Blue pike/blue walleye

[Lac Suel Freak]

Anyone claim to have caught one of these or have pics?

[Kevin23]

I have seen "blue walleye" but they are always just regular walleye with a different color pigment. The true blue walleye is extinct. 

[NanookofN-MN]

Yeah I take a trip to Canada every fall and catch Walleyes every trip that have a blue color/look to them but highly doubt they are the true blue Walleye.  I had heard once they were only ever in the great lakes mainly Lake Erie, and have been considered extinct for many years.

[Lac Suel Freak]

That is what they say but both have some yellow pigment and they have no back up DNA to prove it or disprove it. I have never no matter the phase caught a blue walleye. I have caught some grayish colored (not saugers). I have seen pictures of very blue colored ones though. I have also talked to people that said they have caught them.

It has to be hard to fish out a species don't you think? Its not a land animal. Either way I think some still exist or people were wrong about the separate species from the get go. All fish look a little different in every body of water. Head shape, body shape, size and definitely color. The variations are slight but that's what they are talking about.

Any Old school guys on here seen one from back then or have pictures?

[PikeSticker]

http://www.walleyeheaven.com/blue-walleye.htm

[CharlieBrn]

I hear that quite often up here as well.  But the walleye they say they catch up here that are blue actually are not.  They have a blue tint on trailing edges of the fin and thus they call them blue walleyes.  More than likely it is something in the particular body of water they are fishing that's causing this blue tine.  Maybe something like, Mercury perhaps?  IDK!

[cstone]

Caught three of them the other day threw the ice.  No pictures though because my phone fell out of my pocket and down the hole 

[Lac Suel Freak]

http://www.walleyeheaven.com/blue-walleye.htm

Nice info. I also think the MNR is missing something. Many stories are about how only recently these are being caught in numbers. I've seen pictures of the real dark blues that kind of dispute the extinct claims. Those that have closed minds to it just look the other way. Like I posted earlier, they don't have DNA evidence to support the fact it was a different fish to begin with. They simply stopped seeing them. Now they are back in several Northern Ontario lakes. They are very different looking from the blue fins that people see most often in other regions.

Who knows? Its cool to see the variation though.

[milo44]

i have never heard of a blue walleye but my friends grandfather claims to have caught a blue pike years ago on the st. Lawrence river.

[flyfisherman83]

IM NOT SURE BUT LOOKING AT THE PICTUERS I CAN FIND THEY JUST LOOK LIKE BIG SAUGER WE CATCH OUT OF FT.PECK.  IVE JUST NEVER HEARD OF THEM AND NOT SAYING ANYONE WRONG. INTERESTING THO.

[northern fisher]

When I asked about it (with a MNR Biologist) I was told the best way to know if you had a true blue walleye was to take a white cloth,paper towel and dab it or wipe a small area on the fish.If the cloth has blue on it than there is a blue pigment in the fishes slime that has given it its color and it is not a real blue walleye and more often than not this is what we  catch.If there is no color on the cloth and the slime is clear than you do have a blue walleye and that is very rare but not unheard of.
I have heard this samething from many different sources so either there are a bunch of ill informed people out there or it's fact.
As William Shatner says on his show"wierd or what"

[azzlevt]

i've caught blue perch

[CharlieBrn]

Anything in nature is possible.  Would be something special for sure to catch one.

[JerryofWNY]

Many years ago - in the late 40s through the 50s the Eastern basin pf Lake Erie was teaming with Blue Pike. Physically resembled the walleye, but had a bluish tint and did not grow to the size of the walleye. Throughout the summer the boats with lanterns over the side would make the lake look like a small city out there. Guys caught them by the burlap bags full and the commercial guys netted tons. Of course the over fishing (sport and commercial) along the decline of the water quality back then caused their demise.

About 25 years ago I was at a meeting where a biologist from the New York DEC spoke about blue pike. He said at that time there was a frozen specimen as a source of DNA. He also said they compared the DNA of many Canadian caught blue walleyes and found a distinct difference.

[photopotter79]

I have been fishing walleye all over the US for over 10 years, both open water and ice.  I have seen many eyes come out that lack the color pigment of midwestern and especially northwoods eyes. But have caught them in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the U.P. that all were very light like that, almost with a blue tint. Fishing the Columbia River in Oregon, thats what every eye looks like coming from the water here (FYI, probably the most amazing trophy walleye fishery you will come across--unfortunately only open water! lol). A close friend of mine is a fish biologist for the state and he said that the cause of the different coloration of walleye is due to water-habitat-and feed. In the midwest there is alot of weed structure and tannic water. out west its mostly rock bottom and very clear water. species adapting to environments. blue walleye is similar to yetti in my opinion, yes it MAY exist, but only a "few" people have actually seen them and rarely get pictures! i go with science on this one.

[MC Gusto]

color dont matta brotha  I wish i got a walleye, hear ddey delicious

[Irish Jigger]

My Grandmother often talks about how my Grandfather would catch Blue Pike here on Lake Erie. She said if I ever got one she would love to have a fish fry but other than that she will pass. I personally have caught hundreds of wally's a season and know many others who also catch alot and I haven't heard of or saw any that may be thought to be Blue Pike. I did read a few years back that a population was found in a lake in Ontario Canada, I think, and they were considering a hatchery program to bring them back but I haven't heard anything about it since. I'll try and find that article and post it but it was a number of years ago and I'm not sure if it was online or a magazine where I saw it. I would love to get one for my Grandmother, I think it would make her day. She lost my Granfather when my Dad was only a teenager and I can see a gleam in her eye whenever she talks about it.