They are one of mine too! It is very exciting to see a Fisher in the wild, actively hunting in their energetic way.

You are VERY welcome!

@@marcusharrigan6879 Thanks for leaving a comment. It is fun to get your feedback!

Excellent! I have been predicting their return but I have moved away from Lake Erie so I am not there to check for myself. A) Please describe your fish re the key details that help you be sure. B) What do you mean exactly when you say “documentary evidence”? C) Have you seen my updated video “Return of the Missing, Thought to be Extinct, Great Lakes Blue Walleye”? It has new info.

@@DrDave-Ecologic Sorry, haven't seen your most recent- was just doing a quick search tonight after having a 'disagreement' with a neighbor angler over their 'extinction' as he purported. I have high quality photos( extracted from GoPro video I shoot of every fish I catch, whether released or kept for consumption); but to answer your query in the present, all of their fins have a 'whitish tinge' toward the tips as well as a prominent and stunning bluish coloration on their cheeks in particular, and a few having similar bluish coloring along their backs close to their dorsal fin. The dorsal coloration was very prominent while they were still in the water. Every walleye caught was a 'blue' on the day mentioned, with 4 caught the day previous in waters 50-60 miles east of the latter. All caught in Canadian waters in the central basin of Lake Erie.

So cool! See that updated video and note the extra info about Blue Walleyes that could be useful to you in documenting your fish. Please keep me posted. You can do it here or more directly at [email protected].

​@@DrDave-EcologicI will be certain to view the latest. Another angler in the Eastern Basin reported within past week having caught what he believed was a 'blue' though his photo wasn't close in/highly detailed. If you are so inclined, I'd be happy to send you a few of the photos via the e-mail you provided.

@odochartaighofodonegal9815 Yes please! I have a great interest in this topic of Blue Walleyes and I will try to stay “on top of it” even though I’m now a distance away from Lake Erie. I’m in northern Ontario now and there are “blue coloured” Yellow Walleyes around here … not the same as the famous Blue Walleyes of Lake Erie.

Hi, Old Sailor! The number of spines and rays are exactly the same in the fins and tail of the Yellow Walleye and the blue-coloured version of the Yellow Walleye … as you might anticipate since they are really the same fish but the bluish one is producing a special mucous in response to UV light exposure. BUT you are probably asking about the famous Blue Walleye of Lake Erie … and that is an excellent question! I don’t have that answer at this moment, nor do I have any specimens to count, yet I will try to find out and I will post the answer here if I find out. I’m sure the taxonomists will have counted those details very carefully.

@@DrDave-Ecologic Thanks for the reply. Yes, I grew up on Lake Erie and still live in Ohio. Born in 1960, so I've always heard the stories of the Blue Pike (Blue Walleye). Walleye and Lake Perch are the best tasting freshwater fish IMHO.

Agreed about the best-tasting freshwater fish! Note that I did a follow-up on the video you just saw. It has an orange cover page rather than a yellow one and it gives feedback from fishermen who may have found a lake in which the original Lake Erie Blue Walleyes were stocked when it became apparent that the Lake Erie population was failing. I think I called it “Return of the Lake Erie Blue Walleyes, Thought to be Extinct” or words to this effect.

@@DrDave-Ecologic I'll watch it!

@@philbergevin7014 Hi, Phil - Nature IS amazing! Thanks for telling me about your catch. They are beauties and so interesting!

I think that pockets of people have known about blue walleye in various lakes but A) fishermen tend to be confidential about their secret or favourite lakes, and B) until KZbin and other social media became prevalent, people would only hear about blue walleye through word of mouth or through fishing magazines. But now that knowledge is out there … I expect we’ll be hearing from lots of people who have caught or seen blue walleye. Tell your friends!!!

Excellent, BioDave! I’m glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks, Chris - I'm gradually learning how to put together a KZbin video! You and I agree that the continued existence of sturgeons is miraculous enough that we should fully appreciate them and do what we can to help them. The other arguments are just in case somebody doesn't feel that way ... but you are right that the real answer lies in people valuing sturgeons simply for their existence. Perhaps a video like this one, and a clear response like yours, will help to prompt more people to feel that way!

