Sauger can keep anglers busy in winter

Many people see winter as a time to stay inside and keep warm. Most of the hunting seasons are ending, and hunters are hanging up their guns and bows.

Some fishermen dream about the opening day of trout season at Montauk or when spring crappie fishing at there favorite lake. They should be thinking about picking up their fishing poles and heading out to Mississippi River.

Winter can be an excellent time to catch one of the Mississippi River's meanest-looking and tastiest fish, the sauger. Most people have heard about the great-tasting walleye. But very few people have heard about the sauger.

The sauger is a close cousin to the walleye and is just as good to eat. In the Mississippi River around Cape Girardeau, saugers are far more plentiful than the walleye. In the last 10 years of sampling the fish communities on the Mississippi river, we have only captured 30 walleye from this section of the river, but we have caught over 800 sauger.

The Mississippi River is perfect for the sauger. Saugers have greater tolerance for the muddy waters and swifter currents. Walleye prefer clearer water and slower currents of the interior streams like the St. Francis, Black and Current rivers.

Why brave the colder weather to fish for these guys? Saugers are active and getting ready for the spawn. Spawning time for sauger usually runs from mid-February to early April. By then, the weather is getting a little warmer, and it is easier to find a nice sunny day to spend out on the water fishing.

A good place to fish for sauger in the Mississippi River is downstream of the wing dikes. The wing dikes are large rock structures that extend out into the river to keep most of the river's flow in the main channel. As the water swirls around the end of the wing dike, a sand bar is formed on the downstream side. Try to look for the point of this sand bar below the dike. The fish usually hang on the sand bar where it breaks and slopes into the deeper water of the main channel or scour hole that is formed behind the wing dike.

Another key ingredient is water velocity. Most often the fish can be found in fairly strong current. Another good place to try your luck is in small tributaries -- like Indian Creek and Apple Creek -- that run into the river. Sauger will make runs up into these creeks to spawn.

A jig that looks like a small minnow is a good bet. I usually either jig it vertically right on the bottom or cast out into the deeper water and bounce it up the sand bar.

Once you start catching a few, you may notice that they don't get as big as walleye. Sauger seldom get over 2 pounds, while walleye commonly reach 8 pounds or more.

Even though sauger are smaller than walleye, they are still just as good to eat. If you are looking for something to pass the time during these cold winter months get out and try to catch some sauger. All you have to remember is to dress a little warmer.

David Ostendorf is in the resource science division of the Missouri Department of Conservation and is based out of the Big Rivers/Wetlands (Open River) Field Station in Jackson.