The walleye has sharp teeth like a canine, forked tail with a round and long body. The dorsal fin has two parts, which consists of the front portion having about twelve to sixteen spines and the back portion having a few short ones. They also have large glassy eyes. Their bellies are generally lighter colored than the body, which can be yellowish, brownish, or olive as well as bluish gray.
The Sauger is identical to the walleye except around the eye is a milky glow. The Sauger has a brassy coloring with dark saddle marking on the back. The belly of the sauger is white. You will tell the different between the walleye and the sauger by looking at the belly and back. The saugeye is going to look more like the sauger but with more subdued blotches and saddle markings. The sauger and saugeye both have spots on the dorsal fin.
The saugeye will have a black spot by the dorsal fin and a white spot on the tip of the caudal fin, which the sauger will not have.
On a walleye, 1/2 of the gill cover – where the cheek meat is found – is smooth and scale-less. The sauger’s gill cover in the same area is fully scaled.
Not sure if im reading this right.. Maybe your looking for the easy answer..
saugers – spotted dorsal
walleye- no spotted dorsal
saugeye- spotted dorsal
throw em in the box…
If the dorsal is missing refer to the 2 post above this one 
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On a walleye, 1/2 of the gill cover – where the cheek meat is found – is smooth and scale-less. The sauger’s gill cover in the same area is fully scaled.
The two most obvious signs of a true sauger are as follows:
1) Rows of spots on the dorsal fin. The key here is to look for organized “Rows” of spots. True saugers have these rows of spots.
If the fish you caught doesn’t have rows of spots on the dorsal fin, it’s most likely not a sauger. It may be a saugeye, but it’s not a sauger.
2) As stated above, the meaty portion of a saugers cheek is scaled and rough like sand paper.
Saugeyes do not have rows of spots on the dorsal fin. They may have spots but they are in more of a random order and not organized at all.
Walleyes usually have a very distinct white spot on the bottom tip of their tail and the meaty portion of their cheek is smooth and generally free of scales.
I won’t go into coloring as that can be all over the place for all three species and should not be used to identify them.
So, is the black spot at the rear base of a walleye’s tail not a reliable identification mark? I’ve never seen a sauger with that spot on it. Just curious since nobody included that with the other identifiable differences.
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So, is the black spot at the rear base of a walleye’s tail not a reliable identification mark? I’ve never seen a sauger with that spot on it. Just curious since nobody included that with the other identifiable differences.
Not sure about that one John. I’ve never heard of anyone using that as an identifying mark though.
There was a weird old guy, and I mean weird.. the kind you are afraid to strike up a conversation with, but always has something to say to you that always used to fish the same spots as me. Anyways, he once told me that the only way to tell the difference was the white tip on the tail, told him saugers could have white tips also and he went crazy telling me I dont know anything I was talking about. The next sauger I caught with a white tip went right in my bucket, and he called the DNR on me telling them I was keeping 13″ walleye. DNR showed up, laughed when I showed them the fish and said have a nice day. Clearly sauger, as brown as mud, spots on the dorsal, long and skinny, rough scales on the cheek, and a small white tipped tail. All of our saugers here on the miss have white tips, not as big as walleye but they are there. I truly believe its from previous years of breeding with walleye.
Also, this same creepy old guy told me if your crawler gets bit in half it was a sauger because walleye always pull the whole thing off. He says this while he is jigging a 1/2oz jig head with a 4″ chart grub tipped with a whole nightcrawler hooked once in the head, fishing in 8′ slack water.
Just got a chance to read my post and from the looks of it I should’nt have had those last 2 beers. 3 of us had just got done cleaning fish and were talking about fish ID on river. One guy said if any white at all on tail, had to be over 15 inches as it would be saugeye or walleye. True or not.
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Just got a chance to read my post and from the looks of it I should’nt have had those last 2 beers. 3 of us had just got done cleaning fish and were talking about fish ID on river. One guy said if any white at all on tail, had to be over 15 inches as it would be saugeye or walleye. True or not.
I would say not true.
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There was a weird old guy, and I mean weird.. the kind you are afraid to strike up a conversation with, but always has something to say to you that always used to fish the same spots as me. Anyways, he once told me that the only way to tell the difference was the white tip on the tail, told him saugers could have white tips also and he went crazy telling me I dont know anything I was talking about. The next sauger I caught with a white tip went right in my bucket, and he called the DNR on me telling them I was keeping 13″ walleye. DNR showed up, laughed when I showed them the fish and said have a nice day. Clearly sauger, as brown as mud, spots on the dorsal, long and skinny, rough scales on the cheek, and a small white tipped tail. All of our saugers here on the miss have white tips, not as big as walleye but they are there. I truly believe its from previous years of breeding with walleye.
Also, this same creepy old guy told me if your crawler gets bit in half it was a sauger because walleye always pull the whole thing off. He says this while he is jigging a 1/2oz jig head with a 4″ chart grub tipped with a whole nightcrawler hooked once in the head, fishing in 8′ slack water.
Sorry I offended you. I was just trying to keep you out of trouble 
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