Don Fibich thwacked this 13-lb 6-oz (31″) hambone on Lake Oahe — 1 day before the Mobridge Ice Fishing Tournament — jigging a Clam Leech Flutter Spoon (perch) tipped with a minnow head in 16′. G-g-g-giant:

Congrats on the absolute fish of a lifetime dude! In case you’re wondering, the fish is going on the wall…. Ultimately that’s the angler’s choice to make as long as it’s within the law, so please respect whichever decision they make.

My 2 cents: I personally prefer to let anything over about 18″ go and just get a mount done: Snap a few quality pics, take accurate measurements and return those bigguns back to the water to breed.

Just got one of my replicas (a 30-incher) back from a local dude in town (Fiber Tech Productions) and couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. Love knowing the fish is still swimming to get even more bigger-er:

Quote from this must-read article ’bout keeping those big-fish genetics in the lake. Gord Pyzer and Jeff Matity (in charge of SK’s hatchery program) teamed up to tackle this always-controversial topic. Recommend taking a few minutes to read the full write-up here, but few excerpts below:

> Protecting large, mature fish is now seen as so vital to maintaining healthy fish populations that fisheries scientists are referring to the concept as the big, old, fat, female fish — or BOFFF — hypothesis.

> Fish are cold-blooded animals that reproduce their entire lives…a 10-lb female walleye will typically produce eggs equivalent to 1/3 of her body weight. They get better and better as they age and never reach their peak.

> Last spring Matity recovered 5-lbs of roe — approximately 300K eggs — from one 11-lb walleye…practically all of those eggs would have been viable. With a 2- to 3-lb walleye only 20-30% of the eggs would hatch.

> Big fish have the biggest, juiciest eggs with the best yolk sacs, so each one is a bigger target for a sperm to find. Big spawners are the critical part of the reproductive pyramid. Big fish know the best places to lay their eggs and (in the case of bass) how best to protect their nests.

> Matity is also critical of anglers who misguidedly play God…such as walleye anglers who kill bass…mistakenly thinking this helps the population of their favorite fish. Fish species interact in ways that benefit each other.

Thx much guys! Learning more and more each day ’bout things we can do to help protect the resource.

Quick search on the Google machinez and you’ll find a zillion different formulas out there to help guesstimate the weight of your walleye. Enough to make you have nightmares about that college algebra class you barely snuck through:

Have found a few of those formulas to be fairly close the couple times I’ve tested ’em…of course I’ve also found some to be WAY off. Seems like you need to use a different one based on how fat the fish is (or isn’t) — which is a problem because everyone thinks the fish they just caught is as fat as they come…lol don’t blame ya!

Nothing beats an accurate scale, but here’s a few formulas that worked for me:

1. SUPER-thick walleye.

Common example might be Lake Winnipeg greenbacks. Head looks awkwardly small compared to the body, the belly-fat rolls over your fingers, even the tail is thick/meaty/carries weight.

• Formula: (length x girth x girth) / 750 = weight

Here’s an example from personal experience that was verified on a scale:

(28.75″ x 17″ x 17″) / 750 = 11.078 lbs

Caught this one using a #7 “pearl grey shiner” Rapala Rippin’ Rap on…you guessed it: Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba. Was outside hole-hoppin’ but rushed it inside the heated shack to take measurements before releasing her.

Fish is overall proportional and healthy. Has an average looking thickness compared to its length and head size. Gut isn’t belly floppin’ over your fingers, but it’s not skinny.

Example from personal experience:

(30″ x 16.5″ x 16.5″) / 800 = 10.209 lbs

That one inhaled a #7 Rapala Jigging Rap (perch color) in 28′ on the bottom edge of a rockpile. Was idling around looking for a fresh school of mid-day fish and graphed this biggun on the bottom with another friend. Threw it in reverse, dropped on its head and bang. #TillerLife

3. Skinny-looking walleye.

Fish’s head looks awkwardly big for its body. Has no belly. Might be vegan.

This should get you a close-ish weight guesstimate for an average-shaped walleye.

• Formula: (length x length x length) / 2,700 = weight

Some examples:

Fish-nut Alex Shepard took a Sawzall, can of foam and a Catch Cover to his car to make one heck of an ice-scouting rig:

Our favorite comment/reply under the original post:

Q: What’s the wife say about you cutting a hole in her vehicle?

A: Why tell her? That’s what floor mats are for….

Lol! Although there’s plenty of ladies out there that’d probably do this themselves.

Can happen in a matter of seconds — even if you’re being safe, you can’t control what the other guy is doing or not doing. For sure the scariest vid I’ve ever seen…it’s an absolute blessing everyone made it out alive and with minimal injuries:

Please make a habit of always wearing a quality life jacket…no different than wearing a seatbelt in your car. You just never know….