The Walleye and its Cousins

A lot of people get confused between walleyes and their cousin the sauger. If you catch one of each and lay them side by side it’s easy to tell them apart. The walleye is green and has a white spot on the bottom tip of its tail. The sauger is more of a brown color and has a mottled pattern on its back. Sauger also have black spots on their dorsal fin. It does not have the white tip.

To confuse things these two fish will cross breed, producing a critter called a Saugeye. These have characteristics of both their parents. Most of them are green but mottled, with spots on the fin, but sometimes not, and sometimes they have a white tip, sometimes not. But it really doesn’t matter because your bag limit includes Walleye, Sauger and Saugeye. Put them in the frying pan and they all taste the same….great!

Dan Bomkamp - Author & Host of "How's Fishing"

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