WALLEYE AND SAUGER
Posted on February 3, 2009
Hey there
Here is some information on Walleye and Sauger.
Walleye are one of the most popular game fish there are. Hopefully this information will assist you in catching more of these great fish.
Should you require any further information please look at the walleye books, dvd’s and magazines that we have listed in our posts.
Regards from the crew.
Walleye
COMMON NAMES:
Various combinations of yellow, walleye, pickerel and pike; dory, gray pike, green pike, jack salmon, glass eye, marble eye.
DESCRIPTION:
One of the most popular gamefish in North America, the walleye is best known for its large, glassy eyes and nocturnal habits. In spite of potential for larger size, walleye are members of the perch family.
The common name, “walleye,” comes from the fact that their eyes, like those of cats, reflect light. This is the result of a light-gathering layer in the eyes called the tapetum lucidum which allows the fish to see well in low-light conditions. This special eye also allows them to see well in turbid waters (stained or rough, breaking waters) which gives them an advantage over their prey. The fact that they have such tremendous low light vision also allows the walleye to populate the deeper regions in any lake. Walleye have a large horizontal mouth with large pointed teeth. The body color is olive to brassy yellow with extensive mottling along the sides and a white or light cream venter. The six to seven saddles on the back are diffuse and ill-defined. The soft dorsal fin and caudal fin rays are pigmented, producing a somewhat mottled yet banded pattern. Spots on the spiny dorsal fin are small with no definite pattern or banding.
Walleye can often be found at night by shining a flashlight on the water. Their specialized eyes contain an extremely light-sensitive layer that is very reflective and glows under the light. In daylight, the walleye is easily recognized by the white tip on the lower lobe of the tail. The walleye has a well-camouflaged and fierce appearance thanks to their numerous prominent teeth. As a result, they are a highly successful predator.
Average walleyes weigh about two to three pounds but monsters in the 12 to 17 pound range are not uncommon in certain areas. We have had great luck trolling in the Bay of Quinte area of Ontario in the fall. We catch Walleye over 10 lbs routinely every fall just before ice over by trolling deep diving lures or through the use of line weights, lead core, wire line and other means of getting the bait down deep.
DISTRIBUTION:
The walleye is a freshwater fish that will rarely be found in brackish waters. It is a very successful predatory species that is found in Quebec, Ontario and the prairie provinces and even a small portion of British Columbia and the Northwest Territories. It is also found throughout most of the eastern United States and go all the way to the Gulf coast area of Alabama. The walleye also quite common in the Northwest Territories in a very broad area surrounding the Mackenzie River, Great Bear Lake and Great Slave Lake.
HABITS AND HABITAT
Male Walleye mature in two to four years of age while the females take three to six years. They thrive in a variety of different environments. They do seem to prefer a large, shallower lake with cloudier water and large weed beds as they suit the walleye’s extremely light-sensitive vision. In clear water, walleye will feed almost exclusively during low-light times such as late evening or night. Walleye are also found in large streams and rivers that contain deep or turbid water, which screens out some of the light. They also use logs, boulders, weed beds, and other sheltering features to evade sunlight. If the water is very clear, walleye may simply lie directly on bottom, even if the preferred temperature is not in their preferred range
Young walleye feed on microcrustaceans and insect larvae, while larger individuals prey on smaller fish, including a selection of suckers, darters, and minnows. Because of their highly effective night vision feeding usually occurs at night when individuals migrate from deeper areas to shallow shoals in search of baitfish.
WALLEYE FISHING TECHNIQUES:
Walleye can be taken by anglers using a wide variety of fishing styles. The method that is most often used is probably fishing with live bait. Most bait fishermen use worms, minnows, leeches or frogs. They can be fished either from shore or from a boat. Minnows are effective all year but work especially well during winter and spring when other baits are less effective. Worms and leeches are most often used in late spring and summer. Bait fishermen must always remember that the bait has to be lively in order to work. Walleye are notoriously light takers whose delicate strike can go unnoticed by the unwary angler, so you may have to use one of many trailer or secondary hook set ups.
