Michael Fischbach and Phillip W. Bettoli, Tennessee Cooperative Fishery Research Unit, Tennessee Technological University, Box 5114, Cookeville, TN 38505

Abstract. Indigenous sauger Stizostedion canadense in mainstream impoundments of the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, Tennessee, support important seasonal fisheries; however, sauger stocks supporting individual fisheries are characterized by extreme fluctuations in abundance. Experimental gill nets were used to sample sauger in four Tennessee River reservoirs and one Cumberland River reservoir from 1990 to 1997 and catch-per-unit-effort was calculated to index year-class strength. Age-1 sauger abundance was modeled as a function of the amount of water discharged and number of fingerlings stocked in previous years. Age-1 sauger catches in two upper Tennessee River reservoirs were directly related to total discharges the previous spring (February to April; r>0.86; P=0.0001); a similar relationship existed in Old Hickory reservoir on the Cumberland River (r=0.77; P<0.05). No significant relationship between spring discharges and subsequent age-1 sauger catches were evident in two lower Tennessee River reservoirs. Current models suggest that total February-April discharges between 7.9 and 19.9x10⁹ m³ may enhance recruitment below Tennessee River dams. Fingerling stockings and age-1 sauger catches were not related in the upper Tennessee River or Cumberland River; however, age-2 sauger catches in Old Hickory reservoir were strongly related to the number of fingerlings stocked two years earlier (r=0.99; P=0.0001).