Hemlock 36" Walleye - Hemlock 7/31

[John Kelley]

I wasn't implying they did, I was simply saying that record fish, especially Walleye will benefit from carrying around a baby bump...  This fish was an absolute pig though, but without a scale its weight remains an unsolved mystery...  someone on here will have to catch it again for themselves!

 

Zack, did you call it a "she" for a specific reason?  is there a way to tell?  The pictures turned out a little disappointing in detail - the fish had a slightly "humped" back like you might see on a spawning male Brown...  you can kind of see it if you look close on the first picture.

The reason Zack knows it is a female walleye is that males do not get anywhere near the 30" mark, usually.  I have found in my walleye fishing, that males very rarely get larger than 6 pounds.  Beautiful fish, by the way.  36" walleye is to a walleye fisherman, what a hole in one is like for an avid golfer!!  Once in a lifetime, man!! :)

[Kevin J Legg]

Man what a fish. A30" eye is generally considered a wall hanger and you beat it by a half foot! Congrats on a fish of a lifetime.

[justtracytrolling]

Awesome fish!!!

[FLXTrolling]

Man what a fish. A30" eye is generally considered a wall hanger and you beat it by a half foot! Congrats on a fish of a lifetime.

 

Thanks John, Kevin & Justin!

 

I'm still trying to process the whole thing ...  There are a lot of comments on here like "Beautiful Fish" which "she" was -  I guess...  haha, I know what they mean, but she was more or less just HUGE, and looked like a mutant, alligator Walleye or something..

 

I'm more of Trout guy myself - for looks and appeal, but that fish was certainly awesome.  I may see if I can get a fiberglass replica made at some point.... though I'd have to fudge the girth  as I didn't exactly get it.  My heart was pounding and I was with a buddy who never gets out, and wasn't thinking clearly enough to get every measurement possible. I had him measure the length while I was holding her, then I sent her back.  As I was holding her tail, she thumped away strong, but then kind of taunted me making a slow descent back to the depths.  It was really cool.  I keep having dreams about watching her swim off - it was nearly as exciting as netting her.

 

To be honest, I really didn't know how big of a fish I truly had until after I started doing some research.

 

I've fished Erie my whole life with my Father and Grandfather, who are (and were, RIP) both in Buffalo - and have never caught anything remotely close...  My personal best Walleye prior to this was 28" - Of course I was targeting Walleye then...

Edited August 4, 2015 by FLXTrolling

[143447]

Chuck that huge sucker is back in there eating the rainbows..lol

I hope it doesn't spawn wow think of the giants lurking already in there.

Wonder how big the Lakers can get!!

[143447]

Too bad that LL don't scale up like that.

[FLXTrolling]

Haha, so they posted a story on this in the Syracuse Post Standard... 

 

The writer decided to take an interesting approach to spark debate - For the record I never claimed this be a State record - I stated it had the length and should it have been carrying eggs it could have contended... The top photo is also highly compressed - I look like a squatty dwarf or something!

 

These Syracuse guys also don't know Hemlock... 

 

Anyway, let me know what you think!

 

Matt B

 

 

http://www.syracuse.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2015/08/was_monster_walleye_caught_and_released_on_hemlock_lake_a_state_record.html#incart_river

[Big Spoon]

Just be glad Figura almost wrote a whole article without any grammatical errors.

Nice fish, nice release!

Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

[FLXTrolling]

Just be glad Figura almost wrote a whole article without any grammatical errors.

Nice fish, nice release!

Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

Thanks! I just got off the phone with a respected member on the board. Together we put the weight around 13.5. The fish has a massive head, but for some reason it's "frame" seems a little light. 36" is the length - the only reason I ever pondered its chance at the state record is because it's length is greater than the State record - and I'm not a Walleye guy.

I just don't want to be Mis-represented as someone making false claims or who even cares about holding a State Record - I should have just said - "hey look, here's an awesome fish!" And left it at that I guess.

Lesson learned!

Edited August 6, 2015 by FLXTrolling

[Sk8man]

As far as I am concerned the furor is a whole lot of BS about nothing as the fish was a beauty and it stands as that period. I guess it could be a lesson of sorts though about mentioning anything about "state records" in a post no matter what the intention.....just the words alone seem to arouse potential controversy. I don't think you need to defend anything either.....it was an uncommonly large walleye in a small body of water without an ongoing stocking program and the fish is apparently still out there for someone else to have fun with in the future. State records are fine but it isn't necessarily what our sport is about or even good sportsmanship is about for that matter. 

[devoknevo]

Well put Sk8man.

 Very nice specimen FLXT! There will always be haters so don't let 'em get to you. There is a category for catch and release state records that you may qualify for too. Its in the NYS DEC regulations book.

 Once again, NICE WORK BRO!!!!!!!!!

[TileMan Dan]

Nice fish!!! Looking at your pics I would say that it is safely 12-13 lbs. Kudos to you on a great catch.

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[FLXTrolling]

Les - it's always good to get your take. Devo and Dan, thanks as well!