Trolling with artificial lures is another popular method of catching Walleye. A lure a spoon or even a spinner is run over the top of or alongside structures such as weed beds, river mouths, dropping shorelines, islands or shoals. This is particularly effective in the summer months during the day as many large walleye will hold just inside the edge of weed beds waiting for what ever bait to swim along the edge so that they can strike. We have used medium sized crank baits such as the tail dancer very effectively in and around weed beds for walleye in the summer.
Successful anglers often cast for Walleye near waterfalls, dams, river mouths, or deeper sections of rivers. Spoons, casting plugs, spinners, and jigs should generally be worked slowly and close to the bottom. Casting for Walleye can often get frustrating since the lure presentation must be slow and deep, which means the lure frequently snags on the bottom. Jigs really should be allowed to actually hit the bottom before a lift-drop, lift-drop retrieve is begun by twitching the fishing rod. Some casting lures can be complimented with live bait such as a spinner-worm combination.
The ice fisherman uses two basic methods for taking Walleye once he has actually located the fish, often by using sonar gear rigged through the hole in the ice. Fish are often found near weed lines, in channels, or near shoals, and tip-up rigs are often used with one or two minnows as bait. When the fish are not concentrated, the ice fisherman will often switch to a jigging presentation, using various artificial lures tipped with minnows to attract stray or cruising fish.
WALLEYE FISHING TACKLE:
Walleye have long been a favourite of many anglers and can be caught on a wide variety of fishing gear. Wobbling plugs, such as the Rapala, Beno, or Flatfish are used and are especially effective while trolling over shallow structures or casting into faster moving rivers. In deeper structures, crankbaits, such as the Rapala Shad Rap or Rattlin’ Rap, are more effective. Spinners, such as the Mepps Aglia, or Blue Fox Vibrax, are also good Walleye baits, especially when they are worked nearer to the bottom. Ice fishermen will often use specialised jigging spoons, such as the Swedish Pimple, Mr. Champ, or Rapala Pilkie Spoon. The jig is undoubtedly, the most popular lure for Walleyes. These come in a variety of shapes and sizes and are especially deadly in fast moving or deeper water. Occasionally spoons, such as the Daredevil or Little Cleo can be effective in faster moving water.
TRY THESE TIPS
Walleye are notorious ’short hitters’ and will sometimes fail to strike with sufficient determination to become hooked. When this occurs, try rigging a baited trailer hook to your lure to draw a more detectable bite from the fish. A small treble usually works best.
If you are jigging near heavy weeds and find yourself constantly struggling with weeds on your jig, try snapping your jig off bottom. This will help you rip through vegetation and, at the same time, your jig will drop in front of fish in a more natural way. The best type of artificial jigs to use for this are Shad type baits and hair jigs in (black). We suggest that you use braided lines as they will allow you to literally rip through the weeds. Use a florocarbon leader. It is all but invisible to the fish and is highly abrasion resistant which is helpful in and around weedbeds and rocks. On heavily fished lakes, walleyes can become used to constant trolling pressure. Try using planer boards with Rapalas and worm harness type rigs in areas that everyone is fishing. You may be pleasantly surprised with the results.
SAUGER
Stizostedion canadense
COMMON NAMES:
Sand, blue or gray pickerel, pike or pike-perch, river pike, jack salmon, horsefish, spotted trout, rattlesnake pike
DESCRIPTION:
The sauger is closely related and generally similar in appearance to the walleye. Despite their many similarities, there are several distinguishable differences. The walleye has a white tip on the lower lobe of the tail fin which is very noticeable; the sauger does not. The sauger has distinct dark spots on its dorsal fins. The walleye may or may not have blotches of a much lighter colour on its dorsal fins.
Distinguishing between the sauger and the walleye can be extremely difficult when hybrids are encountered. Sauger / walleye hybrids are usually called ’saugeyes’ and may have any mix the characteristics of either species.
Sauger are generally much smaller than walleye. Most saugers caught by anglers weigh about one to three pounds, but fish of four to six pounds are much more common in some areas like the large river systems.
