Angler Exploitation of Anchor-Tagged Saugers in the Lower Tennessee River

Abstract

During the winters of 1992 and 1993, 1,083 saugers Stizostedion canadense were captured, tagged with numbered Floy anchor tags, and released in the headwaters of Kentucky Lake below Pickwick Dam, Tennessee. Saugers were tagged over a 4-week period in early 1992 and a 3-week period in late 1992 and early 1993. All fish tagged within a week were considered to be a separate tag group. A monetary reward, ranging from US$5 to $100, was offered for the return of each tag with information on when and where each fish was caught. Overall exploitation (harvest) rates, adjusted for tag loss but not for nonreporting, were 32% in 1992 and 36% in 1992–1993. Group-specific exploitation rates were highest for the first group tagged in each year. A linear model explained variation in group-specific exploitation rates as a function of the number of days between tagging and 15 March each year (P < 0.01; r2 = 0.90). The linear model predicted that exploitation would exceed 50% for saugers reaching the Pickwick Dam tailwater by 1 December each year. Although over 85x1 of all tag returns came from the 30-km Pickwick Dam tailwater in both years, some tagged fish passed through dams and were caught throughout the lower 500 km of the Tennessee River.