Saugers

[norwaybay]

I've wondered why there are no saugers on Vermilion.  Lots of them up at lake of the woods and fun "bonus" fish to catch.  Probably an easy answer but wondering thoughts.

[JBMasterAngler]

Crane Lake has some saugers in it, but their journey up the vermillion river is cut short after just a few hundred yards by the vermillion gorge. I'm sure there's a few more barriers over the course of the river up to the lake that are impassable by fish as well.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

I have also wondered why there are no Sauger in Vermilion. I have never caught one there or heard of one being caught by anyone else.

Cliff

[JBMasterAngler]

Are walleyes even native to vermilion? Pretty much every lake in northeast Minnesota had walleyes introduced to them in the last 50 to 100 years. If walleyes weren't native to vermilion, saugers certainly wouldn't have been native either. Sauger numbers seem to shrink the farther east each lake gets from Rainy Lake.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

As far as I know walleyes are native to almost every lake that they are found in up north.

Cliff

[Wheres_Walter]

From the MN DNR-

 

The walleye is native to most of Minnesota, flourishing in large, shallow, windswept lakes with gravel shoals, such as Mille Lacs, Leech, Winnibigoshish, Upper and Lower Red Lake, Lake of the Woods and Lake Vermilion. It is also native to many smaller lakes and steams in all of Minnesota's major drainages. Because of its popularity as a game and food fish, the walleye was introduced to many other lakes, where it has become established. The walleye now occupies about 1,700 lakes totaling 2 million acres and 100 warm-water streams totaling 3,000 miles.

[chucker1101]

I catch saugers in rivers or in lakes with large river tributaries - they seem to be more of a river fish. Given there aren't big feeder rivers into V, i'm not surprised by lack of saugers. I've never caught one in V, nor have i heard of anyone.

 

[delcecchi]

I just figured that sauger weren't compatible with the Vermilion ecosystem. 

[TomWehler]

Figure it would be fun to have Saugers swimming around in our sweet Vermilion.

Mmmmmmmm goody good good!

 

Keep on rocken!

 

T