State record Walleye

With all the feed and all the Walleyes in The River, I am wondering how many of you feel that the state record Walleye
is swimming somewhere in pools 2,3 or4? We all know there are 8-11 pounders , but is the river environment with current, up down water levels, dirty water etc. perhaps not the best environment to grow a 18 lb Walleye. What do ya think?

I would bet there is a new record swimming in the river. Iowa’s record is, I believe, 14 1/2 and just a few years ago a commercial fisherman had a 16 1/4 in a net right below Guttenberg dam! So why not bigger ones?

I would see no reason why the next state record will be caught out of the river Ive commercial fished for years the biggest walleye Ive seen Is 16 lbs those fish dont get that big for nothing good luck in cathing one

Yes, definitely. Pool 4 has all the ingredients to produce a 17 + pound walleye. I think it is only a matter of time. Hope it is someone from the FTR board here who does it!

Now how are you going to catch it up there when we already are zeroing in on it down hear on pools 8-9-10.

All kidding aside I am doubtful , that in the near future we will see a new state record caught on the Mississippi.

The 12.12 criter caught down here was probably just about the top. 15+ plus would not surprise me , but I haven’t netted one yet.

The main reason I feel this way is the huge increase in fishermen over the last 10 years. Add to that the lack in recent years of reports of shocked,(10 years ago), or netted fish,(15-20 years ago), in the near or over 20 lb range and it looks a little unlikely. Are there 1 0r 2 out there on each pool, Maybe. Wouldn’t you think with all the fisherman out there targeting literally every inch of the river that at least a high 15# or bigger would come in occassionally.

La Verne Campbell did have a very huge walleye up to the boat that kept arching so that it would not fall into his net, about 5 years ago now.

Now I won’t be suprised if it is caught somewhere else, I.E…Small pond, lightly fished lake, or rivers connecting to Green Bay. I always forget if any of it is Wisconsin, but The St. Louis river is also a possibility.

There are every year large fish that get on and act very walleyelike and overwelm the tackle. Honestly though we never get them up high enough to be sure. I’ve caught tons of large cats,northern, sturgeon and roughfish and this feels nothing like they do. It has the same head throbs and tendency to race under the boat that the 8-11bers we catch each year do. The big difference is that whatever it is loads my light medium pole up and keeps it pretty much bent in half whenever the drag isn’t slipping line out. Whatever it is hardly ever breaks a line, but just gets of the hook somehow???? So maybe!!!!!!!!!!!!

I tend to agree with Mountain Man. The river sees alot of pressure, and great fishermen. The next record will come from a less pressured piece of water.
Don

Hi folks, I would agree with mountain man if it were not for “catch and release” I know of 3 fish over 14 lbs that were released to the river in the last 5 yrs. they are probably still out there gaining weight and waiting for the next lucky fisherman

Mountain Man, Yes I should have included more pools. It just seems with the vast amount of water and the feed available in the river that a Walleye would reach 18 lbs. On the other hand the River has had Walleyes in it for a long time and no one has reported one that large. Perhaps with our servere winters, compared to down south that is, the shorter growing season just isn’t conducive to producing that size fish. Anyway, appreciate all the imput!

I think really big fish feed when fishermen aint fishin’!! That’s why you don’t see big fish showing up with the increased pressure. Most fishermen fish during the day. Most big fish feed at night. At least that is what I believe….can’t point you to any studies or proof….just my belief.

Big fish in the 14-16 or bigger pound range show up in nets. No reason to believe a fish in the 17 pound range aint swimming out there….

I have personally seen an on the scale 13, so I’m encouraged!

J.