Hey, Chris - I clicked on your icon and watched some of your exhilarating bike-riding through the snowy forest. Impressive!

Hi, Elijah - I greatly appreciate your interest in this topic! It is a challenging topic with many unknowns, and because key parts of it happened long ago, it will be very difficult to find some answers. But let's try! 1. YES, it seems clear from the work that Dr. Schaefer did that the blue colour of non-Lake-Erie walleyes is due to blue mucous that is being produced by Yellow Walleyes in response to UV light (many, but not all, fishermen report seeing blue mucous on these fish ... and blue mucus has been found on other species of fish in those lakes). 2. I haven't seen any evidence that blue mucous was involved in the Lake Erie Blue Walleyes ... and it certainly wouldn't make sense for a deep-water fish in a lake full of algae to be responding to UV light ... but there are plenty of blue fish in this world; I think that the Lake Erie Blue Walleyes were truly blue based on everything I have seen so far. 3. Drs. Stepien and Haponski were able to compare preserved Blue Walleyes and Yellow Walleyes from long ago with each other and with modern Yellow Walleyes ... and they didn't find enough differences to call them anything other than different varieties. I leave this to the geneticists to decide how much difference is enough to qualify as a different species or subspecies but think about this: there are different groups of people all over the world with very different skin colour, hair colour, proportions, average height and so on; they are different "races" but not different species or subspecies. 4. YES, the comments left by "jesusoftheapes" are full of promise about possibly having found a hidden lake that was once stocked with Lake Erie Blue Walleye fry; he wants to keep the lake a secret in order to protect the fish from overharvesting but he says he will freeze samples when he catches those fish again. 5. YES, please involve your Profs. I am retired now and I no longer have my own lab. 6. Did you notice that I have several videos on this topic and that I am trying to collect info from lots of fishermen going forward? 7. FINALLY, I hope that you will pursue this topic as you develop your career; there are many questions to be answered and there is the possibility of restoring true Blue Walleyes to Lake Erie.

Hi, Ronald - That sounds like a beautiful fish! What was the substrate like where you caught it? I’ve had fishermen tell me that they caught tan-coloured walleyes over sandy lake bottoms, dark green walleyes in a dark green river, and that a typical walleye can turn very pale when kept in a pale-coloured live well for a length of time. All kinds of things may affect colour. It is an interesting topic and walleyes show lots of variety.

@@DrDave-Ecologic it was during the spring‘s spawn in the Sandusky River it was a gravel substrate the rest of the walleye from that location we’re regular colored. It held its golden color in the cooler.

@@ronaldyoung9430 Hey, Ronald - thanks for that info. In piecing together stories like yours, patterns are bound to emerge in what fishermen are finding throughout a wide geographical range. Much obliged!

These treasured fish had many names in different regions, fishing clubs, and families. I mentioned a few of the many names in the video but for ease of narration, I had to settle on one name rather than repeat a list of names. It sounds like your family had direct experience with the real Lake Erie blue (many names!) fish, right? Can you verify that they were blue of scale and skin (and maybe flesh?) and not simply blue because of mucous? There are some loose ends of the blue fish story that I would like to nail down. The confusion comes from the fact that the Lake Erie blue fish were not the same as the blue fish that anglers are currently catching in smaller lakes of northern states and Canada.

EXCELLENT, Felix! These quick little quizzes don't give much time to decide!

I’ve never tried them but they are big meaty legs!

Excellent! Frogs are a scream! More creatures coming soon.

So true - especially because the public interest is becoming stronger and more focused … so our representatives should represent us! (“They have ONE job”. Well it isn’t quite that simple but there is the spirit of it!)

YES, imagine that we have been warned for all those years, and yet here we are arriving at more critical times, with many people still in denial! What will it take? Have a look at my video (10 Steps) that says we should make certain changes right now for great benefits, even if people can’t agree about climate change.

