13.3 pound walleye–no pic.

Well, there we were. After a Sat. night of dragging jigs on pool 4, we head to the Evert’s baitshop to order some Libery’s cheeseburgers and watch the football game.
One more boat came off the river after us, in the shop they walk–with a HUGE walleye.
We scaled it at 13.3 pounds and hair under 30 inches.
Unfortuately, Dean did not leave a camera in the baitshop(with BK around, I would not leave one around either).

So, the guy from LaCrosse who caught it, congrats!
It was his first time fishing pool 4. I did not get his name, but if he is on the site maybe he will chime in.

I’ll take luck over skill anyday.

Did he release it for a repo or take it home?
Great fish either way.

WOW !!

I don’t believe it.

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I don’t believe it.

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Guess you should have been around then. I heard it from at least 4 people that were in the bait shop. I’m not sure they just sat around and decided to make up a story to tell everyone. I dont Believe Doc or Kirk are liars so I had no choice but to believe them. Hutch and Jim were there to witness it as well.

Unfortunately the fish went with the person to make it’s way to the wall, however in all reallity a 13# fish is a wall worthy trophy so I dont blame the guy. I’ve seen alot of 8# fish on the walls of peoples homes and in bait shops so a 13 # fish is truly a trophy.

Doc, didnt Kirk get a pic of this fish on his phone?

Never trust a walleye guy. ~Doc Frigo 2009

Dustin Stewart took my avatar picture of my 13.9 and thought I was crazy putting it back. I have caught longer fish and couln’t see killing the fish. Graphite replicas are pretty good these days. They never get any bigger on the wall.

I don’t have any hard feelings toward a guy keeping a fish like that but If everyone killed those we wouldn’t see to many. Walleye in the 30″ range can be over 15 years old. a long time to replace it.

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Dustin Stewart took my avatar picture of my 13.9 and thought I was crazy putting it back. I have caught longer fish and couln’t see killing the fish. Graphite replicas are pretty good these days. They never get any bigger on the wall.

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GRAPHITE REPLICAS are just that REPLICAS! Kind of like a blow up dall The real thing would be alot better If it goes on my wall it will be REAL AND PROUD OF IT For my 2cents it is the real thing or nothing

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I don’t have any hard feelings toward a guy keeping a fish like that but If everyone killed those we wouldn’t see to many. Walleye in the 30″ range can be over 15 years old. a long time to replace it.

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More 15yr. olds on the way now and for ever

Silicone is pretty life like but it’s not the real thing Randy.

I would have perfected a replica for myself too as they are pretty darn close to real, but since I didn’t catch it…it’s not my choice.

I do hope we’ll get to see a picture at some point though.

Well,since the keep or release B.S. started again,how about going to the DNR site and reading the studies on P4.Our walleyes grow fast and die young,a 30 incher is close to the end of its life.I chose to put them back but will not bat an eye if a guy wants to keep one for the wall.
JJ all the guy’s that hang at the shop are liars.
Last week I had a 16lber boatside but my hands were cold so I just shook it off.

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GRAPHITE REPLICAS are just that REPLICAS! Kind of like a blow up dall

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Dall? Didn’t think you liked sheep Randy

Stuart, that study along with other interesting P4 studies are in the Articles forum right here on Ido.

And give RRR a break! Gus ate his hearing aid.

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Well,since the keep or release B.S. started again,how about going to the DNR site and reading the studies on P4.Our walleyes grow fast and die young,a 30 incher is close to the end of its life.I chose to put them back but will not bat an eye if a guy wants to keep one for the wall.
JJ all the guy’s that hang at the shop are liars.
Last week I had a 16lber boatside but my hands were cold so I just shook it off.

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I put them back to,but if i would want to keep one for the wall there would’nt be any

OU812
Sorry, I don’t get paid enough to lie to you.

Fish went home to be put on the wall, thing was a tank.

I’ll see Curt today, think he might have gotten a pic on his phone-otherwise Jim might have one as well. Dean might want a pic of that one we can get it to him.

Curt has a pic on his phone-will see if can be sent to Dean.

I hear ya about the bait shop Stuart but these guys were pretty serious this time. I could tell by the excessive grumbling about it being the guys first time on pool 4 and landing a 13# fish

I’m chiming in on the C&R deal. I can’t bite my tongue when I see *excuses* laid out for killing a giant walleye.

You think it might die tomorrow if you release it? It will certainly die today if you don’t. Give the fish a chance to breed again. Give another angler a chance to catch it.