Hey I have no scientific proof..this is just my personal uneducated belief. The State record came from a river much further north of us. But I like to think every time I launch my boat for the day that a state record is only one hook set away. I do feel that I can set a state record sauger. Or saugeye and even Walleye, shoot I might even have to go try next weekend…. Now see what you guys did I’m suppose to be making jigs and bucktails… Now I HAVE RECORD FEVER.. looking for my paten leather sorrels and hit the dance floor…..Geez I’d better go fishin…the squirrels are coming…

Wouldn’t it be fun to have a big walleye of the year contest on FTR and have everybody that wants to compete put in $5 or so with a minimum weight to weigh in of 12#s. There are already a group of 4 certified scales down here by us and I’m sure some on each pool. Then if no one gets a 12# plus fish all the money goes to ARM with 50% going there one way or the other. No real need to spend money on a plaque or anything, most of us would be doing it for braggin rights anyway. Then those of you that are more aware of what a real trophy is in the other species, bass(smallies and bucket mouth) ,northern,cats,gills,crappies musky or whatever could have a category and a different contest going on at the same time . I for one if the fee is reasonable might like to take a shot at all of those categories, especially if there was some benefit to ARM or Local clubs or something like that.

I would be more in favor of a monthly Photo Contest(I don’t catch too many 12# ‘eyes) where the winner gets chosen by the FTR viewers and the winner gets the photo posted on the FTR homepage. (That way I would not feel so bad for Dave’s Sheephead pic) I don’t however know how anyone would pay for any kind of entry fee for posting the pic. Something like I proposed would have to probably be for free and for bragging rights. I am not against donating money to ARM in fact, I am all for it.
Maybe the fine people @ FTR and FTL could get their heads together and come up with some kind of tourney circuit for ARM that would go from pool to pool and lake to lake. It would be mostly for the members, readers and whoever else wanted to enter it for a good cause. It would also be a good way to get together and meet each other while raising some money for kids. For instance, one month the tourney could be on Pool 4 and the next it could be on Mille Lacs. Something like this does not have to have a lot of overhead and could be spread by word of mouth. I would be willing to donate my time and resouces for whatever they would come up with. This is my long winded suggestion. By no means am I trying to put down someone elses ideas.

Blue Fleck,

The plans for a FTR/FTL tournament circuit are in the works for 2004. The big event for 2003 is the Lake Pepin Open to be held on April 26 & 27 out of Coleville Park in Red Wing, Mn. Hope to see you all there!

I think the Photo Contest is a super idea!

Jon J.

Does anyone remember our talk of having an EFN Grand Champion? It was geared toward individual specie catagories and then the Grand Champ was going to be the person with the most entries in each catagory, with the largest overall weight of the catches. When it was being tossed around, it was to start at the 3rd Annual EFN-FTR/FTL Get Together and run until the 4th Annual GTG, and then from each sequential GTG to GTG we’d be gunning for a new Grand Champ.

Anyone know why that faded away?

Just too much work… at the time. Its something I’d love to do… just can’t handle it logistically right now. IT would take a ton of site mods and a small staff to do it the way I envision it needing to be done.

Now the smaller “monthly” deal where the visitorship votes the winners… I’m working on that RIGHT NOW as part of the site upgradescoming shortly. That piece should be quite easy to facilitate. More on this very soon….

I was thinking of starting a ‘fishing league’ at work and doing something like that. Biggest fish of each species would have a picture on a ‘bragging board’ somewhere at work, and as bigger fish are caught, just replace the picture. It would have to be an honor system, and I think it would be hard to resolve disputes amongst the 1000+ members of FTR.

I remember talking about it because I was thinking that us catfish guys would have pretty much had the run of grand champ entries, unless multiple entries could be made for any one species. If that were the case, a hard-core panfisherman could easily outgun the crowd. Seems like there is no good way to determine a grand champion.

My hunch is the State Record will be broken but more likely on one of the large Northern Minnesota Lakes. My first choice would be Rainy Lake based on recent DNR surveys.

I do remember a hugh Walleye (over 15lbs) being caught about 5 years ago this month below the Winona Dam.

ok say that a record walleye is caught in boundary waters and is a record for both minnesota and wisconsin, would that person have the record in both states, or would it be just one???????????

Sorry Gianni, I can see that the way I wrote that led to a very PROBABLE misinterpretation of what I was trying to say. I meant it to say the person with an entry in the most catagories, not most entries in each catagory. You could have multiple entries in each catagory but you’d be judged by your only your biggest fish/weight of each entered catagory. Then, THAT grand total would have dictated an overall grand champ.

Thanks for the clarification James…………I’d kinda forgotten about it until this thread showed up and it made me wonder what ever became of it.

I belive it is only for the state in which you are liscensed.