The First Recorded Walleye Inspection
At five in the morning on April 23rd, I had an idea. The idea was to take the walleye out of the freezer and record the condition of the body. The thought was to post the video for the public to view.I climbed out of bed and took the walleye out of the freezer. I placed the fish in the bathtub in warm water to thaw it enough to remove some of the frozen towels it was wrapped in. At 5:30am, I recorded a video of my walleye: https://youtu.be/2eBO8fLR-Eg.
My inspection showed there were no marks or damage on the fish near the back, body, tail or fins. All the scales were in place and there was no identifiable hole to be found anywhere on the outside of the walleye. (This was later verified by the taxidermist.)
Here are some screenshots taken during the recorded inspection of the record walleye:
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| Screenshot from the Inspection Video showing the back near the soft dorsal fin of my walleye (right side). |
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I attempted to record the hole in the mouth of the walleye at this time, but the fish was frozen and the mouth could not be opened without causing damage. I also couldn't remove the towel from underneath the tail due to the fish and towel being frozen to a board. It wasn't until later in the day could these areas be recorded and documented. We will see this video in a later post.
There was NO damage from a hook to the back, body, or tail of the walleye. The condition of the walleye supported it was hooked legally, in the mouth.
Changes
Again, I am NOT trying to get you on my side about how my walleye was caught. I am just explaining how the walleye had no damage from a hook which would have indicated it was foul-hooked. This should have been done by Game and Fish during the verification process, and Game and Fish should have been the ones to release this information to the public.
Inspecting and documenting the condition of a potential record fish is something Game and Fish should have done and needs to be part of the verification process.
#northdakotaslargestwalleye #volkswalleye #justiceforthelargestwalleye
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