Awesome Sauger answer from KY Ohio River Biologist
Just see below, great, thoughtful answer to my question about sauger this year. Hats off to Jay for taking the time for a detailed thoughtful answer.
John,
I’ll be honest: you’re not the first person I’ve heard this from this year, and I’m sure you won’t be the last. I’ve heard from sauger rookies, and I’ve heard it from seasoned veterans. Additionally, Ohio DNR sampled Greenup tailwaters and Meldahl tailwaters just a few weeks ago, and numbers were the lowest they had been in years. Fish in large rivers are notoriously cyclic in numbers, but having a huge down year like this does concern me a bit. We were scheduled to go take a look at things this week, but the rain and high water stopped those plans.
A few things I have seen this year while on the river:
1) Sauger got a great spawn off earlier this year. While sampling embayment on Meldahl and Markland pools (Craigs Creek, Big Turtle Creek, Bracken Creek, etc.) this October, my crew sample hundreds to thousands of young-of-year sauger.
2) Contrary to popular belief this year, the shad ARE there. At times during our fall samples on the rivers, shad blanketed the surface.
3) Tailwater samples for most fish have been pretty poor. While gillnetting for Asian carp with the commercial fishermen below Greenup Dam, very few fish (of any species) were caught. My best thoughts on this are due to poor flows while we were sampling.
4) I have gotten a few reports of angler having better luck at the mouths of tributaries rather than up at the dam in the early season. If you’re willing to give it a try, take a look at the mouths Brush Creek and Kinniconick Creek as well as the small gravel and sand bars below those two tribuatries (good striper bites in those locations as well).
Based on what I’ve heard from Ohio and multiple fishermen, I have no doubt that the numbers are down, but here are a few things to keep in mind on why that may be this year:
1) As I’m sure you know the sauger bite (and therefore spawning run) is nowhere near its peak yet.
2) Often times rising water tends to push fish upriver whereas falling water triggers fish to pull back downriver. Until this past weekend we have not had any significant rises in the river during what we consider to be the sauger bite (Late November – April). Hopefully, this slug of water will push some fish up to the dams for you.
3) High water in 2011 affected many fish species in the Ohio Valley. Not only did it likely impact newly spawned sauger, but it likely also caused decreased survival of age-1 and possibly age-2 fish. Those fish that would now be harvest size may have been impacted by high water. If that’s the case, next year may also be a sub-par year (I hope not.)
4) Although we did not have a very hot summer, a mild all and early winter caused water temperatures on the Ohio River to remain elevated for slightly longer than normal. Temperature is also a cue for sauger movement and may be playing a role in low catch rates for the early season bite. Temperatures are where they should be now and will continue to fall. Hopefully increased numbers of sauger will be the result.
I wish I had the one and only correct answer for you, but the beautiful thing about riverine systems is that they’re always changing and new problems and solutions always arise. As soon as I get out on the river to take a look at sauger, I’ll send you some information on what we saw. If I can help you out in any way, feel free to email or call. Thanks for your interest and concern for one of the state’s best fisheries.
Cheers,
Jay Herrala
Fisheries Research Biologist
Big Rivers Branch
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources
#1 Sportsman's Lane
Frankfort, KY 40601
