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Saugeye Reproduction
By Jim Corey

          When the subject of Saugeyes comes up in my shop, fishing chatrooms, or on message boards, one of the most confusing topics is: "Do Saugeyes reproduce or not?" Most anglers have formed their beliefs on this subject from "what they've heard" because there has been little or no effort on the part of  State Fisheries Departments and DNR's to educate the angling public. Even questions directed to Game Wardens and Park Rangers brought conflicting responses when I tried to get some answers for myself.  Since Ohio was in the forefront of the experimental Saugeye stocking programs and much of the original research was done here, I decided to go to the source and find out for sure. 
          Ohio State University, Department of Bio Sciences did much of the original experimentation and controlled and evaluated the data gathered in the first Ohio stockings. Some of the data that they used was collected from earlier stockings done in Kentucky and Tennesee.
          Contrary to popular belief, Saugeyes can and do reproduce both with either parent species and with other Saugeyes. The most informative study that I have been able to find on the subject was done by M.C. Hearn in 1986, titled "Reproductive viability of Walleye-Sauger hybrids". It was published in the Progressive Fish-Culturist 48:149150.(now the North American Aquaculture Journal)
          Part of the confusion lies in the fact that all Saugeyes are not created equal. Of the eggs resulting from the cross of a male Sauger and a female Walleye (F1 Hybrids), some will turn out to be true Triploid Saugeyes (sterile hybrids), while others from the same egg mass will not develop eggs or even show recognizable gender differences. Still others will develop with the ability to produce viable eggs. In the study done by Hearns, the eggs from Female F1 Hybrids (Saugeyes) were fertilized by milt from male Saugers. The results were 38% "swim-up-fry". This term means that, out of the total eggs produced by this single cross, 38% lived to complete the swim to the surface necessary for Walleye/Sauger/Saugeye fry to break the surface tension of the waters' surface and take that mouthfull of air needed to fill their swim bladders for the first time. They then performed the same experiment with one male and one female F1 Hybrid (Saugeye) and, when Saugeye-to-Saugeye, the % of swim-up-fry was 46%, 8% better than when the Saugeye eggs were fertilized by milt from a parent species. 
          Further confusion is caused when the body of water where the Saugeyes are stocked has no proper spawning habitat. Naturally, no reproduction can take place in such waters. In different bodies of water the survival rate of Walleye fry to adulthood may range from 1% to 10%, depending on predation and other factors. That figure is basically the same for stocked Saugeye fry. With Saugeye, however, only a small percentage of the fish that reach adulthood will be capable of producing viable eggs. Then, of course, if those eggs aren't deposited in the proper spawning areas, under the right conditions, and fertilized with milt from that equally small percentage of male Saugeyes who are virile, the whole point is moot. 
          In the right body of water, with the right conditions, Saugeye can and do reproduce, but in a limited way, and not in a way to sustain a population without stocking. 
          I hope that this helps clear up some of the confusion about one of the most exciting additions to the gamefish species available to anglers across the country.
          
Other studies of interest are:

"Comparative survival, growth, and reproductive development of juvenile Walleye, Sauger, and their hybrids reared under intensive culture conditions." J.A. Malison, D.L. Johnson, and S.A. Schell. 1982 North American Journal of Fisheries Management 2:381-387

"Reproduction of Saugeyes (Fx Hybrids) and Walleyes in Normandy Reservoir, Tennesee." F.C. Fiss, S.M. Sammons, P.W. Betolli, and N. Billington, 1997.  North American Journal of Fisheries Management 17:215-219

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