Big Walleye Question!

Hey everyone,
Friday the 18th my brother-law and I were fishing on pool 4 above the “Y” and noticed a large dead walleye floating by. I netted it to look closer and it seemed like she had died recently, but I’m no expert. It measured 27″ and weighed 9.4lbs. Built like a football! We then noticed a 10-11″ shad stuck halfway in her throat. We pulled it out and half of it was partially digested. Do you think she died from choking? Is that possible and has anyone seen this before? I really feel bad seeing such a nice walleye dead like that. What does everyone think?

Thanks a lot,
D. Andrews

You’ll probably never know what killed that fish. But I don’t think it choked. My main fishing partner is a taxidermist. Last year someone brought him a 42 inch northern with a 15 inch walleye in it’s throat. The guy caught him on a crankbait. The tail fin of the walleye was still in his mouth. It made for an interesting mount though.

I wouldn’t think that a 10-11 inch shad would choke a walleye of that size….could have just been her time to go.

About 10 years ago I found a 28+ inch walleye on the St. Croix dead….it had a sheaphead about 12 inches long stuck in its mouth. I would assume it starved to death.
Mark

Last year on the Croix we found a smallie about 19 inches with a 10-12 inch sheepie lodged in its mouth. It had been dead a while so I wasnt sure if it was natural or not but I could see it happening.

I have heard of northern ingesting food that was big enough to not allow enough oxygenated water to flow past to their gills – suffocated really might be the term to use… sounds like a pattern developing – now we need someone to develop a rubber grub that looks like an 8-10 inch shad! JK

Once they get too big a meal stuck in there it would be tough for any of the toothy critters to expell it. We had a 36 inch northern that had a 15 inch walleye in her belly last fall on Winnebigosh. Chuckles

The bar at the old Mac’s Twin Bay had a mount of a large female walleye that had a male get caught in her gill plate during spawning, and both died. They mounted it that way. I don’t know whatever came of that. Maybe Hook or Bob C knows?

We get one of these stories every year. I think James found one a couple years back with a huge sheephead lodged in it’s mouth. Same thing, dead a door knob. I wonder if the DNR would be interested in a fish like this for research purposes if I guy was to stumble across it??

Last year a friend came across 40-50lb flathead @ the surface with a large dead soft shell turtle stuck in its mouth. The fish was very stressed but still alive. They removed the turtle, flushed the fish back and forth a few times, and away it swam.

I have seen a few 25 Lb+ dead flatheads floating but have yet to find a large dead walleye. Who knows why they die? When a walleye gets that large it is an old fish whether it comes from a river or a lake. All species have a certain life span and then they die. Does anyone know how old a 30″ river walleye is? Just curious.

Eyehunter

If walleye’s are anything like musky/northern, I say it didn’t bite off more than it could chew. They say a musky/northern can eat a fish half it’s body length, I would assume a walleye, or any other fish for that matter would be the same.

I once found a Northern of about 28″ floating dead with the tail of a smaller Northern sticking out of its mouth. Whether that killed it or not, I have no idea. In-Fisherman once published a story about a 23″ Northern found with a 21″ Northern stuck in its gullet. I’ve heard other such stories about Northern and muskie as well. I’ve also found good-sized perch, bluegill, and walleye inside the stomachs of Northern–bigger than I would think they could swallow.

I don’t know if it is true, but the current state record Iowa muskie was supposedly found dying with an Arctic tern stuck in its gullet. Two walleye fisherman, according to the story, fished it out and claimed they caught it on hook and line.

I’ve never heard of this sort of thing happening with walleye, but fish make mistakes just like anyone else, and I can believe that a fish may once in a while swallow something that is too big to swallow, or even swallow them the wrong way. Fish swallow baitfish head-first, so the scales and fins don’t get caught in its throat, but it is possible a bait fish could get turned around.

It’s definitely possible. Did any of you see the story on the news last fall where a guy saved the life of a catfish? The story is Here