How to catch Sauger

Sauger feed in 34–76°F water and bite best at 45–65°F. Fish Scouter's season calendar follows them in 19 waters.

15 pts · trophy at 18"Feeds 34–76°FBest 45–65°FIn season nowRiverBridgeReservoir

About

The walleye's smaller, blotchier river cousin, built for the big, muddy, moving water of the Tennessee, the Ohio, the Mississippi and the Missouri — and the fish that keeps the tailwaters busy all winter.

How to fish it

The dam tailwaters in winter: a jig and minnow dragged along the bottom in the current seams and the slack-water edges below the lock walls.

What it eats

jig and minnowblade baitsthree-way rigs with a minnow

Live bait for it

Minnows (fatheads, shiners)Hooked lightly through the lips or behind the dorsal on a #6 to #2 hook under a slip bobber for crappie, perch and walleye; a big golden shiner on a 2/0 to 4/0 for largemouth, pike and stripers.

NightcrawlersWhole on a #6 to #2 hook under a bobber or on a bottom rig; threaded on a spinner harness drifted for walleye. The bait that catches everything in fresh water.