Mid to late winter is the time of year when saugeyes, hybrid cross between walleyes and sauger, draw increased angling attention. Closet members of the saugeye fan club -- or merely fair-weather wannabees looking to catch something that bites well at this time of year -- trickle down to the shoreline or out onto the ice, depending on the local climate. With a rod in one hand and often dragging a cooler in the other, they're also usually looking to garner a meal in exchange for their efforts.
Why? Besides their savory flavor, saugeyes are an infertile hybrid and don't naturally reproduce (except in rare occurrences with members of their parent stock, notably sauger). Most populations are therefore sustained by stocking, and fisheries departments manage them as put-and-take species, encouraging anglers to harvest a reasonable amount of fish for the table. Since keeping a few tasty fillets neither affects the brood stock nor tortures the conscience, anglers tend to equate saugeyes with Friday night fish fries, rather than a catch-and-release ethic. As lakes and impoundments edge past midwinter into some aspect of late winter conditions, triggering prespawn urges, saugeyes take up predictable positions and exhibit classic behavior according to what the local environment offers. Let's look at several examples, north and south, to see how saugeyes react at this time of year, and what you can do to catch 'em.
DOWN SOUTH
The shallow night bite -- Cut a swath across eastern Colorado, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Tennessee -- prime saugeye country. Warm, muddy impoundments abound, often too warm for walleyes, too sparse coverwise to support many bass. Enter the saugeye, stocking solution to too few naturally reproducing predators swimming amidst too much uneaten forage. A case of too, too, too, become too good to be true.
Late January and February bring inshore saugeye movements as fish prepare to fulfill their spawning instincts, even though eggs deposited amidst the rocks will fail to survive. Nevertheless, fish pile up along rocky shoreline points at the mouths of active coves, or along the faces of dams and causeways. With dingy water to begin with in these impoundments, and muddy water flowing into the reservoir, saugeyes go on the prowl in knee-deep water -- particularly at sunset. Casting a shallow minnow imitator like a Storm ThunderStick (Lake Thunderbird, Oklahoma) or neutrally buoyant lure like a Rapala Husky Jerk triggers tremendous catches. The fish move so shallow at last light that you're often better off casting as parallel to shore as possible, running the bait in barely inches of water.
The deeper daytime bite -- Surprisingly few folks bother with it. They just walk down to the bank in the evening when the saugeyes are running and make a few casts along rocky shorelines, pounding nice fish on crankbaits in a couple feet of water next to shore.
Weeks or months later, when the spring (mock) spawning run is over, saugeyes generally fade into the woodwork. Most are caught incidentally by bass fishermen tossing spinnerbaits or crankbaits into shallow flooded wood cover rimming the shoreline, or on exposed rock banks or hard-bottomed shoreline points, where available. A few folks fish roadbeds -- good fishing year-round. Open-water fishing for saugeyes is ripe for exploration.
