Sauger

Sauger

Identification:
Dorsal region of head and back brown to gray; sides paler, ventral region of head and belly white. Sides and back variously speckled with dusky spots; 4 dark saddles across back, some of which expand horizontally on sides. Eyes silvery in life; a well-developed reflecting layer (tapetum lucidum) causes glowing in dark. Membranes on the spiny dorsal fin with definite horizontal rows of spots, and last few membranes not solid black; second dorsal and caudal fins with dark spots in regular rows; ventral lobe of caudal fin sometimes white edged. Pectoral fins lightly speckled, and with a strong, black blotch at base; pelvic and anal fins clear to lightly speckled.

Wisconsin State Record:
5 lbs 13 ounces caught on Lake Wisconsin In Columbia County on November 8, 1988.

This 16 incher was caught and released today by me at the dam in Gays Mills on a very large jointed rapala.

Your pictures are always worth a thousand words. Great pics len!

Wisconsin State Record of 5lbs, 13oz is incorrect.

That record was broken by Don Peyer from Whitewater, Wisconsin when he caught a 6lb, 3oz sauger below the Red Wing Dam in April of 2008.

It was then broken again on March 19th, 2009 by Joshua Sahr who caught a 6.42lb sauger also below the Red Wing dam.

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Wisconsin State Record of 5lbs, 13oz is incorrect.

That record was broken by Don Peyer from Whitewater, Wisconsin when he caught a 6lb, 3oz sauger below the Red Wing Dam in April of 2008.

It was then broken again on March 29th, 2009 by Joshua Sahr who caught a 6.42lb sauger also below the Red Wing dam.

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i went on old data apparently.
This one was no where near a record.

it actually was quite small compared to the walleye i lost there earlier today.

Very nice! You might want to say in there somewhere that they MAY have white on the tail. Every sauger I have caught this year except 2 had a little bit of white on the tail. I suspect this is from crossbreeding years ago, but they were saugers none the less. In the last couple years we have boated near 1000 with white tails. I’ve also seen a lot of guys look at the white and throw them back thinking they were walleye and not legal.

You can kind of see it here, its more pronounced when they are bigger.

Totally awesome pics, Len.

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Totally awesome pics, Len.

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X2! Guess it pays to use something other than my phone to take pictures.

cool pic…it appears that the mottling is carried in the iris of the fish…although it might be a light trick.

jp

Not sure what year,but Mike Anderson from Kellogg now liveing in the Duluth area. While fishing with uncle VANDY Caught weighed and released a 6.96lb sauger north of EVERTS. I think Dean Marshall was the one who weighed the fish. I know he took pics. of it. The picture of Mike and that fish are on the EVERTS BANNER. Now if a record fish is caught below the dam at Red Wing. Is that a Mn. record or a Wi. record or Both.? rrr Ps Just talked to VANDY That fish was caught Nov. 24th 2006

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Totally awesome pics, Len.

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X2! Guess it pays to use something other than my phone to take pictures.

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What do you use for a camera, all your or pictures are brilliant and detailed photos.

Canon G10

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Not sure what year,but Mike Anderson from Kellogg now liveing in the Duluth area. While fishing with uncle VANDY Caught weighed and released a 6.96lb sauger north of EVERTS. I think Dean Marshall was the one who weighed the fish. I know he took pics. of it. The picture of Mike and that fish are on the EVERTS BANNER. Now if a record fish is caught below the dam at Red Wing. Is that a Mn. record or a Wi. record or Both.? rrr Ps Just talked to VANDY That fish was caught Nov. 24th 2006

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The record would go to the state from which the angler held a valid fishing license. If the angler held a valid license for both the state of Wisconsin & Minnesota, I believe the next criteria is residence. (not 100% on the last part but don’t have time to look it up again right now.)

Not to derail you post Len, just thought I would share Mike’s “could have been” record fish.

Link to full story, pictures and release<<

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Not to derail you post Len, just thought I would share Mike’s “could have been” record fish.

Link to full story, pictures and release<<

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sweet!

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sweet!

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x 2

Here is one from I caught I believe 3 springs ago now. She was caught and released at 23 3/4″ and just a HAIR shy of the state record as well. Releasedto lay her eggs and be caught another day!

That is a huge sauger!!!!

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Not sure what year,but Mike Anderson from Kellogg now liveing in the Duluth area. While fishing with uncle VANDY Caught weighed and released a 6.96lb sauger north of EVERTS. I think Dean Marshall was the one who weighed the fish. I know he took pics. of it. The picture of Mike and that fish are on the EVERTS BANNER. Now if a record fish is caught below the dam at Red Wing. Is that a Mn. record or a Wi. record or Both.? rrr Ps Just talked to VANDY That fish was caught Nov. 24th 2006

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The record would go to the state from which the angler held a valid fishing license. If the angler held a valid license for both the state of Wisconsin & Minnesota, I believe the next criteria is residence. (not 100% on the last part but don’t have time to look it up again right now.)

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Really? Seems all the regulations go by what side of the river you are fishing.. odd that the record would go to what state you had a license from.

Hey Len, @LenH

I stumbled upon these awesome pictures while drafting a poster on some research of Wisconsin Sauger. I am a student researcher at the University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point majoring in Fisheries and I was wondering if I could use your photograph in one of my upcoming research posters? Just let me know if I could possibly do that.

Thanks,

Ben

He pops up on here once in awhile, send out the batsignal…

@lenh

He also has a blog somewhere on the WWW you might contact through there.