That is a saugeye. I live in southwest Ohio and fish for saugeye, sauger, and walleye 12 months out of the year. I am fortunate enough to have rivers near me with all 3. At first, they all look alike, however, once you know what to look for, they are pretty easy to tell apart. Usually.
I will attempt to show some of the differences below, but I will say that my photos aren't the best. In person it is much easier to point out things without the glare from the camera flash.
Sauger. These guys are the smallest of the 3 and catching them over 15 inches(at least around me) is pretty uncommon. The absolute easiest way to tell a sauger is their dorsal fin. It's completely clear and has perfect black dots in separate rows. It looks like someone took a sharpie to it. Also, the rear most ray on the dorsal fin is clear. Walleye and saugeye have a black ray there. The tail might have a little white or whiteish pink along the very bottom. The body has 3 or 4 distinct dark saddles that drape over the body.
Saugeye. These are sauger/walleye hybrids. While they typically have a pretty distinct look, because they are hybrids, they can take on more of one of their parent's markings than the other. Still, they will always have at least some of both.
The dorsal fin is usually blotchy. It never will have perfect dots or perfectly clear like a sauger. The dark body markings are also blotchy. The tail can have a little more white in it at times than a sauger or less. The one you caught doesn't appear to have any white. This is more of a sauger attribute. As I said before, being a hybrid they can have more of one parent's markings than the other. The tail on your fish says sauger, but the dorsal and the body show otherwise.
Walleye. The dorsal on a walleye can be clear, however, it is generally lightly shaded gray. It almost looks like someone used a black crayon and lightly shaded it. It will not have spots or blotches on it. The tail has a very distinct white patch on the lower corner. Almost as if someone dipped it in paint. Because the walleye is related to the perch, the body can have faint, vertical bars running down the back. Some fish don't show any markings at all and just look gold. Also, some can have blotches on the body, but will still have the vertical bars.
I will include some photos. They aren't great, but maybe you can see some of what I'm talking about. #1 sauger, #2-3 saugeye, #4 walleye. Hope this helps!
