and try to kill. There's just less chance for error on the fishes part. And most beginning fishermen are way too obsessed with how they are working their baits. Most of the time at night slow and steady wins the race for the same reasons that a big plug works best, easier for the fish to track and nail it. Slow is the key. Real real slow at times. That's where suspending plugs really come into their own especially in the winter time, they can just be worked slower than either a sinking or floating plug. Now for the part that's going to generate the hate mail. I feel that AT NIGHT you will catch many more with a slow and steady retrieve than with the typical jerks and pauses that are so popular with jerkbaits. Provided that you slow things down enough that you are taking just as long each cast as the guy that jerks and pauses. Now fishing lakes during the day is a different story and you could write a book on the best way to doctor a minnow plug to get it to hang just right on the pause to catch a wintertime fish on the pause. But I'm a river guy and I'm not going to try and act like I'm an expert on things I don't know much about so I'll leave that alone. Buy some husky jerks, some smithwick rogues, shadow rap shads or some of the other kazillion minnow plugs out there. Put on all the clothes you can stand and go out to the river in the middle of winter nights and fish the things slowly along rocky banks below low head dams and if there are saugeye in the river your bound to hook up eventually. Take note of where exactly you do hook up and eventually you will end up with a milk run of productive places to try. Too simplistic, not complicated enough? Probably but let's look at facts. Saugfish stack up below low head dams in winter in preparation for the springtime spawn, they feed better at night and they eat minnows. It just adds up. When a minnow plug doesn't work or just because they don't cost nine dollars apiece and work just as well or better most of the time many saugfishermen use soft plastics. which brings us to the next lure choice.
Fishing a jig and plastic trailer...
Curly tailed grubs and swimbaits are the second leg that most saugfishermen stand on. They are dirt cheap and you can afford to lose some. Which is important because when they are not up shallow at night hunting saugs are almost always glued to the bottom. Walleye are famous for suspending up off the bottom but sauger and saugeye aren't happy unless they are tight to the bottom. If you are chasing saugs during the day in a river your best bet is a soft plastic fished on a leadhead. Use a weight that allows you to retrieve the bait back just off the bottom. In other words bring a little variety of weights, some 1/8's a lot of 1/4's a few 3/8's and even a couple 1/2's. You want the bait swimming back just above the bottom so you might use several different weights in course of the same trip because of the water depth and current speed. During the day I might go as small as a three inch grub but when I'm after saugs I'm usually trying to catch a good one so something like a curly shad or a five inch grub fills the bill better for me. And again if you fish at night a bigger soft plastic is easier for a fish to find. Honestly I can't imagine saugfishing without soft plastics if there was ever a fish made for a minnow imitating soft plastic with a swimming tail of some sort it's saugers and saugeye. It's a match made in heaven. When I catch numbers of fish during the day it's almost always up on gravel or rock bars with swift current flowing over them or in swift flowing slots below lowhead dams. Active saugs like current even more than smallmouth bass. Inactive fish you have to dredge up off the bottom of deeper water adjacent to the bar or low head with a lead headed jig. Just vary the weight of the jighead to match the depth and current speed and a quality soft plastic will cover it all. That's one of the nice things about saugfishing, just throw a few jigheads and soft plastics in a baggie and stuff them in your jacket pocket and your all set. Of course other lures will work, I often catch saugs on lipless crankbaits at night in the summer and on diving plugs in pools but the two lure categories outlined above are all you need if your just going after saugs.