By Rick Perry, the Assistant to Executive Director for Law Enforcement at DWR. His goal was to catch a Virginia walleye, and he was shocked at what happened!
This last Thursday, March 3, I caught the fish of a lifetime in the New River. I had always wanted to catch a walleye, but didn’t really want to go to Canada to catch one. Last September I was working with CPO Wes Billings when he advised me that we have trophy walleyes here in Virginia, in the New River. I set up a trip with a guide for during the spawning run. I was really looking forward to it and my friend, Greg Sanders came with me. We met the guide in the morning and launched on the river. Greg had me skunked by catching the first two walleyes, nice keeper fish. I finally caught a small walleye and released it. We took a needed break and had a really nice lunch provided by our guide and then headed downriver for a float. The river and scenery were really beautiful and running the rapids was a fun treat.
It was a very nice day and warm so I switched my chest waders and float coat for hip waders and my suspender personal flotation device. Our guide had us switching baits regularly to find what looked good for walleye. We had about another hour to fish and I was casting a jerk bait when it happened.
My bait was almost to the boat when the water exploded and the walleye came from below. We got to see all of her as she hit the lure and came up. She soaked the boat as she turned and dove down headed upriver, making the drag scream. I played her for several minutes until she stopped, and I thought I was hung up, maybe she was under a log. After another minute or so I could feel her bump the line and then she started heading up. She broke the surface and dove down one more time, taking out drag, and then it was over. The guide netted her, and you have never heard such yelling and screaming. The guide was extremely careful with the fish by keeping her in the water and out just long enough for measuring and photos.
He made sure she was in clean water with water running through her gills and rested before he released her, and she swam off strongly. She was just full of eggs. Her length was just over 28″. He estimated she was 10 or 11 pounds and said it was the largest walleye he had ever caught with his guide service.
What a day on the New River. All I wanted to do was catch my first walleye—I didn’t realize I would catch the walleye of a lifetime!
Lake Orange: Water temperatures are in the upper 50s to low 60s with bass and crappie hitting the spawning grounds. Bass can be caught on plastics. Crappie are being caught on small minnows and jigs.