Has anyone here ever caught a Saugeye before?

[Water Wolf]

Hi everyone,
 Has anyone ever caught or seen a saugeye?  They are a cross between a female walleye and a male sauger. They don't usually get very large, average 1 lb, but, seem to do well in waters that can be tough for walleye to survive in. They exhibit some of the characteristics of each fish.  They have the blotches of a sauger, and, the white tip on the lower lobe of  the tail fin, like a walleye.  There diet is similar to a sauger, consisting mainly of perch and other small fish. They can be caught with similar equipment and rigs as you would for sauger.

Water Wolf

[ginnz]

yep, caught em in the red river...... same old as fishin for regular saugers.

[bluegill hunter]

I have caught some Saugeyes before on Lake Sakakawea.  I have to disagree on what you said of them being small.  Over on Ft. Peck, Montana, the ones they catch are bigger than the sauger.  Here in ND, the saugeyes also get bigger than most sauger.  Some that I have caught are up to 4 pounds.  I will see if I can find some pictures of the ones I caught.  But check out some sites on Ft. Peck and you will see that they are bigger than sauger.  I just checked the state records for ND and the state record saugeye is 11lbs. 12 oz.  Montana's record saugeye is bigger however.

[Ashnohgrimbatul]

Yep, I've caught them on the Winnipeg River.  Biggest was about 2lbs.

[IceTroll]

Saugeyes can get pretty large and we catch them regularly at Ft. Peck. I have seen them over 10 lbs. The world record Saugeye comes from Ft. Peck and weighed 15.6 lbs. The world record sauger also comes from Ft. Peck and weighed 8.8 lbs. There size depends on the body of water they are found in as well as the availability of good forage. Hope this helps.

IceTroll
     

[fozsey]

Some State Fisheries Division Hatcheries are starting to use Saugeye as opposed to Walleye in places that Walleye don't do very well. Saugeye will eat fish that Walleye won't and they are tough as nails when it comes to surviving in a stocked environment. They also grow faster than Walleye which combined with the miminal problem of survival in stocked areas makes them much cheaper all the way around to raise and keep. I read an article from the In Fisherman from March 2004 and that article stated when the Ohio Division of Fisheries started raising Saugeye they thought that they would never get over 3 or 4 lbs. They were very wrong. The Saugeye are beginning to overtake trophy Walleyes in some places one of which Ice Troll stated being Ft. Peck, MT.

[IceTroll]

Not to mention that the populations of Saugeye can be controlled by how they are stocked. These fish are sterile, much like a tiger muskey or a Wiper, so there is no natural reproduction. Another reason to practice catch and release especially with trophy class fish.

IceTroll
     

[iceintheveins]

We have populations of them in some Eastern Colorado Lakes. John Martin Reservoir, one of the biggest reservoirs in the state, has tons of them. Since John Martin is more stained water with about 5 feet of visibility, saugeyes do better there as they are more tolerant of dirty water. They also seem to like warmer water temps than walleyes, can be found in shallower water, and are more active during the day. In Colorado's clear lakes with the extra intense sun due to high elevations, sometimes walleyes bite almost exclusively after sunset or before the sun comes up. So saugeyes can get up to 10 pounds and are a little easier to pattern than walleyes.

Tyler

[Water Wolf]

Hi guys, good to see areas with large saugeye in them.

Water Wolf

[IceTroll]

itsmedick

A wiper is a white bass/striped bass hybrid. Not sure of all the places they can be found but Colorado has a few reservoirs stocked with them. They can get pretty large and are ferocious fighters. But like most hybrids they are sterile and cant reproduce so they are strictly stocked fish.

IceTroll
     

[bigvfb]

Hi everyone,
 Has anyone ever caught or seen a saugeye?  They are a cross between a female walleye and a male sauger. They don't usually get very large, average 1 lb, but, seem to do well in waters that can be tough for walleye to survive in. They exhibit some of the characteristics of each fish.  They have the blotches of a sauger, and, the white tip on the lower lobe of  the tail fin, like a walleye.  There diet is similar to a sauger, consisting mainly of perch and other small fish. They can be caught with similar equipment and rigs as you would for sauger.

Water Wolfive caught a bunch of them in the pittsburgh area below dams  the biggest was 27inches ii hadnt relized they got that big

[perch pounder]

I believe that the fish on the upper left is a saugeye while the one in the middle is a pure blood sauger and the big one is a walleye .

The walleye had no scales on it's cheek while the sauger had scales all over it's cheek .

The Saugeye had scales on only 1/2 it's cheek and the other 1/2 was smooth.



 I may be wrong in the identification of the fish so don't quote me on this .

[bigredonice]

PP, I am betting your right...also the saugeye has the blotched sauger appearance, but yet has the white tip on the caudel fin (tail)

[coldbum]

nice sink full of fish perch pounder

are there any sauger/ saugeyes in our local fisheries bigred?

[bigredonice]

Champlain used to have a decent population of saugers...haven't heard about any being caught recently.

Cornell has this to say about Sauger Distribution in NY

"Sauger are scarce in New York, occurring primarily in the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain. They have been reported from tributaries of Lake Erie, Cayuga Lake, eastern Lake Ontario, the Mohawk River, and in northeastern New York."

[camo_fish]

are there any sauger/ saugeyes in our local fisheries bigred?

I don't think there any in NY there locally.

But, we caught some nice ones up in Canada back in 2000, on our last fishing trip to the great northern Canada. They are so tasty, MMMMM 

[Shrek]

We catch both sauger and saugeye on Lake Sakakawea along with Walleye . Record Saugeye in North Dakota is 11# 12oz , They are usually caught a little deeper than walleye but can be caught together. Record sauger is 8# 12oz and walleye is 15#12oz

[IceTroll]

Wow shrek, that Sauger is only an ounce or two off the world record. Anything over 5 is a huge Sauger. I was also a little surprised that the biggest walleye to come out of Sakakawea is only 15 lb 12 oz. I would have guessed bigger considering that Sakakawea is part of the Missouri River system and down river from Ft. Peck.

[Shrek]

Yea , and that record fish is an ancient one , big lake lots of fish caught I'm surprised no one has beat that, may have something to do with the lake going up and down to float those barges down south. If it gets much lower we can just go out and grab their fins sticking out of the water, sad deal, got any ties with the Corps. up there? , if you had any water left up there, they could turn some loose our way.

[IceTroll]

LOL.....No, no ties with the corps. I just travel to Ft. Peck every year for a week or two to recreate on the ice. Its a 400 mile trip for me but well worth it for the fishing. I know what you mean about the water situation but fear not. We are starting to show some positive signs of slowly slipping out of this drought that has plagued us for some time now. Also, you are not the first person I have heard express frustration with the Missouri river barge situation. They seem to be more concerned about that aspect than they really are about the fishery. It all comes down to the almighty dollar I would say.