That’s the hope! There is a possibility of that happening, given time and chance. It may be a slight hope but I find the thought encouraging after all the articles I read that were lamenting the extinction “of that species”. Of course, now we know that it was a “variety” that went missing - not a whole species - so the re-emergence of those traits and a similar deep water population are possible. Also - fish populations have been shown to change their attributes quickly compared to birds and mammals. Lots of eggs = lots of chances! Keep fingers and toes crossed and be patient while the story of Lake Erie Blue Walleyes continues to evolve! Actually, I will be doing an update video soon with some new info!

@@DrDave-Ecologic I will be watching for your update!

Hi, S! You have visited a number of my KZbin videos today and left me with stimulating feedback and great motivation. Thank you! I really appreciate your interest and your valuable input.

Thank you for saying that! I hear these types of arguments being made under either dry or heated circumstances; I thought I would bring them out in a more light-hearted way so the public will know of what gets said during decision-making about this important topic.

Isn’t nature fun? Always some look-slides to confuse us! If you look in the description section, there is more info there. It can be reached by clicking “More” from a computer or by pressing the screen from a cell phone.

Take a close look at that video. I’m not talking about a flooded town in this case. It is a zone at the bottom of the lake.

Not often, it’s true, but if someone has an interest, the resource is there.

Hi, Noah - It is scary but it’s good to know about it. Best to deal with it rather than ignore it! Luckily, we know what causes it and we know what we need to do.

Here is the link to: THE MYSTERY OF THE LAKE ERIE DEAD ZONE kzbin.info/www/bejne/rqu7aquFmrGlp7c I will also add the link to: THE CASE OF THE MISSING BLUE FISH kzbin.info/www/bejne/jJCTYZqeeLCjkMU

I didn’t realize there were descriptions on “shorts” videos. You have to press and hold on the screen to bring up the option to open the description, not very accessible. I’ve noticed other “shorts” creators often leave any relevant links pinned in the comment section, maybe this is something you will consider. Thank you for adding the link, looking forward to watching more of your content!

@user-xn6lu4sr4t Excellent idea! This is my first short so I’m just learning. I will do that as soon as I get home.

Here is the link to: THE MYSTERY OF THE LAKE ERIE DEAD ZONE kzbin.info/www/bejne/rqu7aquFmrGlp7c I will also add the link to: THE CASE OF THE MISSING BLUE FISH kzbin.info/www/bejne/jJCTYZqeeLCjkMU I shifted this info from here to my first reply in hopes of making it handier. I won't erase this repetitive comment until I know that the links I copied and pasted above still work!

I caught them as recently as February in 2023 . There is no way to get a boat into this lake which is 150 feet deep yet has a total size of less than a Wal-Mart store in its footprint. There is a 0% chance these fish are the same as yellow walleye . This is a completely different species and you can tell when you catch them . Even the more yellow colored Walleyes in this lake seem to be a yellow variant of the Blue type that lives there. We caught Yellow Walleyes from Middle Eau Claire Lake the same day as we moved over to our secret lake with these Blue Walleyes . We cleaned both types. They are very different to one another side by side . I tried to talk to a DNR officer about them in 2017 and they called us all crazy. They do run smaller like a big perch or normal sized Sauger . However they have a more rounded top spiney fin than a Sauger and it stands higher than a Walleye . So I do not believe this species is the same as a Walleye at all . If someone is wanting to see one of these fish the ice will be thick enough soon to fish that water once again. It was rumored to be a lake that was an experimental stocking project lake back in the 1970s but was forgotten when the surrounding clear cut land grew back into standing forest in the Nation Forest region of Barnes. I would be more than willing to catch a batch for you and show you the fish if you want to see one alive . This lake has so many of this type of fish in it that it is one of the funnest places to jig through the ice for Walleye in the state and I am pretty sure there have only been 2 people who have fished it at all in the past decade or even 2 decades other than my father who died about 8 years ago and a few of his old timer friends who have also since died who were the people who found the lake originally . That being me and my brother . We live near that lake and have never seen anyone there or seen any sign that other people fish there. Never seen another hole drilled on the ice and in the Winter I fish there 20 times a winter . I started putting a shack on the lake in 2017 permanently and fish there about 20 times a winter. We keep few fish each winter but always take one batch per season as we think these Walleye to be the best tasting of any Pike species we have ever eaten . there are also Norther Pike in the lake ,Blue Gill, White and Black Crappie and some Bullheads. It seems to have a breeding population of Cisco and they get big on the lake but the lake has no above ground streams running into the lake and I have 0 idea how the lake sustains itself with baitfish as the amount of really quality game fish is high. We have caught Blue Gills over 1 lb on this lake several times over the past 20 years. All other species of fish look no different than the same fish from other lakes in the region so it is not like that lake produces a Blue tint to its fish . These are their own species and you are the first person to every tell me there was a Blue Walleye that was a real species and I finally have an explanation for the species we found. Now I have to know what they are doing in this little lake in the middle of nowhere WI . If they came from Lake Erie how in the heck did they get to Barnes? We were told stories from a friend of my fathers who grew up fishing the unknown lakes of Washburn, Bayfield and Burnett Counties and he knew a lot about the lakes no one else fishes. There are so many lakes up there that never get fished and this is one of the true fishing gems . I would love to know where to send one to see if these are the species you are speaking of. They sure sound like it. I wish you had some actual photos of them instead of DNR artwork pictures . I guess that is the way a extinct fish would be given photos of fish that do not get big do not make many collections . I have photos someplace of some of the Bluest Walleyes we have caught there. When you say blue it is not a joke. These things are not slightly blue they look like ocean fish colors they are so blue.

