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‘Unofficial’ Record Walleye Caught
The word spread like wildfire during the meeting – an "unofficial" new state record walleye was caught just a few miles away by an angler at Show Low Lake.
Charles Sutherland of Show Low couldn’t have picked better timing to catch the monster 13-pound, 11-ounce walleye – the Arizona Game and Fish Commission was meeting just a few miles away in the Pinetop-Lakeside Town Council Chambers Friday morning.
Sutherland caught the 30.5-inch fish at daylight fishing from his boat using a black and silver 4-inch Rapala Husky Jerk on Sept. 7.
Sutherland has caught monster walleye previously at Show Low Lake. "I caught a 12 pounder last year. I even caught a 28-inch walleye Friday morning before I caught the big one," Sutherland said, adding that the 28-inch fish he caught and released would probably have tipped the scales at around 10 pounds.
Although the huge walleye was weighed on a certified scale and the species certified by a Game and Fish biologist, the record does not become official until certified by the Game and Fish Department’s Fisheries Branch at the headquarters in Phoenix, and then signed by Director Duane Shroufe.
Sutherland’s toothy trophy will be replacing another Show Low Lake fish in the record book. The sitting state record walleye was caught by Otis Kingsbury of Lakeside Oct. 15, 2000, weighed 12 pounds, 14.4 ounces and measured 30 inches long. Kingsbury’s record lasted barely a year.
"I talked to Otis not long after he caught his record fish last year. We both like to fish for big walleye. I know there are a number of 15 pounders up here in both Show Low Lake and Fool Hollow, so I don’t know how long my record will last," Sutherland said.
Sutherland pointed out that walleye are light sensitive, so the time to catch them is at night, or at first or last light. "They like to come into the shallows at low-light conditions. Catching them is a matter of timing – being at the right place at the right time."
Sutherland had good timing last week, he got on the water around 3 a.m. to work the shallows when the moon was bright and caught the monster right as the sun rose in the east.
Source AG&F website