POST 5: News Interview and The Start of Questions/Rumors

First Television Interview

At 6:59pm, I received a call from Daniel Burbank from KFYR asking if I would be willing to conduct a TV interview on the "new record walleye." I told the him I had to check with Game and Fish and would get back to him.

I called Mike Anderson at 7:02pm. I did this because of the request Anderson made at the bank of the Heart River earlier where he wanted to wait to break the news until Monday morning with an official press release. I asked Anderson if it was okay for me to complete the media interview. He said it would be fine and stated he had already provided some information to the media.

At 7:04pm, I received a text from a friend. He sent me a text congratulating me on my walleye. The text stated, “Nice fish! Found it on KFYR-TV website. Man walleye guys are a bunch of asshole haters on nodak angler. Great job man. Glad it happened to the right guy.”

After speaking with Mike Anderson from Game and Fish and confirming the walleye was the new state record, I shared the following post on Facebook.

Daniel Burbank arrived at my house around 8pm. He set a camera up on the front lawn and I briefly spoke on camera about my catch. Burbank asked if he could film the walleye for the story. I agreed and took the walleye out of the freezer and unwrapped it for him to record. Once he finished recording, my wife helped me wrap up the walleye and place it back into the freezer. The story of my record walleye was on the news that night and included a video clip of my walleye.

Screenshot taken from the KFYR-TV news story.

This is an image of my record walleye taken by Daniel Burbank.

I showed both sides of the walleye in images and videos. There was no visible damage to the walleye which would indicate it was foul-hooked.

Things were moving fast and word of the new record was spreading even faster.

The Start of Questions and Rumors

After receiving the text from N.C. I mentioned earlier about "haters" I started searching for stories and posts about my walleye and new record. I checked Facebook and searched for the NoDakAngler forum. That is when I came across this post:

I clicked on the link provided in the Facebook post and came across the discussion board and the following posts:

This post was made at 3:49pm on April 21st and showed a video clip from the Witness Video of me putting my walleye on the digital scale on the bank of the Heart River. The post stated, "Hearing a new rumor. Anyone heard about this one?" 

This post was an image of me with my walleye at Cashwise. The Game and Fish officer can be seen in the background. The post stated, "So, just seen the new state recorded weighed in believe they said 16.59." This was posted at 4:07pm while I was still at Cashwise with Game and Fish. 

Word of my walleye spread quicker than I could have ever imagined. Images were everywhere. I continued reading the Nodak Angler forum and came across these posts:

These posts started questioning the legality of my catch. At the time of the first post (4:13pm), I was still at Cashwise with the Game and Fish officers waiting for Mike Anderson to show up to take photos of my walleye.

If you look at the time and date on some of the posts, questions and rumors started while I was still getting my walleye verified by the Game and Fish officers. The questions and rumors didn't start by witnesses or involved persons, they started by people who had no involvement and weren't even at the location where I was fishing, when I was fishing. Many questioned the legal taking of my walleye based solely on the location where it was caught and the false perception that others are snagging big fish.

Considering how fast false information spreads on social media, wouldn't it be appropriate for Game and Fish to publish a 'verification report' with images and videos? 

I continued reading the posts on the Nodak Angler Forum and was completely baffled and taken back by some of the statements being made. I wanted to respond to everyone who was posting rumors and conspiracy theories. I thought, if they only had more information...if they only knew...they too would have no concerns. This is when I provided more information and attempted to clear up some of the inaccurate information being circulated. This was one of my first posts:

People began responding to my post. Most were very positive and asking for further details. I responded with some additional information: 

Then, to my total disbelief, a news story was published by ValleyeNewsLive with the headline, "Lincoln Angler Snagged Himself a New Record." I screamed in my head, "ARE YOU SERIOUS?! NOOOOOoooo!!" What a poor choice of words to use. Here is a post on NoDakAngler referencing this news story: 

The post says, "32.5" news said it was snagged. Fake news I guess." 

I wrote to the news station immediately and requested they use a word other than "snagged." This request was referenced in one of my Facebook posts. In my post, I provided some more details specifically how I believed the walleye got wrapped in the string.

I believed my walleye got wrapped in the string as it fought, and it was never proven this didn't happen.

I believed if people knew what I knew about how the fish fought, this would ease any concerns.

Potential changes 

What I have learned through all of this is there are always going to be people who spread rumors and conspiracy theories on social media. There are going to be people who judge you on the actions of others and their own perceptions. That's the sad reality we currently live in. One change I am going to make for myself is, I am not going to entertain or care about rumors and conspiracy theories anymore. I feel like I am in elementary school when I say this next statement, but I am not going to engage with people who call me names. I will provide my information as accurately and honestly as I can and leave it at that.

I was excited to share more information and provide additional details as to how my walleye was caught. Look where it got me.

I was being honest in my statements yet, people called me a liar. I tried to provide clarification, and people pulled my statements out of context and picked them apart to support their own conspiracy theories. No more. I am not going to entertain rumors and conspiracy theories by people on social media platforms who hide behind fake names and profiles. I will simply provide my information as accurately and honestly as possible and will be content with that. If people want to call me names and pick apart my statements, that's on them. I will assume these people are just jealous I caught the largest walleye in the state!

Game and Fish stated jealousy, rumors and false claims have always been an issue yet, they have done nothing to prevent it.

The Director himself stated, "anytime a big fish is caught, you hear that all the time...there is always someone who says they did it wrong, they did it illegally." If this happens all the time, why wasn't there a better process in place to verify my walleye? Why wasn't there a better process in place to provide transparency and confidence to the citizens? Game and Fish has done little to nothing to solve or prevent jealousy and false claims. 

One change Game and Fish could take would be to create and implement a robust procedure for verifying record fish.

This process could include documenting any damage to the fish. It could include images and videos released to the public. It could include a hook location and verification process. It could include witness statements and a public report. I asked them to consider making these changes, and they showed no interest. 

The public has very little confidence in how records are verified because of how things have been handled in the past. 

False claims and rumors will continue to be a problem until Game and Fish follows a better, more transparent procedure for verifying records.

#northdakotaslargestwalleye #volkswalleye #justiceforthelargestwalleye