Sauger
Sander canadensis
Also known asSand pickerel · Jack salmon
Water parameters
Minimum tank: 1000 L per individual at harvest size.
Feed and growth
- Feed protein
- 42% target
- Daily feed (warm)
- 1.20% of body weight
- Daily feed (cool)
- 0.50% of body weight
- Max density
- 30 g per litre
A 1400 g adult eats about 16.8 g of feed per day at optimum. 10 fish at adult size: ~168 g daily.
Legality
Rules vary by jurisdiction and change over time. Verify with your local fisheries or wildlife authority before stocking.
| Jurisdiction | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| California | prohibited | verified 2026-05-13 |
Unlisted jurisdictions default to "check local regulations".
Origin and habitat
Native to large, turbid rivers and reservoirs of central and northern North America, through the St. Lawrence and Great Lakes, Hudson Bay and Mississippi basins, from Quebec and Alberta south to northern Alabama and Louisiana. It is a close relative of the walleye, Sander vitreus, and fills much the same role but usually stays smaller, with most fish around 35–50 cm and 1–2 kg, though the species can reach about 76 cm and 4 kg and live up to 18 years. Sauger hold deeper, more turbid, faster water than walleye; a strong reflective layer in the eye, the tapetum lucidum, lets them hunt in that dim, sediment-laden water, and where the two share clear water the walleye tends to outcompete them. They feed near the bottom on insects, small crustaceans and small fish. The flesh is white, firm and finely flavoured, hard to tell from walleye on the plate. Many river populations have fallen as dams block spawning runs and reshape the large, turbid channels the fish need.
Climate and outdoor ponds
- Climate
- temperate (handles seasonal swings)
- USDA zones
- 3–8 (winter low around -40°C or warmer)
- Heating needed
- no
- Cooling needed
- yes, if summer water exceeds upper tolerance
Care notes
A cool-water predator with little practical aquaponics use, kept here mainly for reference and for growers in central US river systems who want a locally native percid. Sauger carry the same culture problems as walleye: they are predators that resist weaning from live food onto pellets, grow slowly in tanks, and stress easily in close confinement. They favour water around 18–20°C, within a tolerance of roughly 5–26°C. In culture, fish that accept pellet feed of 42 to 48 percent protein might reach 200–500 g in 18 to 24 months, but some never take dry feed; weaning has to start with very small fingerlings under about 5 cm. Solid feed-conversion data are scarce because so little intensive culture exists, with rough estimates of 2 to 3. Keep dissolved oxygen above 5 mg/L and ammonia low, and stock lightly, around {density:8}-{density:15}, since the fish stress readily. Commercial fingerlings are hard to find; state agencies raise sauger for restocking but rarely sell surplus. The species crosses readily with walleye to make the saugeye, a hybrid that agencies stock widely for sport, handles warm turbid reservoirs better than either parent, and is itself fertile. Between the two, walleye is the more workable culture fish, so sauger appeals mainly to operators in the Ohio and Missouri drainages set on a native species.