Ok, I'm thinking this is a Saugeye that I caught today due to it's dark oval and round shaped splotches. Most walleye I catch at berlin and other places are usually lighter and more uniform in color. My neighbor put these in our pond and I've caught a few but this was the biggest so far. No wonder the bass fishing is tough, this guy prob eating up all the minnows and smaller bait fish. What does everyone think?
I agree that it is a walleye or a saugeye, or maybe even a sauger(?) I think you should fillet it, freeze it, and overnight to me FedEx. I can only tell by taste.
Grin... its already filet'd but its going in my tummy tomorrow night! I was pretty sure it was a saugeye but I've caught 2 saugeyes ever so sometims I get them confused with walleye.
Definitely a saugeye. On the other hand its been so long since I have caught one I might not know the difference.
MOM,the saugeye normally has dark irregular splotches on it's body,along with black spots on the dorsal fin,which walleyes don't have.that's usualy the easiest way to tell the difference,but sometimes they can be confusing.
Thanks Misfit.... Hopefully, someday, I will get the chance to ask myself.... "Self... is this a Walleye or a Saugeye?"
Nope Rick, Shortsocks is right on top of things all right. The important word in your answer is "normally". When attempting to identify a Walleye or Saugeye by purely physical means, remember that a pure Walleye doesn't carry any Sauger color genes so is not going to exhibit any of those traits. A Saugeye, on the other hand, carries the color genes from both parents, and can look like either Mom or Dad. It's easy to tell if a fish IS a Saugeye but much tougher to tell for sure if it ISN'T. It's like trying to tell if Shortneck is a Deer hunter.............
That's definitely the best way to explain it. It can look like a walleye, a sauger, or most often a combination of the two. Although in the case of my baby sister she doesn't look like Mom or Dad. I wonder if that's called the "mailman" gene.
I read in the Walleye Insider magazine a couple of years ago that a study was conducted to see if fisheries biologists could identify a saugeye versus a walleye by sight. Guess what? The biologist could not reliably identify which species it was. Just food for thought for everyone. Don't forget that a fish's markings change based upon the surroundings it is in. Joel
Man this thread was made for me!!!! My obsession for multi species fishing constantly requires me having to ID stuff... i have multiple field manuals and still hafta consult fish biologists rather regularly... (and yes often they get stumped too) So many environmental factors like water temp, what they are eating, specific 'strain' attributes, cross breeding, mutations, and whether your trying to ID a juvy fish... it's a nightmare! (but also fun) I've mislabeled so many fish and revised my catches more than i can count- but i love the constant challenge. Walleye vs. Saugeye, the general rules previosuly stated were right on target and I agree it's an Eye' lol... yea it's a SaugEYE
