Walleye, Perch & Pike

How to tell them apart

One identification cue for each species, from its profile. Open a profile for the full description, size and range.

Walleye

The walleye is the largest North American member of the perch family, with an elongated, torpedo-shaped body, two distinct dorsal fins, and a large, toothy mouth lined with sharp canine teeth.

Northern Pike

Pike are distinguished from muskellunge by their light spots on a dark body (the muskie has the reverse pattern) and by fully scaled cheeks.

Sacramento Perch

Sacramento perch are deep-bodied and dark olive with irregular purplish vertical bars and blotches, and more dorsal spines than other sunfish.

Yellow Perch

Perch have two separate dorsal fins, the front one spiny, and a slightly raspy cheek.

European Perch

The two dorsal fins are separate: the front one is spiny and carries a distinctive dark blotch at its rear, while the pelvic, anal, and lower tail fins flush bright red-orange.

Muskellunge

The key field marks that separate a musky from its cousin the northern pike: muskies have light bodies with dark markings (pike are the reverse - dark bodies with light spots), and the underside of a musky's lower jaw has six or more sensory pores per side (pike have five or fewer).

Chain Pickerel

The cheek and gill cover are fully scaled, as in all pickerels; the bold chain pattern, the long snout, and the straight-down eye bar separate it from the smaller redfin and grass pickerels.

Sauger

The sauger looks much like a walleye but has several reliable distinguishing features.

Tiger Muskie

The tiger muskie is named for its markings. The body is long, torpedo-shaped, and built for explosive acceleration, colored greenish, brassy, or grayish, and overlaid with bold, dark, irregular vertical bars and blotches that resemble a tiger's stripes - generally more distinct and contrasting than the markings of a pure muskie.

White Perch

Unlike its relatives the white bass and striped bass, the adult white perch lacks distinct dark horizontal stripes along its sides - its flanks are plain, an easy way to tell it apart.

Grass Pickerel

The closely related redfin pickerel shares the look; the two are subspecies and can be hard to tell apart.

Redfin Pickerel

Redfin pickerel are dark green with wavy vertical bars, a short snout, and the reddish fins that give them their name.

Saugeye

Saugeye look like a walleye but carry the sauger's dark saddle blotches and a spotted spiny dorsal fin, along with the walleye's white lower tail tip.