Caught this beautiful fish in the Quetico during the last week of July. It was a real drag screamer. Could not believe how hard she fought. We were in a hurry to return her to where she came from and we forgot to measure her. Can any of you Walleye experts give me a guestimate of what you think? We tried to do some picture measurements from my position in the canoe and we are thinking 31". We were shocked when we first saw her as we thought we had a big pike.

measure the fingernail of the guy in the pic, and then see how many fingernails-long the fish is in the picture. It should give you a reasonable estimate for the fish's length. Otherwise, it's hard to tell from a picture due to not knowing how close it was to the lens, how big the person holding it is, etc.

Looks like maybe a 22"... MAYBE a 23" if you pinch the tail. LOL

Nahhh, just a little good-natured razzing. That's a dandy 'eye. Serious answer - I'd have a hard time guessing 31" on that one, but maybe it's because you're holding the tail. It's certainly thick.

If I were you, I'd call it 30" and leave it at that. There's nothing like one's first 30 inch walleye.

I can live with that. When I put myself in the same position and measure outside of knee to outside of knee that distance measures 30 in. The fish was very close to my knees. When I do the same from my arm holding the tail to the outside knee by the head I go slightly longer. She was a load lifting into the canoe that's all I know. It was a lot of fun. Many runs. Certainly a first for me.

Well there is an app for this kinda thing. Go to fishfigure.com.

27.5

28.5" What a beautiful fish! Big shoulders. Nice work; a real trophy.

Nice fish but geez just measure it. It's not gonna die that quick.
I take a30 inch plastic gutter w a cap on the end. Marked in 8 15 20 and in inches beyond that.fish fits nicely . Light enough to tape inside of canoe for portage.... pic of one to follow...

I don't know about the length. 31'' is so rare that, while certainly possible, it's more likely the guess is a bit generous than the fish is truly that big. If you held a gun to my head, I'd guess less than 30''. The length doesn't seem that outlandish.

What's insane about that fish is it's "height" and girth. Goodness. Gotta love fall walleyes.

quote lundojam: "28.5" What a beautiful fish! Big shoulders. Nice work; a real trophy."

+1

Pics can often be very deceiving. I try and get at least 2 pics of nice fish. If the water is cool they will be fine. It's when the surface water is warmer is when you can have issues.

I also pay attention to the head of the fish and compare it to the head of the angler. That is a very nice walleye indeed with big shoulders which are usually far more important than length. Recently at Isle Royale I had a pair of 40" pike but one was long and skinny and the other was a tank. The difference was quite noticeable.

Sort of makes you want to catch another one like that doesn't it? Who says walleye can't fight hard? Good job ;-)

Thanks for the input everyone. Agree that pictures can be deceiving. I attempted to measure with the fingernail measurement and my three middle fingers as a scale and come up with 28"" both ways using length of the fish in the picture. I think I have a little bend in the walleye the way I am holding it so just maybe it might be a little bigger. Will never forget the battle, the spectacular evening and my brothers reaction in the bow as he was first to see it. "Oh my god its a walleye".

That's exactly right. I have hooked a few in enexpected places that I thought for sure we're going to be big pike. Walleye 8lbs and up fight superbly on light tackle and a fish which gets my eyes big when I see it. And a fish which fights very well early in the year when other fish can be sluggish.

Nice fish! Looks like a 28 incher.....thanks for sharing your picture.

I put some marks on my fishing rod, just small paint lines, start at 15" then every 3 inches. Must admit they don't go to 30 inches. Might have to change that. What did you catch it on?

Close if not 30 with heft. Thanks for the quick release. Trophy for me. Nice.

quote Podunk: "I put some marks on my fishing rod, just small paint lines, start at 15" then every 3 inches. Must admit they don't go to 30 inches. Might have to change that. What did you catch it on?"

Deep tail dancer - "Silver Flash" In the same 1 hr window we fished that evening we also caught more walleye, big SMB and a Laker on a silver deep down husky jerk and a large shad rap "Shad" color.

2" on my smartphone.
4" if I turn it horizontal. ;)

quote old_salt: "2" on my smartphone.
4" if I turn it horizontal. ;)"

Ha! Good one ;-)

quote Gmorgan: "

quote Podunk: "I put some marks on my fishing rod, just small paint lines, start at 15" then every 3 inches. Must admit they don't go to 30 inches. Might have to change that. What did you catch it on?"

Deep tail dancer - "Silver Flash" In the same 1 hr window we fished that evening we also caught more walleye, big SMB and a Laker on a silver deep down husky jerk and a large shad rap "Shad" color.


"

Oh Crap.........now I have to get a color combination I don't like!

Nice fish, hard to tell the size. Nice fish no matter what.

Next time don't grab the tail, makes the fish appear smaller. A lot of people do that, not sure why...but don't :)

T

28

quote Gmorgan: "Caught this beautiful fish in the Quetico during the last week of July. It was a real drag screamer. Could not believe how hard she fought. We were in a hurry to return her to where she came from and we forgot to measure her. Can any of you Walleye experts give me a guestimate of what you think? We tried to do some picture measurements from my position in the canoe and we are thinking 31". We were shocked when we first saw her as we thought we had a big pike.



"

Beautiful color on that fish, Im guessing 28 to 29 inches.