# Okay...is this a saugeye or sauger?



## Baloogala (Jul 29, 2016)

I'm leaning heavily toward saugeye, but would like some verification. Caught him tonight on a green gizzard Joshy in what I estimate to be 10 feet on BWC. Slowly rolling the swim on the bottom across current. Water temp unknown, but suspect around 50. Water ever so slightly stained. (Also caught a very small SMB on a smoke Joshy doing the same thing.) Measured dead on 20 inches, barely hooked in the lower lip (actually surprised I didn't lose it). The take was pretty subtle, where I thought I had hooked a stick, but then he started dancing.


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

Saugeye...Evidenced by the lack of spots on the dorsal fin


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

SaugER....


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## SConner (Mar 3, 2007)

Baloogala said:


> I'm leaning heavily toward saugeye, but would like some verification. Caught him tonight on a green gizzard Joshy in what I estimate to be 10 feet on BWC. Slowly rolling the swim on the bottom across current. Water temp unknown, but suspect around 50. Water ever so slightly stained. (Also caught a very small SMB on a smoke Joshy doing the same thing.) Measured dead on 20 inches, barely hooked in the lower lip (actually surprised I didn't lose it). The take was pretty subtle, where I thought I had hooked a stick, but then he started dancing.


White at bottom of tail fin indicates saugeye.


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## Fisherman 3234 (Sep 8, 2008)

Nice Saugeye!!!


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## All Eyes (Jul 28, 2004)

Looks like a saugeye to me also.


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## 1basshunter (Mar 27, 2011)

Black carppie


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## Baloogala (Jul 29, 2016)

I always wait for the black crappie. This must be a joke from before my time..

I figured it was a saugeye, but most what I was reading on description between sauger and saugeye was fairly vague. I figured the main point was that if this was a sauger, it was a monster. What puzzled me were the eyes, in all honesty.

What I found to be interesting was how subtle the pickup was--felt like I had snagged a weed at first.


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## Deazl666 (Mar 30, 2012)

Eye


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## RiparianRanger (Nov 18, 2015)

Enjoy!

https://www.ohiogamefishing.com/threads/saugeye-vs-sauger.71205/


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## Baloogala (Jul 29, 2016)

HA HA! This is what I meant, Rip--that there wasn't much clarity when I sought species guide. Heck, a guy that saw my picture on Facebook--not a guy I actually know--said "that's a sauger if I ever saw one" or something like that. I was already pretty comfortable to say it was an Eye, but wanted to see if I could get some amount of a consistent idea of what I was looking for. Last year, I caught two that I'm as positive as I can be that they were saugers, including one that was around 16" (if I recall correctly), but who knows?


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## RiparianRanger (Nov 18, 2015)

Sauger or small saugeye? If small saugeye is this a first year fish? I hear they grow pretty rapidly


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

RiparianRanger said:


> Sauger or small saugeye? If small saugeye is this a first year fish? I hear they grow pretty rapidly


Looks like it could be a sauger. Hard to tail without the fins flared . 
But if it's the creek I'm thinking there is most definitely a decent population of saugers in it. 
How long is it? I've never used fish grips so can't reference that for size. But your right saugeyes do grow fast.


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## Shad Rap (Nov 10, 2010)

RiparianRanger said:


> Sauger or small saugeye? If small saugeye is this a first year fish? I hear they grow pretty rapidly


Sauger.


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## RiparianRanger (Nov 18, 2015)

Saugeyefisher said:


> Looks like it could be a sauger. Hard to tail without the fins flared .
> But if it's the creek I'm thinking there is most definitely a decent population of saugers in it.
> How long is it? I've never used fish grips so can't reference that for size. But your right saugeyes do grow fast.


Estimating ~11” relative to size of the lip grips.


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## acklac7 (May 31, 2004)

Sauger. The pink hue is a dead giveaway.


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## MIGHTY (Sep 21, 2013)

I’ve catch a number of them on accident out that spot/stretch every year (all though I don’t go back there much these days). Here’s one a guy I work with caught one night about 100 yards up stream from that bridge while we were catfishing.


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## floater99 (May 21, 2010)

1basshunter said:


> Black carppie


Im pretty sure its not a crappie but good guess made me chuckle


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## multi species angler (Feb 20, 2006)

It's a saugeye. You can see enough of the dorsal fin to see it lacks the spots of a sauger.


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## PJF (Mar 25, 2009)

Or just call it a nice one and continue fishing.....


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## Bass Assasin Slaton (May 22, 2011)

RiparianRanger said:


> Sauger or small saugeye? If small saugeye is this a first year fish? I hear they grow pretty rapidly


A 20” saugeye usually is 4 years old! They grow exceptionally fast.


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## 1MoreKast (Mar 15, 2008)

You know what they call em saugeye? Cuz I saw-a-guy catch one....

....better stick with my day job.


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## Snyd (May 5, 2004)

I have caught a lot of sauger in my life on the ohio river and I have to tell you some are very hard to tell the difference between. However, on a true sauger it will have rows of black spots on the dorsal fin and more in uniform. I don't see that on the picture above so it is a Saugeye!
Saugeye can have spots but they are not uniform in shape at all like a sauger.


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## Clevelandtocolumbus (Sep 13, 2010)

Baloogala said:


> I'm leaning heavily toward saugeye, but would like some verification. Caught him tonight on a green gizzard Joshy in what I estimate to be 10 feet on BWC. Slowly rolling the swim on the bottom across current. Water temp unknown, but suspect around 50. Water ever so slightly stained. (Also caught a very small SMB on a smoke Joshy doing the same thing.) Measured dead on 20 inches, barely hooked in the lower lip (actually surprised I didn't lose it). The take was pretty subtle, where I thought I had hooked a stick, but then he started dancing.


Nice catch!


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

MIGHTY said:


> I’ve catch a number of them on accident out that spot/stretch every year (all though I don’t go back there much these days). Here’s one a guy I work with caught one night about 100 yards up stream from that bridge while we were catfishing.
> View attachment 327251
> View attachment 327249


Ya these bigger ones your getting are saugeye for sure.
Rips is a sauger


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## MIGHTY (Sep 21, 2013)

Gotcha. I caught a big sauger a few years back bass fishing then I caught 2 within 3 casts bass fishing about a month ago and one was pretty hefty. I think I have a pic of it somewhere but I’ve never really been interested in those things. I catch a couple saug/eyes every year on senko type worms of all things


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