Record Walleye Missed by 6/100th of ounce

by OhioFisher Sun May 11, 2008 8:52 pm

Walleye record survives by 6/100ths of an ounce
By Mike Moore
Editor
Thursday, May 8, 2008 10:11 AM CDT
Marblehead, Ohio - This could very well be the year that a new walleye mark goes into the record books.

It nearly happened already.

The current record, 16.19 pounds, has stood for nearly a decade. Tom Haberman, of Brunswick, caught that fish on Nov. 23, 1999, on Lake Erie near Cleveland.

But, on April 5, an angler from Illinois who has fished Lake Erie for years came within 7/100th of an ounce of setting a new mark. Phillip Francyke and Tracy Golgin of Spring Valley, Ill., were fishing in Sandusky Bay near the railroad bridge when Francyke landed a 16.13-pounder.

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Francyke caught the big walleye early in the day and fished for another seven hours before getting the fish to a scale.

All of which begs the question of whether Francyke's walleye would have topped the record straight out of the water?

Don Mitchell, owner of Hi-Way Bait, Tackle, and Lodging in Marblehead, thinks it would have. Francyke was lodging at Hi-Way, and he brought the fish there after his day on the water.

“I wasn't here but two of the people who work for me saw it was close to the state record so they sent him up to a local grocery store to get it weighed on a certified scale,” Mitchell said. “He carried it around in the boat for seven hours before he brought it in. They say they don't lose weight, but only 6/100ths, that isn't very much. I bet it would have broke (the record) had he brought it right in.”

Ray Petering, the fisheries administrator for the DNR Division of Wildlife, said he's not so sure. It depends.

“It would have to be in a situation where it would basically dehydrate some if you were going to say it was probably a state record but it lost some weight due to this guy dragging it all over the place,” Petering said. “If it would have been in a cooler or a bucket for a while, no question dehydration and fluid loss would have occurred. But, if it would have been kept in a livewell and was in relatively good shape when the guy weighed it, I don't know that I would buy the argument that it lost weight. They certainly will lose fluid depending on how they're handled.

“It's certainly within the realm of possibility being that close to the record that when it first came over the side (of the boat) that morning, it may have been (the record),” Petering said.

For the record, Mitchell said Francyke and his partner ferried the fish around Sandusky Bay for hours with no water on it in their 17-foot aluminum boat.

Mitchell said Francyke is a regular customer of Hi-Way and has been staying there for years on annual fishing trips to Lake Erie. Expecting there would be media inquiries about the near record fish, Mitchell said he asked Francyke if reporters could contact him, but Francyke declined.

Mitchell did say that Francyke's fishing partner tried to get him to bring the fish in earlier to weigh, but Francyke wanted to keep fishing.

“He said it wasn't a big deal to him,” Mitchell said. “He was going to get it mounted, though.”

Mitchell said Francyke was casting an Ohio-made Vib-E blade bait modified with a single hook in accordance with Ohio spring walleye fishing regulations. The walleye measured 311/2 inches and was female.

“It would have been a 10-pound fish if it wasn't full of eggs,” Mitchell surmised.

It was apparently a good day on the lake for Francyke and his partner, Golgin, who caught a 141/2-pounder, Mitchell said.

Given the early results, Petering said it would be no surprise if Ohio's walleye record is broken this spring.

“There's no question with the size of some of those fish out there and how long they live, that those fish are in terrific condition,” he said. “All it takes is a remnant of one of those older year classes to have a few of them hang on long enough and (a new record) can happen. I wouldn't be surprised if I got back in my office and someone calls and says they've got one that weighs 17 (pounds).”