I can’t imagine how these guys survive. However I’ve caught a 15″ Sauger with this and heard of a 17″er being caught.
There have been a number of posts on this before. Apparently this is caused by anything from trauma to the eggs to genetics. Even electrofishing according to BK. 
Was that caught in pool 4?
yes
wow wade if you could of straighten that fish out you make have ousted me and mike today!! that fish is for sure one of the worst ive seen.
That just looks like it hurts…
-Mark
Kinda gives a new twist to the old saying “get bent”. I’ve seen tons of these kinked up sauger over the years.
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I can’t imagine how these guys survive.
I haven’t seen larger fish like this. Has anyone else?
WOW thats a bad one
Seems like there are so many caught in pool 4 that they are a dominant genetic mutation or there is some chemical anomaly unique too the pool causing them. I’d lean to the mutation, because I don’t think other species are showing any oddities, whether it be the same or not.
Whatever the cause, it certainly doesn’t seem to be hindering their survival.
I cannot recall ever seeing this in an “eye” on the river, but the sauger sure can get twisted up. I have seen larger sauger bent up like this, but one person asked if larger fish suffer from this problem and I think that as the afflicted fish grow their food size needs increase and they simply cannot function well enough to eat right and die.
I’ve heard genetics, I’ve heard pollution, I’ve heard crossing with walleyes….who knows, but I have seen this occuring in sauger on pools 4, 5 and 5A for as long as I have fished the river and I started that in 1960 at the age of ten. I think its genetics. I don’t think the problem is any worse but rather that more people are fishing the big river today than ever before and do so successfully so weird catches like this get more notice.
A number of years ago I sat in on an informal discussion with the fisheries personel at Lake City and this mutation thing entered the talks. The guys there did not seem too concerned about it and if memory serves me well it was said that genetics were to blame and that with as many sauger as the river has hatching when the years are good this will happen at a higher rate of incidence.
Whatever the cause, those things have to be a B$%$# to fillet. 
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Whatever the cause, those things have to be a B$%$# to fillet.
I was telling Nicole that if I had more disposable income. I should have Matt at Artistic Anglers do a replica of the 15″ “S” Sauger that I caught. That would make one heck of a conversation piece.
Looks like he swam head first into the bottom of the dam.
Once they get the fish ladder in I think you will see less of this.
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I was telling Nicole that if I had more disposable income. I should have Matt at Artistic Anglers do a replica of the 15″ “S” Sauger that I caught. That would make one heck of a conversation piece.
Ha! Yeah I suppose it would be quite spendy getting a custom form made!
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Whatever the cause, those things have to be a B$%$# to fillet.
Not if you have one of these 
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