Hi! I think you made this comment BEFORE you saw the video. Take a good look at the video and you will see that there are several blue versions of walleye under discussion: the historically famous Blue Walleye of Lake Erie and the current blue-coloured Yellow Walleyes mainly in the northern states and Canada. These latter fish may owe their blue colour to blue mucous that they secrete to defend themselves from UV light … according to several scientific studies. What I find exciting about your descriptions is that you may have found one of the lakes where the fry of Lake Erie were stocked for safekeeping. Mention this to your local fisheries conservation people and not to too many fishermen until this is checked out! A second possibility is that they are Saugers that are secreting blue mucous. This has been found for walleyes and perch in northern lakes so why not Saugers? Let me know what you find out.

Hey, @jesusoftheapes - I just found Part 2 of your comments and WOW what a wealth of information! How Lake Erie Blue Walleye would have got to your secret lake is that fisheries conservation officers raised some Blue Walleye fry back in the early 1960s and moved them to other lakes ... rather than put them into Lake Erie which was being called a "dead lake". The fact that your secret lake is SO DEEP would have made it perfect for those fish. I would like to see some photos of those fish but what I would REALLY like is for you to send a sample to Drs. Haponski & Stepien who did the genetic work on actual Lake Erie Blue Walleyes. I will try to get a current address for you. If you get any more fish like that, just put a few in your freezer. One of the original Blue Walleyes was in a freezer for 35 years before Haponski and Stepien analyzed it and it worked out just fine! Stay in touch now and again through this site.

Interesting question, Bustin Bass! I’ve got to look into that at some point in the future.

Hi, Jim - Aha, 100 miles south of Erie! I think that’s the first one I’ve heard about down your way. Most reports come from northern lakes. Thanks for that info and please keep me posted if you catch another one. Also - check to see if its blue colour is coming from blue mucous or from blue scales/skin.

So true! And we need to top them up with sparkling clean water everyday!

Hey, Jerry - That is very interesting about the blue slime on perch. Two questions for you: 1) have you seen any other fish species such as pike that have blue slime, and 2) is the blue slime you’re seeing obvious enough that a fisherman would see it for sure or do you think some people could catch “a blue fish” and not notice the slime at all? I’m finding that only a portion of people who catch blue-coloured walleyes mention blue slime.

I have never seen blue on any pike or bass. Most blue perch are very faint and wouldn’t necessarily be noticed just a tinge in the right light. One perch and few walleye have been very blue and very noticeable. I have always thought it is just slime though and not the actual skin or scales. One thing I have never paid attention to is time of year or depth of the fish.

