05/28/2026
🎣 NEWS: Our agency stocked 130,000 sauger into the Maumee and Sandusky rivers as part of a pilot project to restore a self-sustaining population in Lake Erie’s western basin.
🐟 Sauger were historically abundant and a key commercial and recreational species in the tributaries, bays, and nearshore areas of Lake Erie’s western basin. Lake Erie sauger populations collapsed in the 1950s because of poor water quality, habitat modification, and overfishing. Today, sauger are common in the Ohio River and its larger tributaries upstream to the first dam.
💦 Water quality improvements, expanded access to spawning habitat, and healthier tributary systems have created the foundation for sauger populations to succeed in northwest Ohio. The sauger were approximately 1-2 inches long when they were stocked into the Maumee and Sandusky rivers. The fish were hatched and raised at Hebron and London state fish hatcheries in central Ohio.
📊 The goal of the Division of Wildlife’s stocking program is to add enough fingerlings annually to re-establish a self-sustaining sauger population in Lake Erie. Sauger produced in 2026 and 2027 will be used as pilot stockings.
📍 Restoration stockings from 2028 to 2037 will occur annually at specific locations in both the Maumee and Sandusky rivers. Differences in survival and movement between rivers will be evaluated. Strategies will be adjusted based on habitat capacity and fish survival.