DISTRIBUTION:
Similar to the walleye, the sauger is a freshwater fish who only rarely ventures into brackish waters. Its numbers in Canada, are much more restricted than those of the walleye, and its range is limited to southwestern Quebec, most of Ontario, and the southern end of the prairie provinces.
HABITS AND HABITAT
The sauger is very similar to its relative, the walleye in its preferences. They seem to prefer large, turbid bodies of water. They appear to really like the large reservoirs formed by dams on larger river systems. The Mississippi, the Missouri, and the Ohio are all great examples of this. The large reservoirs are ideal habitat for the sauger, who will generally congregate near dams and as a result provide an excellent angling opportunity. They also do very well in large lake systems such as the Great Lakes
Stocking efforts in smaller bodies of water have consistently failed and scientists cannot provide an explanation for this mystery. Spawning occurs in the spring right after the walleye and usually during the last weeks of May or first weeks of June. ake shoals or river gravel are preferred sites with the male sauger arriving at the spawning beds before the females. During summer, sauger are found in the bays of large turbid lakes such as Lake Nipigon in Ontario. They adapt well to turbid or cloudy waters, and will tend to concentrate foraging efforts for the fry nearer the water’s surface in these cloudier waters. Sauger are specialized night predators with a light-gathering membrane known as the Tapetum lucidum. This serves them especially well at night and in their turbid habitat. Their diet consists mainly of other fish such as shad, bass, shiners, perch, walleye, burbot, chub, sticklebacks and other sauger. They may also prey on leeches, crayfish, and even various insects.
SAUGER FISHING TECHNIQUES:
Angling for Sauger is, in most respects, similar to Walleye fishing. Their flesh is exceptionally tasty, and although they are not known as superb fighters, they will readily take a lure or bait throughout the season. Most Sauger are routinely caught by Walleye fishermen while bait fishing, casting, trolling or ice fishing and are often mistaken for small Walleye. Live or dead minnows are used as bait in still fishing and ice fishing for Sauger. Like the Walleye, Sauger will mouth the bait very lightly, which means the angler must always be alert to slight movements. Other effective live baits include worms, leeches and occasionally crayfish.
Ice fishermen frequently catch Sauger with jigging lures sometimes tipped with a minnow. Trolling with appropriate plugs or spoons along weed lines, dropping ledges, or river mouths is a highly effective open-water technique. Because of the Sauger bonanza below reservoir dams, casting has become a prime method for taking Sauger. Small spinners such as the Little Joe or Panther Martin, and spoons such as the Rok’T-Devlet or Little Cleo are effective, as are the various types of hard and soft-bodied jigs. Regardless of the fishing style, the first challenge is to locate the fish and then to feel the extremely soft strikes on the bait or lure.
SAUGER FISHING TACKLE:
Sauger have consistently turned up in angler’s catches in the larger Canadian lakes. In the United States they have actually become a major resource, especially during their seasonal runs in late fall and early winter in the tail waters of large dams. Casting smaller plugs, such as the small Thin Fin Silver Shad, the Fat Rap, or the Wiggle Wart, often works, as does some smaller spoons and spinners. Perhaps the most popular artificial lures are the huge array of jigs that have become available. These come in a huge assortment of sizes, styles, colors, and constructions. They are especially effective in the deep, fast, and snag filled waters near dams. Marabou and bucktail jigs are old favorites and have since been complimented by soft plastic creations such as the Mister twister Sassy Shad, Twister Meeny, and the Blue Fox Vibrotail. Other unique jigs have incorporated spinners, propellers, and spoons such as the Whirly Bee, Cutie Pie, and Wigly Flipper.
TRY THESE TIPS:
Jig-fishing for sauger is highly productive but on slow days it often takes some live bait tipped on your jig to ensure a good catch of fish.
Sauger love current and fast-water areas below dams. In these situations some extra split shot clamped onto your line ahead of your spinner, spoon, or crankbait will help it run deeper to get down to the fish.
On really windy days, look for lake populations of sauger to move to shallow water in order to feed near shoals and rocky reefs where wave action will stir the water up and dissipate the sunlight.