Most of you that are familiar with my posts know I am not a real big walleye fisherman, so I don’t catch aolot of them or sauger. Today I was down in pool 2 by 494 and caught a 25 inch sauger. I have never caught one that big never anything over 15 inches before. Is 25 inches an unusually large sauger?
Hey Great Job, That is a dandy sauger, just so you know the state record is somewhere around 6.5 lbs. You had do be darn close if it was all sauger and not a saugeye. I caught my largest sauger last Sunday on MR flats, it was 5 lbs. Didn’t measure it but was guessing it was 24 in or so.
JJW
I guess it could have been a saugeye, how do you tell the difference?
If I remember right, it carries a strong sauger morph (color and markings) but still has the white tip tale. The differences can vary slightly but I believe this is the general appearance.
*WOW*…… HUGE sauger!!!! Nice job….. I sound like a broken record… but have any pix? I would love to see that one…. I caught one that size out of Pool 2 before…. Pool 2 has some of the biggest saugers Ive ever seen….. even though Pool 4 has some really nice ones… I think Pool 2 is the best!!
That’s a huge sauger! I caught a 21.5 inch sauger down in a deep cut down by Dakota, MN once, and I thought that was a big one.
They say that state record sauger are released in pool 2 every year-approaching 8lb. So that is huge, but they get even bigger in Pool 2. The sauger I have caught seem to run consistantly larger in Pool 2 than in Pool 4. I always catch fewer fish in Pool 2, but the quality seems better.
NICE SAUGER!!!!
How is the flow-still fast w/ lots of debris? Have you been by the Ford Dam?
I have heard the only way to really know if it is a saugeye, is with dna testing…physical characterisics of both specie, walleye and sauger and present and really cant be determined visually…..
Mavzner and I caught a bunch of 20″+ saugers at pool 4 this spring. There also are some really goods ones in pool 3 at Somerset in the fall. Weighed one two years ago at Red Wing that was just over 5lbs. But 25″, if its not a saugeye, is a very nice fish! Let those treasures go! Keep it vertical.
What is the State record sauger? You could be gettinmg close with a fish that size. Beav
W/ Pool 2, 100% catch and release, even state records have to be set free. Not a bad thing-but it would be hard to do.
I think walleyefishr might be right about Saugeyes… they are not so easily and certainly identified…… my rule of thumb.. if it looks like a sauger… its a sauger…. and since its pool 2 they gotta go back anyway…. so no big deal…. otherwise if your going for a state record then the state will determine if its a sauger……. maybe our friend FISHQZR (John Pitlo) has some words of advice on Saugeye… I will email him today and see, just in case he is not monitoring……
but for my money… if your looking for state record class sauger… pool 2 is where the action is…. man there are some huge saugers in there…. 3 – 4 pound fish are NOT uncommon…. and on a good day several can be boated… but unlike most other places…. 5+ saugers ARE there… and can be landed…. for those who focus on Saugers…. Pool 2 is definitly the place to be!! particularly in the winter months when they are concentrated in a few holes…..
Nice sauger!!!! If you can please post a pic. Pool 2 saugers are definately good ones. Does anyone think the catch and release there is a huge factor in the top end ones there? I tihnk it is a great fishery and like the regs there.
~~~~~~~~~Alkfish
absolutly its a factor!!! the rest of the river does not even have a 15 inch limit…. pool 2 is one of the smallest pools since its so far up the chain.. yet it has the largest saugers (in my opinion)….. I cant imagine what would happen if like say pool 4 was catch and release… or some size limit was imposed….
now I know this could cause some controversy…. and Ive talked with the bioligist and they are not so sure it would make a difference…. but… I also have a degree in fisheries… so I figure I can have an educated opninion….. and I figure its a good theory that should be tested somehow….. I would say in most cases where catch and release or reduced harvest show that decreased harvest results in increased size…. and I would think that this is the way a natural system would work….. a good habitat should support a healthy population of predators….. with less mortality this should eventually move towards favoring larger individuals that are able to utilize prey from small size to large size, and since they are larger they are less subject to direct predation by other predator species….. just my 2 cents worth
Sorry, I didn’t realize that size fish was particularly special, quick measured it, the guy I was with struggled to get my scale out so I put the fish back into the water. It was the first fish of the day so I figured I had found a school of good sized fish and didn’t think more about. Not the largest fish I have failed to get a picture of either. At the time of that one I thought I had learned my lesson about not having a camera in the boat or remembering to use it when it is there. (But then I still haven’t learned how to tie a rapala knot either.)
There is no doubt in my mind that a lot of slot limits help. It would be curious to see what would happen in another pool if they had a 15″ sauger limit. I feel the walleye 15″ rule has helped a lot. On the other hand there is so many saugers in other pools maybe it would backfire? Just my take on it….
~~~~~~~~Alkfish
State Record Sauger is 6lb 3oz. Walleye/Sauger hybrid is 9lb 13oz.
The Wisconsin record is 5# 13 oz. This is one that could be broken on pool 4!!!
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
