5.35# Night Walleye - caught on frozen tipup!! - A Must Read!

[PerchSlayer67]

So folks my old boss and I set out for an afternoon/night run for walleye... We ended up HAMMERING the smallmouth ( which you can't keep on Carmi) but was still real fun catching them. Ranging from 1-4#. Along with some perch and a few keeper pike... On our way out we noticed a flag sitting ontop of the ice and it was slightly attached to a tipip. So I took the chisel out and sure as the world there was a beaver damn style board tipip FROZEN into the ice. So I had him drill a hole next to the tipup to see if we could retrieve it.. (Because those are nice tipups). So I went arm deep into the 10" hole. With about 26" of ice or so, I reached way down, head to the hole, and grabbed the line which happened to be about 4 lines because it was a wicked mess under the ice.. So I start pulling it in and noticed something fighting back... I told my old boss... "There's something on here! And it has some weight to it.... I figured a nice smalley or just a pike... A few seconds later I pulled up my new personal best walleye! Which weighed in at 5.35# and a hair over 24".... All 3 of us were shocked and let's just say some yelling and screaming came after that.. Hahah. So after regaining our breaths and checking out the eye we figured we should try getting the tipup to... After 25 minutes or so drilling around the flag, chiseling it out and what not we happened to get the tipup and reel free! With that being said, there was easily 6"+ of solid ice above the reel... We are guessing that tipup was there for at least a day or to.. If not more... It has a name on it which is legible.. But I am not going to release his information on here... So if anyone knows a guy who is missing a board tipup "#11" from Underhill, can you please thank him for the nice walleye that will probably end up going on my wall just because how crazy of a scenario it was... But some people really need to make sure they have all there flags picked up when they leave. Because if it wasn't for us, a poor healthy 5.35# walleye would've had a slow death. And that would've been a waste... Considering he had a pike leader on, I don't think the eye was going anywhere! This is a 100% true story! Walleye was caught at 7:15 pm.
What does everyone think about me mounting it? I've only caught a handful of them in my life... And just the luck we had and the story behind it makes me want to mount it more! If it was just another 5# eye caught on a tipup then I probably wouldn't, but this is much different!

[sam2013]

It's a cool story, one I'd be proud of, but I don't think I'd be proud enough to mount the fish.  Yeah, you worked for it, but you didn't catch it as far as I'm concerned.  You pulled it onto the ice, and like you said it may have wasted away on that line, but you could've let it go assuming it was healthy, which it sounds like it was.  My personal feeling is that a fish caught under strange circumstances like that deserves to be let go.  Since it wasn't, being eaten would be the next step and being mounted would be the most wasteful (being left on the line to die would obviously be the most wasteful thing of all, so at least you got it before that happened).  Since you pulled it in, it's your fish now and you can do whatever you want with it, but I don't think I'd feel comfortable mounting it.  Of course I may feel differently if it happened to me instead of you, so do what you want with it and feel good about it.  It is a cool story.

[tracker one]

I would mount the fish with the tip-up, line,leader and all.would make an interesting mount. 20 years from now you will have the evidence to go with your story.

[PerchSlayer67]

I would mount the fish with the tip-up, line,leader and all.would make an interesting mount. 20 years from now you will have the evidence to go with your story.

I agree to. That's probably what I'm going to do.. And along with the 4$ I won from catching "biggest eye" and "biggest fish" for the night run before pickup ha ha

[MRwalleye]

Cool story! Getting it mounted is a personal decision. They get some bigger ones from Carmi every year for sure. If you ever fish Champlain you have a great chance in getting a larger one. It's not cheap, I would save the money and spend it looking fishing for a larger one.

[dave bartlett]

       I personally would not mount it.But that's me.If you fish for eyes you will catch plenty allot bigger then that. And far is the slow death goes,it is a very slim chance that it would happen.Fish have a very powerfull body fluid,or an enzyme in them that will break a hook down and dissolve it in a very short time.! to 2 weeks maybe,i can't remember it word for word.It is a neat way you came about it though.

[wmhunts]

I have 5 fish mounts 3 deer heads and two boars all are true trophys. lots of time and effort goes into trophy hunting, personally I would never want somebody elses fish on my wall. I could go on and on about the perseverance and dedication it takes to harvest trophy's worth mounting
But that's just my $.02, nice fish eat with your friends

[camo ninja]

Cool story
It's your fish and money , do what you want with it and don't listen to anyone else

[jt13077]

Cool story
It's your fish and money , do what you want with it and don't listen to anyone else

X2

[PerchSlayer67]

Cool story
It's your fish and money , do what you want with it and don't listen to anyone else

Good point on that one there!

[Fish Wayniac]

I have never left traps in the hole at the end of the day but a friend of mine had to much to drink. The next day he went back , some one beat him to it on the 1 left behind. Dont know if a fish on like you but his trap was gone duhh! Congratz on a nice walleye, cant get them in maine. Used to get them as a kid growing up in VT on champlain.

[PerchSlayer67]

I have never left traps in the hole at the end of the day but a friend of mine had to much to drink. The next day he went back , some one beat him to it on the 1 left behind. Dont know if a fish on like you but his trap was gone duhh! Congratz on a nice walleye, cant get them in maine. Used to get them as a kid growing up in VT on champlain.

I hear ya! I've never left a tipup behind... Considering how expensive they are I make sure 100% I have all that I brought out there.. Cuz some of mine have my name on it. So if I were to leave it there and have it freeze in and the next person to see it was a GW and he were to search for me I would probably be in a little trouble! Gotta always make sure you have all belongings before leaving the ice

[Jschumacher]

Awsome story

[Salar]

The whole hook disolving story is what the state Biologists want use to believe! I personally caught a laker on willoughby years ago that was 20 inches long the first weekend of ice fishing and released it by cutting the leader in the hole as I dont care to eat them! I was using 10lbs blue trilene leader and a #6 english hook! 41 days later I caught that same fish again a little ways up the lake and it was starved super thin from the hook embedded in its gut i would guess! 100% certain it was the same fish!!! I kept and cut the fish open to inspect and the hook was still as perfectly intact as the day I had first caught him! I actually reused the hook and caught another fish with it that day!

The more common bronze hooks do indeed dissolve.  I have found partially or almost completely dissolved hooks in stomachs of several healthy looking fish over the years.  But stainless steel, nickel, chrome, etc. hooks may take a very long time to dissolve if at all.   

[mudchuck]

nice fish, great story & will be a lasting memory for sure with the amount of effort you put in

[adkRoy]

Instead of complaining where's the moderator, please click on the report to moderator button. We can't be on here 24-7 but we do cover each other's boards when were busy.