near record walleye

[jt24]

Heard this morning on a New Ulm radio station that a guy caught a walleye in the minnesota river close to New Ulm that was 6oz shy of the state record. His son also caught a 11 pounder and both were released. Boy that would be hard to release but a replica could be made i guess. Ya hear about big walleyes being caught in the river but i would have never thought that big!

[jbjr]

I Hope someone got a photo to share....

jbjr

[Dennis Steele]

Here is a pic from the New Ulm paper that Icecold sent me this moring.

That is one monster walleye!

I'll be fishing with much bigger bait from now on!

[hanson]

That fish is LARGE!!!

[priorbass]

NOW THATS A WALLEYE

[Ed Carlson]

Dems sum mighty big fingers too Eh!

[sobe]

Nice observation Ed! LOL

[Ice-9]

A lot of butter will fatten a fish right up.

ice

[Dennis Steele]

Hmmm, Didn't catch the fingers.

Makes a guy a little suspicious.

I don't know if the fish was verified or not.

There has been some discussion on the actual weight of the fish.

There's more talk in the MN River forum.

http://www.fishingminnesota.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=444363&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=93&fpart=1

Still an nice fish anyway.

[Corey Bechtold]

Nice fish no doubt, but I doubt that it was close to the state record. If he hid his fingers or you could see his elbows I might have believed it.

[waterwolff]

No way is that fish 6 oz off state record looks to me to be around 12 lb's

[Mark Christianson]

I am jealous of that fish.

But not believing the "close to state record claim".

That catch on the fingers in the picture was a great catch indeed. There are 2 fingers showing, and they look like a couple bratwursts.

Maybe he has a rare finger swelling disease???

[rmh2o]

Yea they look really big when you stretch your arms out close to the camera!!!

[Ed Carlson]

I think it is a very big eye for sure, very "Girthy". Just how big is a bit difficult to say due to the way the photo was taken.

One of my pet peeves is Long Arm shots. Long arm shots mess up the prospective of a pic and automatically will make it cause for suspicion, even if there is no cause for suspicion. I always encourage folks to keep their elbows at their ribs in any photo to keep the prospective.

[Neighboor]

I see that fish only around 25 inches with the measurement scaled off his fingers. Solid 5 or 6 lbs maybe.

[Shane683]

I talked to that guy on Saturday at Cabela's and he showed me the picture and said it weighed 16 lbs. He was working at the Northland Tackle display. His first name is Al and I can't remember his last name. Nice Fish!!!!!

[Deitz Dittrich]

Minnesotas State Record for the walleye was caught back in 1979 on the seagull river... 17lbs 8oz... so even if it was a 16 lb walleye, which is doesn't look like.. but is possible its more than just 6 oz shy of the state record....

[jigglestick]

ed, i'm with you on the long arm shots. i think we could fill up a whole thread with that topic!

i think the boastful people like to do that to make believe their fish is bigger than it actually is. that is my take every time i see a photo like that. i agree elbows to your ribs!

JINGLESTICK I.B.O.T. #5

[LEECH21]

Sure he may be sticking his arms out and the fish may not be as big as claimed.....but I know one thing, I sure would have loved to catch that fish! And give the guy tons of credit for CPR'ing the fish.

[Mark Christianson]

A color pic.

[river rat316]

OK now his fingers dont look near as fat in the color pic. One thing for sure is that is a nice fish and I also give the guy credit for CPR on a pig like that (16lbs. though? I dont know)

[BigMike]

Either way - it's definitely a piggie! The girth on that fish looks real thick. No comment on the size/weight - if the fish was certified then I would be more likely to believe it.

Taking pictures makes it tough to get a real idea of how big a fish is - some pictures make a fish look bigger while others don't do the fish justice. Either way - great picture of a nice piggie. I'm sure many of us on here would be admit being just a little jealous.

[2dalake]

The elbows look like they are straight, and the arms are straight out from the body. He looks like he has an average build, which would mean about a 24" with at his shoulders? Add the length of the tail and the head in front of the gill cover and the fish adds up to me to be an honest 30" (at least) with a big fat gut.

In other words, he is holding it out at arms length, something most of us would do if we were pumped up after just boating that fish, but it's graphite replica is still gonna look great on his wall.

[abens1078]

There's plenty of walleye pictures on the 'photo sharing' section on this sight that would appear to have that fish beat but you guys know how fast a rumor mill runs. I'd still say he is holding a 12# fish though and that's cool no matter what the rumor mill says!!!!

Did the weight measurement come from an official source? If my scale said 6oz. shy of State record I would have been scooting into the local grocery store or any other place with a certified scale just for the posibility of the scale being in error.

[jt24]

Thats the same question i had. If the fish is or was that big wouldnt you take it some where to get a accurate weight?? I would assume for a record you would have to weigh it on a certified scale. It then would most likely be impossible for a release. Like i first reported i only heard it on the radio and had never seen a picture. Its a big fish but 16# hard to tell.

[wall eyell be]

Quick someone call channel 11. They can do an investigative series on whether our rivers are blessed with large walleyes (a native fish) or infested with medium-sized zander (an exotic).

[rmh2o]

I just measured the fish on my computor screen and it measures 7 inches and my hand measures about 4 inches across where in the picture his hand is about an inch.So 7x4 puts that fish at about 28-30 inches.It looks to have a pretty good girth but the back is also sagging.I think the scale was off by 6 or 7 pounds.

[abens1078]

I wonder if COs carry cerified scales in their cars and trucks for such occasions. I certainly understand his decision of CPR and would hope that fish weighing procedures could become more compatible with CPR.

The coulda woulda shoulda will stand out for awhile on this one.

[river rat316]

Bm you got it I am jealous!!! I would give just about anything to catch a pig like that

[bigeyes]

Yes, it is strange. I would put this fish at 11-13 pounds. It is really tough to tell he is really holding the fish out.