[Zman]

Joe and I hit Harriman again tonight after work...I managed a 25 inch Northern on a minnow on 6 pound line...he is pretty thin...put up a good fight...was fishing for saugeyes...I didnt notice he hit it right away...was casting again for Muskies (should be approaching a 1000 casts any day now)
but he managed to have it pretty deep inside his mouth...size 10 hook...6 pound line...no leader...somehow the line never hit his teeth...he went back anyway:



Joe managed a couple of nice saugeyes with the largest pushing 20 inches...caught them on that jointed crawdad rapala thingee...his were really fat...they werent put back...I adopted them in the name of my skillet...we were hopeful after dark but it didnt turn on the way we thought it would...a really nice night except I didnt secure my sunglasses and must of set them on the truck and lost them when I pulled away...I went back around 10pm but couldnt find them...grrrrrrrrrr...oh well I managed to keep them for 5 years...they were pricey but worth the money...nice and dark...I bought them in Hawaii...anyway here is Joe's fish:

 

[work2fish]

Z,

Some nice fish --- thanks for the pics. I thought that only walleye's had the white tip on their tail and that is how a person distinguished them from saugeyes. ???

 

[epic]

Doesnt catching a pike like reset the tiger musky cast count or soemthing? Those are some nice saugers, I also dont know how to tell walleyes from saugeyes. Do they taste different?

 

[Zman]

Several topics I found on Walleye/Sauger/Saugeye Identification:

Part of the job of a creel clerk is knowing the difference between walleyes and their sauger cousins.

After the first few hundred fish checked in, creel clerk Shawna Kerndt could tell from a distance. Still, she offers a few tips for anglers who aren?t sure. That is important anytime, but especially so when dealing with different possession and length limits.

"The first characteristic is the coloration," explained Kerndt. "Walleye have a greenish texture all the way through. Saugers, and hybrid saugeyes, have brownish, mottled sides."

She then fanned the dorsal fins of nearly identical 16-inch fish.

"You notice here on the walleye, the black pattern goes all the way through. On the sauger, it looks more like dots scattered on the fin."

If there is still a question, Kerndt suggests checking the texture of the cheeks.

"The sauger has scales on it. You can feel it, whereas a walleye?s cheeks are smooth."

Although some anglers look for a white tip on the tail, that is not Kerndt?s first choice. A walleye does have a white spot on the tip of its tail. A sauger does not. But the hybrid saugeye, can have that white tip. Since saugeyes and saugers are treated alike for possession purposes, that can only lead to confusion

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe a saugeye will have both the spots on the dorsal fin of the sauger and the white on the tail of the walleye.

Yes, the descriptions above are true and the most distinctive way to tell is that walleyes have no scales on their gill plates, saugeyes do just like saugers. Their coloring resembles more of the sauger than the walleye but you can see the genetic traits of the walleye. I can see the difference in them in how saugers and walleyes spread their gills when caught resembling the spread of the sauger. They have more of a similar color to a sauger then a walleye and they definitely have scales on their gill plates just like a sauger does. I've caught them on the Iowa river here in Iowa, stocked by the dnr. They stocked them for their agressive eating habits similar to saugers compared to the finicky eating habits of walleyes and they do grow big and faster, the ones we caught were from 3 too 8 pounds and lots of others caught them too fishing for walleyes. They are a nice fish to have in the water because of their fast growth and aggressive feeding hablit plus their size make it nice. They have the size of a walleye with the feeding habits of a sauger, they are a nice fish. Nice catches of sizable fish per day are fairly common. If you catch a fish that looks more like a sauger and has the weight and size of a walleye, over 6 or 7 pounds its a saugeye or a new worlds record sauger. Their is some natural reproduction of this fish in the wild by cross spawning and its real effective done in a hatchery. Im not sure if they use a female walleye because of the numbers of eggs they have available to spawn and a male sauger or vice versa, be interisting to know this. Im kinda surprised that they aren't stocked more than they are, perticulary in lakes that are over populated with lots of small fish. They can't reproduce so they won't take over and are a temporary stocking only as not to throw the natural swing of things off. Their a heck of a gamefish

From the Iowa fishing regulations brochure:

Walleye. Walleye have a white tip on the lower tail fin; do not
have distinct blotches or mottling on the sides; forward (spiny)
portion of the dorsal fin has dark streaks or blotches rather than
distinct black spots.
Sauger. Sauger do not have a white tip on the lower tail fin; back
is crossed with several darker saddles or blotches extending down
on both sides; distinct black spots on the forward (spiny) portion of
the dorsal fin aligned in rows.

From the Oklahoma fishing regulations brochure:

Walleye -
? No spots on spiny
dorsal fin
? Few or no cheek
scales
Sauger -
? Distinct spots on spiny
dorsal fin
? Body tan with distinct
brown blotches
? Cheek covered with
scales
Saugeye -
? Spiny dorsal fin with
distinct spots and bars
in webbing
? Body gold with distinct
brown blotches
? Cheek covered with
scales

 

[MacGyver-O-Fishin]

Nice fish and thanks for the info on the Saugeye/Sauger identification methods.

Sorry about the sun glasses, I hate when that happens.

 

[work2fish]

Z,

OK, thanks for the clarifications. Sounds like the presense of cheek scales is a better way to tell the difference!

 

[idratherbfishing]

Great fish, now why doesn't that happen when I fish there?

Dan

 

[fatfish]

Great info on sauger/saugeye!!