Hooking Mortality of Saugers in the Tennessee River

We assessed hooking mortality of saugers Stizostedion canadense in two Tennessee reservoirs by holding fish overnight in a net‐pen. We also attached radio tags equipped with a mortality switch to 19 saugers to document survival. Rates of gas bladder overinflation and foul‐hooking using common terminal gear were estimated. The mortality rate for saugers observed in the net‐pen was only 4% (3 of 74). Seventeen of 19 radio‐tagged saugers were located and 15 were alive 12 d later (12% mortality). Although we could not detect a statistical relation between mortality and gas bladder overinflation, depth of capture was weakly related to the occurrence of gas bladder overinflation. When we caught saugers using the terminal gear most common in these fisheries (a bucktail jig tipped with a minnow and equipped with a trailing treble hook), equal numbers of fish were caught by the jig hook and stinger hook. Despite the fact that 42% of all the saugers we caught were foul‐hooked, blood flowed from the primary hook wound in only 21% of all the fish we caught. Concerns that using a stinger hook increases rates of foul‐hooking and mortality were unfounded; most (70%) saugers were hooked “fairly” (i.e., in the jaws or mouth) when the stinger hook was responsible for the hook‐up, and the jig hook was responsible for twice as many foul‐hookings as the stinger hook. Based on these findings, we recommend that the minimum length limit remain in effect for saugers in Tennessee waters. We also conclude that prohibiting the use of stinger hooks is unwarranted.