It has been a long time coming but yesterday afternoon my quest for a walleye beating the 30″ mark was finely completed. I catch a fair amount of walleye every year and even a good share of big fish but that 30″er has always eluded me. This gal taped out at 30.25″s and had some pretty good girth to her.
She hit while trolling a #7 Flicker shad down river in a side channel and about stopped the boat when she hit. Then the fight was on. She would not come off the bottom and rite from the start was trying to pull back into a nice log jam. She hit those logs a couple of times and got me pretty nervous that she was going to stick in there. With the pole in one hand and running the motor with the other I was able to get her pulled away from that area.
Next was the battle to get her off the bottom. She did not want to come up and at this point I still wasnt sure if this was a walleye or a cat. After seeing the surface of the water swirl a few times from her tail she final came up about 10′ out from the boat. First thought was “all right its a walleye”. Second thought, “thats a really nice walleye”. Third thought ” one hook corner of the mouth. Thats not good”. Next move was putting the rod tip back down as I didnt need her dancing around on the surface that far away from the boat. Back down she went and then rite back up along side the boat. A quick slip of the net under her and she was mine. Lifting her out the water I new I had broken the 30″ mark.
Not only was this a long fish but she had some pretty good girth to go with it. That along with the fantastic hit on the lure and tremendous battle she gave coming into the boat made this a fish I will remember for a long time.
A couple of quick photos. A little reviving along side the boat. A little water splashed in my face from her tail and she was on her way back down to the bottom. What a great fish.
Still waiting to crack 30″ myself 
