Walleye?? Pickerel?? I'm confused

[daspin]

Hey all. As I stated in my first thread, I am new to fishing, but love it immensely so far and am learning alot. I live in Port Perry on Lake Scugog. I showed my neighbour the pic below and he called it a pickerel when I thought it was a walleye...

Are they the same thing? What gives..

Then yesterday I caught this fish (pic below)..Which I thought was a pickerel but looks nothing like the fish in the thread above that my neighbour called Pickerel... Can anyone explain? Thanks

You'll notice after reading advice from here, I am no longer holding the fish dangling from the hook..lol...

 

[efka]

its a walleye, pickeral dorsal fin is located way in the back like pike/musky, and different shape.

 

[frozenfire]

Let me start off by saying those are some very nice scugog walleye! (both of them are the same species)

Some people call walleye pickeral. In fact, pickeral are another type of fish in the esox family (related to pike and muskie). there are chain pickeral, grass pickeral, red-finned pickeral... and i'm sure there are others.
They aren't too common here... but exist in populations to the east and in the states I believe. They are a lot smaller in size compared to the more common pikes and muskie.

Why do some people here in canada call them pickeral? I have no idea. I do tend to notice that it's the older generation that call them picks while the younger generation all call them walleye.

 

[daspin]

Thanks so much!! so if they are both walleye, why do they look so different?

 

[efka]

look same to me, sometimes fish have different colour shades depending on the structure they live around.

 

[daspin]

guess you had to see them in person... The top one seemed to have a much bigger eye and not as pointy a nose.. They just didnt look the same.. But Hey, what do I know..lol... Thanks for the responses guys.. Clears things up for me! At least now I know I'm catching walleye and not pickerel..

 

[balapickerel]

frozenfire, what you said about the older generation calling them pickerel and the newer calling them walleye, there is a reason for that, what is caught here in ontario used to allways be called pickerel, the name walleye came around the turn of the century when rich amaricans, mostly from new york would fish at thier cottages in northern ontario, they called the fish walleye due to the murky effect that appears in thier eyes, it caught on, became the common name for them, well, that's what happened with lake muskoka and the moon river anyways

 

[disspatcher]

From the Canadian Encyclopedia

Walleye (Stizostedion vitreum vitreum), moderately large, predatory freshwater fish of the family Percidae (order Perciformes). Other common names include yellow walleye, pickerel, yellow pickerel, pikeperch, doré or doré jaune. Walleyes should not be confused with true PICKERELS, family Esocidae. They occur in fresh waters from the mouth of the Mackenzie R to near the Gulf of Mexico. In Canada they are found from southern Québec to northeastern BC and N to the mouth of the Mackenzie R.
Description
Walleyes have a bluntly pointed head, a mouth well armed with teeth and 2 dorsal fins (the first with sharp spines, the second without). Their eyes are specially adapted to low light intensities. Walleyes are bright golden to brownish green, with darker markings; the lower tip of the caudal fin is milk white. Walleyes are adapted to prey on other fishes.

Significance of Fishery
Walleye is probably the most economically important species of fish in Canada's inland waters, being prized summer and winter for its delicious white flesh. The closely related sauger (S. canadense) is somewhat smaller and has a more restricted range (Québec to Alberta). It is also a popular sport fish.

Author E.J. CROSSMAN

 

[MikeyMikey]

does it taste the same?
well than, there you go.

 

[Mark101]

The Walleye name has nothing to do with rich americans. Over time people have become more educated on fish species through fishing shows, magazines and the internet and no not american shows and magazines Canadian ones. You rarely read articles in Canadian fishing magazines about Pickerel, just Walleye. The old stubborn farts that refer to them as Pickerel are a dying breed, grim but true.

 

[diggyj]

I agree with some of the posts, when you watch a fishing show, they are going for walleye, not pickeral. Call it what you want. They taste awsome.


Dirk...........

 

[GYPSY400]

I am one of the few old timers that is guilty of calling a walleye a pickerel.. It's just the way I'm raised as my dad did the same.. I have learned in recent years that a true pickerel looks like a Pike. I have seen grass pickerel, and we call it a grass pike.. LoL

 

[grubman]

For some reason your pics did not load up, even when I refreshed the page.

Here is a pretty good site on walleye.

http://www.fish-n-tips.com/Walleye/walleye.htm

I once met and fished with a guy who caught a sauger. We looked at it and it did not look like a walleye, too skinny and long. The body markings did not match walleye, it had more of camo patches on it. The day after I was able to properly ID it as a baby sauger. That was the first time we had seen one in our lives.

Here is an ok article from Ontario Outdoors. The pics are not that good. But good info on the fish.

http://www.ontariooutofdoors.com/fishing/walleye/?ID=117&a=read

Hope this helps

 

[walleyemaster]

Walleye and Pickerel are the same fish.

 

[Joel52]

Walleye and Pickerel are the same fish.

In Northern Ontario they are, I agree.

 

[Bolcheck]

I don't see any pics. Do I have Walleye vision or am I blind ???

 

[Bolcheck]

Let me start off by saying those are some very nice scugog walleye! (both of them are the same species)

Some people call walleye pickeral. In fact, pickeral are another type of fish in the esox family (related to pike and muskie). there are chain pickeral, grass pickeral, red-finned pickeral... and i'm sure there are others.
They aren't too common here... but exist in populations to the east and in the states I believe. They are a lot smaller in size compared to the more common pikes and muskie.

Why do some people here in canada call them pickeral? I have no idea. I do tend to notice that it's the older generation that call them picks while the younger generation all call them walleye.

Hey Frozenfire

You are quite correct on the Pickerel species being in Ontario except for the Redfin which is found in Quebec, the grass pickerel in isolated locations in southern Ontario and the Chain pickerel was just recently caught within the last few years here in Ontario in the St. Lawrence /Eastern lake Ontario

My link

 

[Dilligaf0220]

YELLOW Pickeral.

darn kids. As long as there is a "U" in "colour", a chesterfield is a couch, and Timmies serves double-doubles, it will always be YELLOW Pickeral.

And those OTHER pickeral, chain pickera, grass pickeral, et al, they don't look like a pike. They look like a JACKFISH!

Bah humbug.

 

[Joel52]

hahahaha... isn't YELLOW Pickeral really Sauger?!!???

 

[Taylor]

i asked the same question on the other forum i look into all the time, here it is, everyone agreed!!

fryer 18 -- They are the same... Walleye is American term and Pickerel is the Canadian.

TROUTSLAYR -- There is a sub species"chainpickeral" which kinda look like pike pickeral mix, but when it comes walleye and pickeral they are the same, I have fished all over the states and canada and have heard anglers call them both. Hope this helps