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Fishing Editor Gord Pyzer is widely regarded as Canada's most scientific angler.

You will be sent an opt-in email to confirm that you would like to receive emails from us. There might be some error introduced by the taxidermist, but not seven pounds worth. Knowing all of the above facts, once we use the 3 7/8 inch reference measurement, the Harper walleye’s head length calculates to being close to 11 inches long and the “lowballed” or underestimated total length of the walleye comes to around 39 inches. No votes so far! By signing up for our newsletter, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. else if (document.body.clientWidth > 1025) { However, Volk will not be cited for keeping his walleye. Look below. Here are some of the new facts.

The secret has been out for thirty years now and the glory days are over. There are a lot of suspicious circumstances surrounding the Harper fish, miscalibrated scales, lack of witnesses or verification by state wildlife officials, refusal by the angler to let anybody measure the mounted fish and so on. In 1960, Mabry Harper claimed to have caught a 25-pound Walleye in Old Hickory Lake, Tennessee. ', Trevor Bauer trolled Braves fans about his free agency after the Reds were eliminated, Barack Obama shared what he said during his virtual appearance at the NBA Finals, Denver Broncos vs. New York Jets: Thursday Night Football live stream, odds, TV channel, start time, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy.
document.write(''); The guy that answered the phone said he didn't even know if the fish was ever mounted. Within minutes I heard the “ding” on my computer screen telling me “you’ve got mail” and when I saw it was from Jeff I opened it up. Alas, that wasn’t the case. For example, because the ruler is lying on top of the walleye’s head (closer to the camera than the end of the fishes gill plates) we can not accurately ascertain the total length of the walleye’s head without the result being significantly understated. Apparently that was either against shop policy or against the law, but Nelson got his way. A few years later, I landed an even bigger fish, on almost the same late November day, on the very same structure. When it came to the walleye record, we considered this issue important to revisit because in 1996, the Hall had removed the long standing Harper walleye from its record listing. A foul-hooked fish is typically snagged behind the mouth, as far back as the tail. Mr. Dzialo wrote to all the state wildlife agencies and to the IGFA informing them of his decision. But Volk has angrily denied that his walleye was foul-hooked and has tried to work out “an appeal process of some sort” with the help of a lawyer, according to the Billings Gazette.

This decision was based upon an Outdoor Life article which claimed that Harper’s walleye couldn’t have measured 41 inches in length, as reported on Harper’s original entry form to Field & Stream, the official record keeping body at the time. The walleye at the top of this trophy case was caught in 1982 by Al Nelson of Higden during a tournament sponsored by Pepsi Cola and Fairfield Bay on Greer's Ferry Lake. In 1960, Mabry Harper claimed to have caught a 25-pound Walleye in Old Hickory Lake, Tennessee. Tom Volk was certain he had broken the record after landing a 16-pound, 9-ounce walleye on April 21 in the Heart River. This is not wrong as Walleye were originally found only in the Great Lakes Region and Missouri and Mississippi River Basins. “Happy to pay $1 each.”, The Lincolnshire Wildlife Park in Britain adopted five parrots and kept them quarantined in the same room where park officials soon found them all swearing and laughing “like an old men’s club.”. The glow from the collectables, Pace implied, helps inspire a strike response from game fish.

Which, I am proud to say, is precisely what I did. These are the locations you need to look for, Is your vintage gun worth $35,000 or $35?

The article shows the picture of Harper holding his fish. On top of that there was no confirmation of the weight by official sources on officially calibrated scales to offset the doubt created by the photographic measurements. Three other weekly winners weighed in at 10-8, 10-12 and 18-8 and each claimed a classy assortment of tackle. Here’s why, 2020 Canadian hunting forecast: Top spots for deer, moose, elk, bear and more, Calling bull moose? Here in lies the most dangerous part of the author’s theory…using assumptions and not facts to back his theory that Harper’s fish didn’t measure up. The fog on the lake was so dense that it took him four hours to get back to the Marina and it was two more hours before a tournament official (Carl Perrin, state fisheries biologist) arrived to weigh it in. As further evidence of this walleye’s existence, there are even scale samples preserved from the Harper’s 25 pound walleye. It was waiting for me when I arrived home a few days later, where upon taking a close look at it, I thought, whoa, that is a mighty big walleye.
Start typing to see results or hit ESC to close, How to catch fall walleye in Canadian Shield lakes, 4 paddle-friendly Canadian fishing spots from Chad Hoover of TV’s Kayak Bassin’, TV’s Fish’n Canada hosts love Lake Muskoka. Knowing this fact, we can come up with a fairly accurate total head length for the Harper walleye by assessing the photo of Mrs. Harper holding the fish vertically. Indeed, the last year the Molson Big Fish Contest, a hugely popular, season-long, fishing contest was held in Ontario, I caught the biggest muskie and won the first place prize in the Catch and Release division. After filling out a mountain of paperwork and waiting for what must have seemed like an eternity, he received word back from the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame folks in the States that his mammoth walleye had been officially recognized as the new World Record Walleye in the Catch and Release Ice Fishing division.

As a result, Al Nelson's 22-pound 11-ounce Walleye, which was caught in Fairfield Bay on Greer's Ferry Lake, Arkansas in 1982, was listed as the official World Record Walleye. Based on the length and girth measurements, it weighed 57.5 pounds, only 8-pounds, or a big muskie meal shy of a new world record. I can not imagine a southerner catching a world record anything and not having it mounted. Al Nelson of Higden, Arkansas caught the record breaking walleye during a fishing tournament sponsored … I ran across the articles below while looking for material on the world record hybrid striped bass. Times.). Mabry Harper's fish was disqualified in the mid-90s because photo analysis showed the fish could not weigh more than 18 pounds. For information call the Fairfield Bay Marina at 501-884-6030.

Catch Gord on the Outdoor Journal Radio Show live every Saturday morning 8:05AM EST.

Sternberg, Dick; "Walleye Record Hoax," Outdoor Life, June 1996, pp. On a 1960 affidavit he had signed, Spurling  attested to the fact that he had personally checked the scale that the walleye was weighed on. Known in fishing circles as Doctor Pyzer, he worked for 30 years as a senior manager with Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources before devoting all his energies to fishing. People had been suspicous of the Tennessee fish for a long time.