@jerryesau1311 OK, well thanks for this info. Very helpful. Please keep an eye on future blue fish and let me know what you are observing.

Thanks, Janet - I have to admit that’s the most fun part of it!

Hey, @Trevololol - You are very welcome! I’m glad you enjoyed it.

That's a good opening guess but watch the video carefully and see what I was able to find out by thoroughly sleuthing through this topic.

I watched the video really interesting stuff. i watched the dead zone in Erie also i really liked that also. I dont know how many locals watch this but i did and it was cool. i could go for a few more great lakes videos. @@DrDave-Ecologic

@jimmy66651 OK, Jimmy! I’ll see what I can do. Thanks for the feedback, the encouragement, and the great suggestions for future videos!

Hi, Mark - So true about those “photo ops that got away”. We didn’t have cell phone cameras in our pockets and SLR cameras were expensive and awkward. But you obviously remember the moment!

Hi, 123pietasty - Take a good look at the details of the video. There is much more to the story than just being blue and a walleye. There are a number of potentially confusing factors at play when differentiating between the Lake Erie Blue Walleye (officially labelled as “extinct”) and other blue-coloured walleyes now being caught in various northern lakes and rivers.

@@DrDave-Ecologic Didn't even watch it.

Interesting! That is different from most descriptions that may suggest that the fish is blue all over, or more commonly, especially blue on the dorsal parts of the fish. Good eye and good description!

Also - interesting that you are describing a walleye from a tributary of Lake Erie … as opposed to a walleye from a smaller more northern lake. Any blue mucous on these walleyes?

@@DrDave-Ecologic I cant recall if I saw blue mucous (didn't know that was a thing) but the blue spots where usually in the same areas I described....the main reason I noticed is I would usually catch them around 10pm at night and take pictures of them with flash, then started noticing the blue spotting - especially when you enhance the contrast and saturation it becomes very clear

@MMK86 - Cool! I hadn’t heard of anything described like that. Don’t worry if you can’t recall about the mucous. It can be pretty subtle… but it might be something to look for in the future. A couple of items in my reference articles below the video give more info about the mucous. It’s not that I’m a “mucous fan” or anything like that! I’m just interested in how (and why?) the fish are achieving their blue colouration.

Hi, Mark - What do you mean by just the word “sauger”? Can you elaborate?

SANDER CANADENSIS...perhaps this is the taxa which you speak of as being the "Blue Walleye"

​@@markthomas3730I was about (or should I say aboot? LOL) to make the same point. My Uncle Matty took me out on the Eastern end of Lake Erie when I was 7 y.o... (late 1950s) for Blue Pike (my Uncle always called them Sauger). A plentiful catch for Friday fish fry. No meat on Friday! By the mid-to-late1960s they were tough to find, along with Muskie and Black Bass. But the memory lives on, as fresh as if it were yesterday. The last time we went out for Muskie on the Niagara River (1970?) we came back to the livery empty-handed. My Uncle wept real tears. On a side note: I pursued Scuba (in a big way). Visited home from points West and dove the West Niagara River. About a mile above Niagara Falls, in a deep slack-water stretch along Grand Island, there were Muskie in numbers, laying back in the slack, snatching Large and Small Mouth Bass (or whatever moved by in the current) and tucking back in along the shore. The largest we spied was about 5 feet long, with a massive, shark-toothed (interlocking teeth upper and lower) mouth. Quite appropriate to its common moniker "Shovel Head". My Uncle Mattie (in his 80s) smiled when I shared the experience. His comment on the flip side: "It's hard to keep Nature -- or a good man down." Yep. I replied. Especially in a 15 knot current. 👍

Hi, @GAMakin - That’s a great story. A lot of our sweetest memories are tied to outdoor activities with our friends and family. (Don’t worry re “about” and “aboot ”; I’m bilingual and can speak both Canadian and American!) One thought I had in reading about your adventures is that I hope we can pass on to our children and grandchildren a world where those types of adventures can still be had.

Hi, David - Take a close look at the details of the video. There have been several scientific studies about the mucous of blue-coloured walleyes found in northern lakes. You can read more about those studies in the reference material below the video.

