[oldstinkyguy]

Here's what ODNR says: Sauger do not have large white edges to the lower part of their tail and anal fin like a walleye, at best they have a very thin lighter colored edge that is often more yellow in color.
Saugeye also have white tips on the lower part of the tail and anal fins.
Here's the fish

Here's the tail:

No white on the anal fin, no dark blotch on the dorsal either

The state records 24 and a half inches long but it weighed 7.31 pounds. I don't think this fish weighed that much. But it was longer...

 

[Murky&deep]

Where's the rest of the beast?

 

[Murky&deep]

Now I see it. Wow! An amazing sauger. Sauger also have spots on a translucent dorsal fin.

 

[Dandrews]

Holy crap!! That's a nice one!!

 

[GarrettMyers]

That is an absolute beast! You know more about these than I do, but my first instinct says saugeye because I feel like I can see the walleye in it. The color seems to have those little tiny gold/greenish spots that walleye have. Calling them spots isn't really a good description, more like the individual pixels in a digital screen. I could be completely wrong. Just going with my gut. Congrats my friend!

 

[GMR_Guy]

Wow!!! That is a gigantic sauger. I would send that picture to the ODNR. Some states, such as West Virginia, have a length record as well as a weight record. That fish is surprisingly thick for this time of year, I can only imagine what it might have weighed had it been winter or pre-spawn. Awesome catch.

 

[zuelkek]

Isn't that a sauger all the way? It would help to see the dorsal fin, but it looks totally like a sauger to me. And wow, what a nice one! That is a major-league catch. I wonder if it came up from the Ohio? I've never fished it, but I do hear of lots of big saugers there, especially just below the dams.

 

[Mr. Map]

Whatever they are, Sauger, Suageye, or Walleye - I have a spot on the GMR near my home where I catch that size with regularity. I kid you not, I caught one this year that I estimated to be my first ever ten-plus pound fish of ANY species other than carp. I haven't taken pics or measured because they are never the fish I was looking for. Every time I've caught one, I've been fishing for smallies, and have been bummed that the monster smallmouth that I initially thought I'd hooked is actually some other species that I can't even identify.
If OSG isn't certain, I feel much better about that ignorance. But perhaps I need to start taking pictures.....

 

[acklac7]

Not every hybrid is going to exhibit 100% "by the book" traits. IMO the banding on that fish is way to faint be be a pure Sauger, also a little to much green/yellow (as has been previously stated.). IMO, that is a Saugeye (and a nice one at that). This relatively cool/rainy summer has treated them eye-balls well, all the ones we've been catching lately have been exceptionally healthy and "plump'.

Congrats OSG:B

 

[co-angler]

Only one word comes to mind the instant I saw that and that was, " whoa"!

Your frickin resume is an impressive one OSG.
Well done!


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[9Left]

Much respect osg! Hell of a nice catch!

 

[9Left]

only one word comes to mind the instant i saw that and that was, " whoa"!

Your frickin resume is an impressive one osg.
Well done!


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+1 co..........

 

[senger]

At least you didn't catch another 20 lb goldfish...

If it weighed 1.5 pounds we would have all said it was a sauger. Maybe a guy who fishes every minute and is good at it caught a really big one. Besides turning loose a fish longer than the state record makes for a swell story. No matter either way it was a great fish.

 

[Matulemj]

Well done, sir.

 

[gibson330usa]

Beauty of a fish OSG.

I was under the assumption that most the Mid-LMR saugfish were saugers, I've ran into another fisherman down there once who thought they were saugeyes. I mostly catch them on craw baits which ODNR says is a primary food source for sauger while saugeye eat primarily small fish.

 

[Xim2coolx]

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[Cat Mangler]

Couldn't tell ya what it is, as I'm still just trying to get a saug myself and have only seen pics. But its definitely a good healthy looking fish either way.

Sent from my V8000_USA_Cricket using Ohub Campfire mobile app

 

[BornWithGills]

Wow tough call....what's not difficult to see is that you caught a dandy saugfish nice work osg!


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[imalt]

A big fish is big fish no matter what it is. Nice job.

 

[yakfish]

Fantastic fish sauger or otherwise! I have to think it is a sauger though. Even though I am far from an authority on the subject.