Sauger

Sauger look like slim walleye with dark saddle blotches on a brassy body, rows of distinct black spots on the spiny dorsal fin and no white tip on the lower tail lobe. They are native to the big river systems of central North America, from the Missouri, Mississippi and Ohio drainages up to Hudson Bay and the St. Lawrence, and they thrive in turbid, fast, deep rivers and the reservoirs built on them. Most fish run 12–16 in; a 3 lb sauger is a trophy and the species rarely passes 5 lb, with the 8 lb-plus world record from Lake Sakakawea the outlier.

Sauger have even more light-gathering eye tissue than walleye and feed in murky water and low light, chasing shad, shiners and insects along current seams and deep channel edges. They migrate upstream in fall and winter to stack below dams and in deep holes, spawning on gravel in early spring when water hits 40–50°F (4–10°C). Tailwater jigging in December through March is the classic fishery on the Tennessee, Cumberland, Ohio and Missouri rivers. Sauger also hybridize with walleye to produce saugeye, which many states stock in reservoirs.