Foods and Feeding of Sauger 131 



151-400 mm. — Fishes were the number one food item by weight 

 (99.7%) and by frequency of occurrence (100%) of sauger in this length 

 class. Emerald shiners were the most important forage fish, with gizzard 

 shad second in importance. Dendy (1946) found that for sauger whose 

 standard lengths ranged from 200 to 480 mm, size had no influence on 

 the kind of food contained in the stomach. We came to a similar con- 

 clusion for fish in that size range. However, examination of 21 fish in 

 the 150-200 mm size range showed that none had consumed gizzard 

 shad, but all stomachs with identifiable food items contained emerald 

 shiners. This supports Vanicek (1964), who found that young-of-the- 

 year and yearling sauger in July and August consumed mostly Notropis, 

 despite the fact that gizzard shad were the most abundant forage fish 

 available. 



Catch Related to Temperature 



The WVDNR creel survey of the Ohio River tallied 6,499 sauger 

 harvested from the tailwaters of six dams on the river: New Cumberland 

 (RM 54.4), Pike Island (RM 84.2), Hannible Island (RM 126.4), Willow 

 Island (RM 161.8), Belleville (RM 203.9), and Gallipolis (RM 279.2) 

 dams. 



Regression analysis of the relationship between sauger catch and 

 water temperature showed a significant negative correlation (r = -0.87) 

 (Fig. 4). Sauger catch was greatest in November (2,268) with the mean 

 water temperature at 54° F, and smallest in August (44) with the mean 

 water temperature at 78.8° F. 



Factors other than temperature may relate to sauger catch in the 

 Ohio River. Doan (1941) found a high correlation (r = =0.m9) between 

 catch and turbidity for Lake Erie sauger. 



CONCLUSIONS 



Populations of emerald shiners and gizzard shad dominated the 

 supply of forage fish in the Ohio River during the study period. Clay 

 and Carter (1962) reported that the emerald shiner was by far the most 

 abundant species in the Ohio River, making up 57.8% of 741,438 fish 

 collected in a three-year period. In the same study, gizzard shad were 

 second in importance by number (14.5%) and most important by 

 weight, comprising 44.6% of 16 tons of fish. The future of sauger popu- 

 lations in the Ohio River is apparently dependent on the existence of 

 large numbers of gizzard shad and emerald shiners. Whether or not 

 sauger would become more opportunistic feeders in the absence of these 

 two forage species remains questionable. However, in all likelihood 

 sauger, as well as other piscivorous fishes, would suffer to some degree 

 if either of these food sources becomes depleted. 



