Set out to walk and fish a couple of my usual HOA lakes. Had some real good bass action but this took the cake. I would have never thought I would have encountered a walleye around here let alone one that weighed 7.04 lb. It hit a MB Dark Sleeper and is the case with most of my bass took it fairly deep. Fish was released in good shape. I'm guessing that it was put in by one of the residents. Ponds around here just don't get stocked with walleye.

Holy smokes thats a healthy girl!!

Nice walleye.

Awesome fish man. That’s awesome that it was out of a pond, we have a couple drainage ponds and old mine pits around here that surprisingly have walleyes in them from when the creeks flood or midnight stocking. 

Man I'd love to catch one like that! Just want a few pictures and a weight and let her go. That fish is over halfway to our state record.

 

Did you get a length measurement?

4 hours ago, Scott F said:

Did you get a length measurement?

Didn't have a tape but made a rough guess by measuring my rod at home, 26-27", probably  off a bit.

Awesome 

That’s a nice one!

Awesome catch! From a pond? Even more impressive. If only that fish could talk about how he ended up there

 

On 4/5/2020 at 11:45 PM, Bluebasser86 said:

Man I'd love to catch one like that! Just want a few pictures and a weight and let her go. That fish is over halfway to our state record.

 

i know some places around TN that you would have a shot. And the next month would be prime time! 

28 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Awesome catch! From a pond? Even more impressive. If only that fish could talk about how he ended up there

 

i know some places around TN that you would have a shot. And the next month would be prime time! 

I had presumed that someone released it but after some thought came up with a more likely solution. The pond is 14 yrs. old. When it was filled it was stocked with largemouth, bluegill, crappie, and channel cats. Walleye fry have in the past been stocked in huge numbers in some of our reservoirs. I'm just guessing that a few may have slipped into the truck with the other species. Fourteen years would probably coincide with the fish being 7 lb. The one thing I don't understand is how such a predator evaded capture in a two acre pond. Have to think that anyone else would have kept it.

That's a really nice fish, especially for an HOA pond. 

On 4/6/2020 at 5:31 AM, The Bassman said:

Didn't have a tape but made a rough guess by measuring my rod at home, 26-27", probably  off a bit.

25" =s 5 lbs

26 =s 6 lbs

27" walleye is usually 7lbs

28" =s 8 lbs

29" =s 9 lbs

30" =s 10 lbs

1 hour ago, Dwight Hottle said:

25" =s 5 lbs

26 =s 6 lbs

27" walleye is usually 7lbs

28" =s 8 lbs

29" =s 9 lbs

30" +s 10 lbs

That is one great catch! I would love to have felt the feeling of seeing that on my hook. What a stress reliever.

On 4/10/2020 at 6:38 PM, The Bassman said:

Fourteen years would probably coincide with the fish being 7 lb.

In a normal lake a fish that size would be less than 10 years old. It could be the growth was limited since it's in a pond with limited food. An interesting idea.

On 4/13/2020 at 3:04 PM, Dwight Hottle said:

25" =s 5 lbs

26 =s 6 lbs

27" walleye is usually 7lbs

28" =s 8 lbs

29" =s 9 lbs

30" =s 10 lbs

Preach it Dwight. Numbers are very accurate except during the spawn

On 4/13/2020 at 3:04 PM, Dwight Hottle said:

25" =s 5 lbs

26 =s 6 lbs

27" walleye is usually 7lbs

28" =s 8 lbs

29" =s 9 lbs

30" =s 10 lbs

I don’t mean to be the guy correcting everyone but those numbers vary a lot more in walleye even than they do in bass. Spawn obviously is different because there’s 28” fish that come out of the Mississippi around here that are around 12-13lbs, and it can go up a lot from that as they get longer. If you look at summer fish there will be a huge variation. A good example would be mil lacs vs pool 4 Mississippi. A 30” fish that has been done spawning in Mille lacs is generally super skinny and could be 5 or 6lbs without it’s eggs. Then you go to pool 4 where there is an insane forage base and that same post spawn fish is going to be still right around that 10lbs+ mark without its eggs. There’s countless lakes like this in Mn and the rest of the Midwest where walleyes are very skinny most of the year. It’s really hard to gauge how much a fish weighs by its length, especially when it’s around spawn.

The walleyes in Mille lacs are almost always skinny!

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

The walleyes in Mille lacs are almost always skinny!

It’s kind of funny that people rant and rave about it being the best walleye lake in the state and all the fish you end up catching look like toothpicks. Not saying it’s a bad lake, it’s one of the best smallie fisheries in the world and would still be one of the top 5 musky fisheries in the world if they hadn’t stopped stocking. Such a shame that the musky fishing there has gone so down the drain. There are still world record class fish out there but its a one in a million chance. Thankfully vermilion is still good and has 58+ inch fish in it but even that fishery has gone down hill.

Ya the muskie fishing is extremely tough, its the hunt for big foot essentially.  But for trophy state and even world record potential I think its at or near the top of the list.

 

The walleyes don't have enough to eat anymore.  Not nearly enough perch for all those hungry mouths.  The natural reproduction is still as good as its always been but for some reason they're not making it past their second year of life.  They are presumably being eaten by the larger predators.

 

It really does still have some of the best walleye fishing around here though and they're easy to catch.  I go a couple times every spring with my family and we'll catch 40+ fish in 5 hours of fishing.  Most of them being mid 20's.  There is nowhere else within an hour and a half of my house I can do that.  I often catch quite a few of them targeting smallmouth with artificial lures too.

12 hours ago, Ogandrews said:

I don’t mean to be the guy correcting everyone but those numbers vary a lot more in walleye even than they do in bass. Spawn obviously is different because there’s 28” fish that come out of the Mississippi around here that are around 12-13lbs, and it can go up a lot from that as they get longer. If you look at summer fish there will be a huge variation. A good example would be mil lacs vs pool 4 Mississippi. A 30” fish that has been done spawning in Mille lacs is generally super skinny and could be 5 or 6lbs without it’s eggs. Then you go to pool 4 where there is an insane forage base and that same post spawn fish is going to be still right around that 10lbs+ mark without its eggs. There’s countless lakes like this in Mn and the rest of the Midwest where walleyes are very skinny most of the year. It’s really hard to gauge how much a fish weighs by its length, especially when it’s around spawn.

 

On 4/13/2020 at 4:04 PM, Dwight Hottle said:

25" =s 5 lbs

26 =s 6 lbs

27" walleye is usually 7lbs

28" =s 8 lbs

29" =s 9 lbs

30" =s 10 lbs

 

 

The OP guessed the length of a fish he weighed but didn't measure. I provided the table of average lengths equaling weights to confirm his guess. I made up the table of length to weight conversion based on my own extensive experience catching walleye for the last forty some years in Ontario, Quebec & Lake Erie waters. Like you said prespawn fish will differ substantially from post spawn fish in girth & weight. Also any conversion table based on length only will only provide an estimate of weight. My longest walleye ever caught measured 33.5 " long but only weighed 12.25 lbs. I have caught a 29" walleye that also broke 12 lbs. On average the above walleye conversion table is fairly accurate based on all the fish I have measured & weighed.    

Great catch.

 

At the rate you are going you will find Jimmy Hoffa's body.

 

Thanks for the pics and sharing.

I would have had a hard time time not eating it.  Nice catch!

2 hours ago, Sam said:

Great catch.

 

At the rate you are going you will find Jimmy Hoffa's body.

 

Thanks for the pics and sharing.

I'm checking the state regs on minimum length for musky. You never know. lol