# do saugeye suspend?



## senecasilly (Sep 10, 2005)

just wondering if saugeyes suspend like walleyes in open water areas chasing shad for example....thanks


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## bkr43050 (Apr 5, 2004)

I suppose anything is possible but in my experiences chasing them and everything that I have read saugeyes mostly sit tight to the bottom and structure. Whenever I chase them I try to work on or close to the bottom.


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## misfit (Apr 5, 2004)

they do suspend and i have caught a couple suspended fish,but you'll have much more success working the bottom.i think there are occasions when they may come up to hit a baitfish ball,but it's not a typical pattern that i'd search out and spend time on.


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## Smallmouth Crazy (Apr 4, 2006)

They Suspend feeding when Im around it seems


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## Corey (Apr 5, 2004)

Saugeye seem to take after Dad (Sauger) as far as being more bottom-related. I can count the suspended Saugeyes I have caught on 2 fingers, lol. They do seem to tend to feed up at night and during the Mayfly hatch. My observations are from many years of chasing these fish on my local waters which are mostly shallow older lakes. Saugeyes may well may have developed different habits in different, deeper, younger waters with more defined deep water structure. When fishing lakes like Alum Creek I have taken fish while power trolling tight to contours that may have been suspended off the structure.


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## billybob7059 (Mar 27, 2005)

From what I have been told if the only thing in the lake is saugeye then they won't suspend that much at all. But is there are walleye in the lake that suspend then the saugeye will to with the walleye. rember that saugeye have a little bit more sensitive eye then walleye.


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## Corey (Apr 5, 2004)

I think you're probably right there. Over the first 5 or so years when the ODNR first began stocking Saugeyes in the MWCD lakes we noticed that while the population of Walleyes was still dominant the Saugeyes seemed to school with them and do "Walleye things". As the population of Walleyes thinned out the Saugeyes changed their habits somewaht and began to do "Saugeye things". They do apparently split up under certain seasonal conditions though. One of the main differences between the two was found during radio telemetry studies done on both Walleye and Saugeye at Pleasant Hill about 25 years ago. In The Spring both species tended to relate to shallow sand/pea gravel to chunk rock substrates but in Fall, while the Saugeyes tended to return to those areas, the Walleyes moved to deeper, more defined rocky structure.


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