Can you say where those lakes are, even approximately, just to “add to the map”?

@@DrDave-Ecologic the closest information I can give to the location is North of Lake Superior west of Lake Nipigon. i know that leaves a large area, but I've watched lakes become garbage pits just by the mention of a name.

Hi, @silasostap5236 - Absolutely. Totally understood. Yet your description adds a bit of blue to the mental map of where these fish occur. Much obliged.

Hey, Martin - Thanks for these colour descriptions! How about those Manitoba greenbacks as being striking-looking fish? A few people have mentioned them. Yes about “blue pike” being a misleading common name for an actual walleye. It

Thanks, Daniel! I hope you looked at the rest of the video because lots of interesting variables are involved beyond the more straightforward ones.

It’s a complex issue. I’d like to know more about the failed stocking program. Were we breeding them in the 60’s? I think walleye can live deeper than people realize. There are lakes up north where I’ve clocked fish around 100 feet. They could be deeper in the Great Lakes and are probably caught accidentally by lake trout fisherman.

@@danielrichardson6054 Hi, Daniel - I’ve run across a few references about fisheries people cultivating Lake Erie Blue Walleye fry and stocking them in lakes other than Lake Erie in an effort to save a population. Mind you, the names of the lakes were kept confidential to protect the fish, it was all done long ago, and those people have long since retired. Meanwhile, we’ve changed from paper records to electronic files, etc. … that info may have been lost. Yet there are lots of fishermen visiting lots of lakes … and now sharing info about the fish they have caught. Maybe we will track down the lakes where these fry were stocked. YES, I think you are right about how deep walleyes can go. Their eyes are designed for seeing in dim light; that can give them an edge re dim/dark times of the daily clock but it would also be handy in deep water. Lake Erie Blue Walleyes were deep water fish; their eyes were relatively large and placed slightly towards the top of the heads, which could also have been adaptations for deep water.

Hi, Big Rich - A lot of people are familiar with “varieties” because of their gardening experiences. For example, if 2 varieties of corn are cross bred, you get a hybrid corn with extra size and vigour. Another example: the popular corn called “Peaches and Cream” - the one with two different colours of kernels - is a hybrid from 2 different varieties of corn (same species and subspecies). If a Yellow Walleye bred with a Blue Walleye, then for sure the genes would be there in the offspring because the offspring gets half its chromosomes from each parent. A given trait might be covered up by a dominant trait, but the genes are still there and the hidden trait may be expressed again when when parents bearing those genes mate.

Aha! Thanks for that info, Randy! It is hard to know whether or not the blue slime is present in all cases of blue-coloured walleyes because people don’t look, or aren’t sure, or simply didn’t mention that detail. So I am pleased to see your clear statement on that.

Thanks so much! A new one is in the hopper. Coming soon!

Thank you SO MUCH!!! I really appreciate your encouragement.

Hi,?@fishinghunting7275 - It is up to people’s individual preferences and needs, of course, but I’m a fan of catch and release, too … especially in places where populations are under pressure and could use a break.

@@DrDave-Ecologic if you find them like I have don't let the Chinese people know.

@@DrDave-Ecologic I'm surprised the sauger wasn't brought up!

@@fishinghunting7275 Interestingly, I have read that certain cultures such as the Chinese value carp and consider them delicious. Having more fishing pressure on carp and Asian Carp could help keep those fish in check so that populations of native fish would have more chance to recover.

@@DrDave-Ecologic them Asian Carp are not native to America at all. The Chinese eat anything and everything crappie, walleye, sunfish, and everything else they also don't care about the size. I wish more people would call the DNR on them. Back to the blue walleye 2 years ago I caught a 8 pounder I called the DNR they didn't care instead told me they were instinct I'm glad I threw her bad into the water. I won't tell anyone the lake but I can tell you it wasn't in a great lake.

Hi, @elbowjoe361 - Thanks for that info and those memories! These blue-coloured walleyes have given people a lot of pleasure over the years. They get you thinking about why they are different from normal-looking Yellow Walleyes.