Saugeye??

[mjrfishing]

Just this past weekend i was fishing up on lake of the woods and caught limit of walleyes and a "freebie" (sauger). As i was ready to fillet these fish i took a closer look at the sauger I caught. It had the regular spots on the top fin but looked at the tail to see a partial white tip. Just wondering if anyone would know if this would be counted towards the walleye or sauger limit.

[Wade Joseph]

The perfectly honest answer is.....it would depend on the CO's interpretation of the law AND whether or not he/she knew the difference between all three. My gut feeling and desire to not have to pay the state any more money besides licenses has me counting them toward the walleye limit, this way I don't give the CO the oportunity to make a mistake that costs me a ticket.

[Team Otter]

I've seen sauger with a small white tip on their tail before. This may be a result of spending much of their time right on the bottom.

[BobT]

I've always thought that the limit for these species is not separate that they agregate. Has the law changed or is this specific to LOTW and/or other border waters?

Bob

[hanson]

The aggregate limit is specific to Lake of the Woods.

Walleye/Sauger Limit is 8, of which only 4 can be walleyes.

So 4 walleyes/4 saugers, 2 walleyes/6 saugers, or 0 walleyes/8 saugers are all acceptable limits.

I would tend to think that this "saugeye" you caught is a sauger. I've caught plenty of saugers that have a little white on the bottom of the tail.

[Sand Bay Sultan]

on rainy saugeyes are counted as walleyes

[croixeyes]

Saugeye on the St Croix river have to meet the minimum length standards that walleye have to meet,so its possible the state may view the catching of these to combine your walleye total.Sauger do have a little bit of white on their tails,Saugeye I think display the blotchy marks on the side but lack the little spots on the dorsel fin.I may be wrong though considering its 5am

[loosegoose]

I was told from a guide at LOW that a saugeye doesn't count towards your walleye limit, it's counted as a sauger. A sauger may have a little white on its tail and will have dark spots on its dorsal fin. If it has a white tipped tail and had a very dark spot on the rear of the dorsal fin where it meets the back then its a walleye. Pay special attention to that dark spot on the dorsal fin next time you catch a walleye, it's very definite.

[fisherdog19]

There are saugeyes in LOW, and they count towards your walleye limit. The reg book clearly states it. We ran into this dilemma a couple years ago, and scoured the reg book until we found what we were looking for. Unless they changed it from a couple years back, saugeyes are walleyes as far as the limit is concerned. I'm not sure why they made that law since saugeye's are sterile and cannot reproduce so why count them towards your walleye limit and protect them like one .

[mjrfishing]

Really?? So any sauger caught on low with a partial white tail goes toward the walleye limit?

[hanson]

Quote:

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Really?? So any sauger caught on low with a partial white tail goes toward the walleye limit?

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No. Saugers commonly have a bit of white on their tail. They are saugers and count towards your sauger limit.

I have personally never caught a true "Saugeye" on Lake of the Woods. They are there but, they are few and far between.

I would count anything that looks like a sauger as a sauger and not worry about it. For me, if its dark grey/brown, and has spots on its dorsal fin, it is a sauger.

I did some searching around on the net to try and find a "good" Saugeye photo but came up empty handed. Most of the Saugeye photos I found have the dorsal fin laying flat so you can't see the coloration of the dorsal. One thing that is common in all the Saugeye photos I found is that they have walleye coloring (gold/green), but they have dark blotchy patches on their sides. Apparently, some Saugeye develop a white tipped tail and some don't, so you can't use that a distinguishing characteristic.

[DTro]

Caught this one last fall.

I say Sauger, but yet white tip:

[croixeyes]

I dont think the post above said Saugers counted against your walleye limit,but Saugeye do.

[Green&Gold]

That's one nice Sauger!

[croixeyes]

Dtro....yes that is in fact a sauger.

[Scott M]

If anybody ever gets a fish like that, take some scales from it. I know a guy who could run those at U of M and tell you what it is and would love to see an example of this. Put them in an envelope or a little plastic bag you buy jigs in and send me an email.