The "state record" thing was really more just me thinking aloud after actually learning of the length of the record - which was after I had released the fish - haha, bad idea apparently -

I more or less figured that including my "thoughts" at the time was good for the overall narrative of the story.

I never meant for it to spin off into something where I was claiming a record - lesson learned.

[Prof T]

Matt,

What a fish and great account of the catch. A true fish of a lifetime and what I consider pretty unfair focus by the Post Standard. You meticulously describe your trolling pattern, location and details of the catch here for everyone to share and they choose to discredit it?

I have some skin mounts on the walls, some as old as 40 years old, and I still take great pleasure in remembering the details of each catch when I look at them or tell new friends about them. I, like most guys here, would have no issue with you for keeping this trophy, but you chose to release the fish because it was the right choice for YOU!

That should have been their focus.

Gene

(By they way, Dad's favorite beer was supposedly made from Hemlock Lake water. Guess now I know why)

[FLXTrolling]

Thanks Gene! Hey wouldn't Genny in theory be brewed from Hemlock Lake water? Haha - it has apparently "stunted" my growth - mentally at least.

Not that "I" wouldn't mind having the fish on my wall - it's just that my wife has impeccable taste and really wouldn't allow a fish to be mixed into her decor!

I wasn't going to harvest the fish - so - what else is there to do but release it?

[BSmaster]

My Dad use to brag that he pissed pabst on the way back from Rochester into Hemlock to make the Genny taste better. 

 

Matt, I believe you.  It is nearly impossible to gauge the weight of that fish in a 2-D image with a 3 D pose yet people always try.  I can not see how anybody on Oneida can gauge the size of a fish that large.  It is twice the length of an average Oneida fish.  Girth measurement would have been helpful but more so for a replica.  You let it go so it is not a record fish.  I think the fish needs to be sacrificed to get in the record books.  It is a catch of a lifetime and I am jealous and I imagine the haters are too.  Again, great catch and you are stronger than me.

[muskiedreams]

Now I understand why some anglers don't give any measurements when posting pictures. There is always someone who will question it! Of course the reason why is because lairs do exist. But there are also those out there that don't believe anything. Even if there is concrete proof, they might still find a way to say it is a lie.

[FLXTrolling]

Now I understand why some anglers don't give any measurements when posting pictures. There is always someone who will question it! Of course the reason why is because lairs do exist. But there are also those out there that don't believe anything. Even if there is concrete proof, they might still find a way to say it is a lie.

 

Right -  It is was it is, and I thought it was cool that a fish that size exists in Hemlock.  You can make any model you want out of the pictures based on something in the frame, like the spoon for example, and if you're not just blatantly filled with ludicrous hate over a fishing story, you can't deny the length of the fish..

 

Think of my write up as nothing more than a story, and any mention of "state record" as a thought bubble that appears over my head in the story's narrative...

Edited August 6, 2015 by FLXTrolling

[jmaggio93]

Awesome fish,just like the posts I put up,their will always be that one or two guys who are butthurt!that is a fish of a lifetime

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[143447]

Awesome fish,just like the posts I put up,their will always be that one or two guys who are butthurt!that is a fish of a lifetime

Totally agree man who cares the fish rocks and you caught it!!!

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[FLXTrolling]

 

Awesome fish,just like the posts I put up,their will always be that one or two guys who are butthurt!that is a fish of a lifetime

Totally agree man who cares the fish rocks and you caught it!!!

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Thanks guys - I don't care about anyone questioning the length of the fish - If you have eyeballs and some deductive logic - you know the length is accurate.

 

It's more annoying that some people lack the reading comprehension to differentiate a word like "possible" from "probable" - or a phase like "may have been" from "is"...

 

Haha - I'm just a pretty laid back guy, so I don't really get what all the anger is for...fishing is fun, and the stories are great - let's just enjoy them -  there's maybe a few Hemlock monsters left down there and I look forward to seeing the next one on this board!

[JJBat150]

Have a feeling that with all the chatter, the south end of Hemlock ' s gonna be busy this weekend.

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[ontherise]

I'll be there Saturday with my worms and bobbers.

[justtracytrolling]

You know what you caught and thats all that matters. Who cares what it weighed that is a true giant walleye. Special fish dont need a scale or a tape measure to be special!!!!

[FLXTrolling]

You know what you caught and thats all that matters. Who cares what it weighed that is a true giant walleye. Special fish dont need a scale or a tape measure to be special!!!!

 

Thanks Justin,

 

 

BTW, my wife's uncle has a place on Otisco, next time I'm out there I'll have to look you up!

 

I'm really not defensive about the size of the fish - I'm not a Walleye guy - I just stated a fact - and had great time out there Saturday!

 

Anyway, I wouldn't hit Hemlock Saturday if I were you JJBat - that picture is photshopped and I'm a big liar!

 

Haha, anyway I'll be out there Saturday targeting my usual species and soaking in the surroundings - if you're after Walleyes I'd have Justin get you out on Otisco -  There can't be more than a dozen or 2 in all of Hemlock.