# Deer Creek Saugeye Study



## acklac7 (May 31, 2004)

Not sure if this has been posted here or not (probably has) but figured I would post it again in case anyone missed it. A good read for sure!

https://jamieschmale.ca/walleye/2008_Spoelstra.pdf

Some fascinating excerpts:



> _we estimate that about 17,337 saugeyes larger than 250 mm live in this tailwater in a year._


 



> _We found few of our tagged saugeyes in the Scioto River not necessarily because of a nonpreference for the river habitat but because of a nonpreference for the intervening stream habitat. Although our sample was small, the potential for long-range movement was demonstrated by four saugeyes that traversed the 45 km (27 miles!) of stream in 1–2 days during their passage to the Scioto River. Two individuals returned upstream from the Scioto River, covering this distance (45 km) in 6 and 15 d._


Pretty good read for the S-eye diehards.


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## allbraid (Jan 14, 2012)

Thanks AJ, just downloaded to my laptop. Looking forward to the read


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## Hoover 4 Me (Jul 30, 2013)

_we estimate that about 17,337 saugeyes larger than 250 mm live in this tailwater in a year._

That number almost seems astonishing for the size of that spillway but it’s totally believable if you’ve ever fished it. 250mm is about 10 inches...I’ve caught more saugeye than I can count that we’re around that size over the years in that spillway. Seen even more leave in baskets/buckets. It is what it is though, no size limit down there. As long as they don’t break the daily limit it’s whatever.


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## JOSH gets2fish (Aug 16, 2018)

Very interesting! Two thoughts come to mind. The study could be skewed because they are basing it entirely on fish that are large enough to be tagged and that are caught already in the spillway. So can it really be a surprise that a fish wants to stay and return to the spot where you netted it? Could it be there are other saugeye that early in life move right through to the scioto or even further and find a local hole they decide to live in.
If anything, so many staying in the spillway for so long dispels the myth that size limits would be of no use below spillways for saugeye. Seems they certainly hang around long enough to grow, even though I have heard several fishermen say that you should “keep any size you catch because the next heavy flood will wash them down to the scioto and eventually the ohio river”


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## STRONGPERSUADER (Nov 5, 2006)

I don’t belive there is any justification keeping 10-12” Saugeye. I think “getting washed downstream to larger waters” is the myth. So those fisherman think fish just stop swimming when waters rise lol? Those fish are that far down stream because they choose to be. I’ve caught quite a few in some high rolling water. Depending on water temp, they will just stack up in slower water, eddys, and breaks. They don’t all of a sudden lose their ability to swim in current... Also, just because they are sterile, the majority will still go through the motions. Fish migrate. Some long distances, some not so far, some not hardly at all. It’s all about habitat, food supply, water temp, and spawning. I wish the state would stock sauger in all dammed lakes and spillways throughout the state. Makes for great fisheries. Plus they can reproduce. Are the saugeye just cheaper to come by you think? Or is it because they just grow bigger than the sauger?


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## Doboy (Oct 13, 2008)

*"I wish the state would stock sauger in all dammed lakes and spillways throughout the state."
"Makes for great fisheries."*
"Or is it because they just grow bigger than the sauger?"

Ditto That x3! 
'Saugeye',,, Because they don't mess with walleye DNA!
You gotta go back a year or two & read the (heated) arguments about stocking them in Erie!
(like,,, those beautiful GREEN walleyes with BLACK splotches all over their bodies! lol,,,, ;>)

'SAUGER'.
Just imagine,,,, The Conn, Bula,,,, The GRAND.
With THOUSANDS OF THEM COMING UP THOSE FEEDER RIVERS, ALL WINTER!!!?
omg,,,,, ;>)

I was told that PA stocked them into the Mahoning??? What did that hurt?
THANKS acklac for the informative post.


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## STRONGPERSUADER (Nov 5, 2006)

Saugeye can spawn with Either walleye or sauger but it’s very rare. Maybe that’s why they don’t want them throughout the state. But man those Saugeye can get huge. I can’t see why they don’t stock all fertile streams and rivers though. But I’m not a biologist. I imagine everyone’s a biologist when comes to that debate.


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## Snookhunter52 (Apr 1, 2019)

Yes it was interesting to learn that only 2% of saugeye make it into the scioto river and the only time fish left the tailwaters was during episodes of low dissolved oxygen in summer. I would have thought more fish were flushed down during periods of heavy rains. It would be interesting to see if they collected an data from last year and then compare both the saugeye and precipitation data from 2008 and 2018. I'm mostly curious about last year because we had record rainfalls.

The genetic integrity of walleye in the ohio river is another interesting topic because the understanding of what a species is in the eyes of biologists is a little fuzzy because there are some species that are very distinct but can still breed and make viable offspring like wolves, coyotes and dogs. All three can breed with each other without a problem but we still consider them different species. It's likely the walleye in the ohio river probably have some sauger DNA in them but as the paper states they haven't looked to see if the genetics of the walleye are "pure" or were ever "pure". Honestly genetic purity is beginning to look more and like a trap that biologists get caught in because we think things are always black and white but unfortunately it's all grey Haha. As we learn more about ecosystems we're beginning to understand that a particular niche a species occupies is more important than the species itself. But there's a lot of biologists that will disagree with me about that because people often times get attached to specific charasmartic species. Don't get me wrong we should protect native species but biology a lot of the time is more messy and imperfect than people care to admit.


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

Thanks aj


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