In regards to mounts, I think reproductions are just as good or better than the real thing. Either way, you could mount a 14# fish and still catch a bigger one. You think guys that catch big walleyes every year have a bunch of fish on their wall? Maybe they have one that died on them, or an old mount, but I can pretty much guarantee that they don’t mount their personal best every time they catch it. I’ve heard/read the phrase, “Act like you’ve been there before.” I think it applies.

I’m still hoping to land a 13# walleye someday. Now there’s one less opportunity out there for me. How many times do you think the fish we’re talking about was caught and released?

Too bad the angler kept the fish. It’s also too bad the discussion got off track. Hopefully when the picture surfaces we’ll have it in a new thread.

Reports of this walleye really have made the rounds on a few forums. It would be sweet to see a few pics.

Like Cedarcreek and other have said I too would have release a true trophy like this. Graphite lasts longer. There is no reason to kill a fish like this. I feel strongly about conservation especially on heavily fished waters like P4. All of my big fish get released. Yet I understand people feel strongly about keeping their trophies.

A typical lake or typical river with the 25″ walleye that is 5lbs yes a replica is more than likely the way to go, however on pool 4 the fish are freakish and most places, I know Dean has looked and called and researched, dont have replicas that can duplicate a pool 4 fish. You cant find a replica of a 27″ fish thats pushing 9lbs they just dont make the molds for the fish of that kind of freakish nature.

I can understand that you say you would release it but I am thinking you are avid fishermen and have had your share of 5+ lb walleye in your hands. This was this guys 1st trip to pool 4 ever so I am guessing he is not an avid fisherman. If I only got out and fished once in a while and didnt take fishing as seriously as I do I would have 8lb fish that would be on the walls but they swim to this day. A guy gets way luckier than he could even imagine possible (but the possiblity is on pool 4) and lands a 13# walleye I know darn well if I were in his shoes (a not so avid fisherman) that fish would be hanging on my wall as well.

Picture Post

I hope to have a photo of the fish to post soon. A fellow I do business with called in a Order Monday and after business was done asked how I did fishing over the weekend. Long story longer… he told me about himself, his brother and a buddy tried fishing up by Red Wing and caught a monster. He said it was weighed @ 13.4 on the scale there but when he got it home on his scale it came in @13.7 recalibrated the scale with a 10lb weight and it was on???
Not sure exactly who caught and who netted but my associate was running the the boat and didn’t do either.
I will post photo soon

Take it easy there buddy. Just trying to shock a picture out of these guys….and it looks like we got one. Let me have my fun!

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GRAPHITE REPLICAS are just that REPLICAS! Kind of like a blow up dall

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Dall? Didn’t think you liked sheep Randy

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Give me an oh–please Speaking of Dall Sheep. You know the ones with the BIG OLD FULL CURL HORNS that take a long long time to grow. Then BANG! BANG! and there on the WALL! I was telling along time fishery BIOLOGEST working at the POOL 4 LAKE CITY headquarters. About all the BIG walleyes that we were CPRing, alot of the time just release no pic. He told me to do what made me feel good and that to never think we were good enough to HURT this fishery I have put many many BIG EYES in the boat over the years. But no BIG eyes or sheep on my wall. But if i want to i will.

As a staunch replica advocate I guess I would like to pipe in. All of my and my father’s fish are replicas. Some of dad’s are over 20 years old and look as good as the day they were delivered. We all know a “real” fish mount would have faded and possibly cracked (fins) by now.

On top of that, we feel good about ourselves knowing that those fish on our walls were put back to swim another day.

Replicas are no different than real mounts. You sit back and look at both of them and recall the events of that day.

It’s important to remember, these mounts are not on the wall for anyone other than yourself. We don’t put them on the wall to show everyone how great we are. They are nothing more than a picture. A 3D picture to bring you back to that day.

That and a way to pay homage to nature and how much it means to us.

Randy,
Is the second “bang” in “bang, bang” to anchor the sucker down or is it due to buck (sheep) fever and needing a second shot????
Think your vikings are gonna do it this weekend!

Jeremy

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Randy,
Is the second “bang” in “bang, bang” to anchor the sucker down or is it due to buck (sheep) fever and needing a second shot????
Think your vikings are gonna do it this weekend!————- The first BANG was to make him run for a sporting shot As 4 the viks it will bet ya 4 bucks on that game,not 5 i like betting 4 bucks with packer fans

Jeremy

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