Kerry
Carter had never been fishing at Robert S. Kerr Reservoir, he had never
caught a walleye and he had never caught a state record fish. But there is a
first time for everything and Carter couldn’t be happier.
Carter and a fishing buddy decided to head east to Kerr Reservoir near Webbers Falls for an evening of catfishing. They found a likely spot and tried a new bait for the first time, Hog Wild Dipping Bait. The pair caught a few small catfish that May 8th afternoon, but it wasn’t until 6 p.m. that things really got interesting.
“I thought I had finally hooked a good-size catfish,” said Carter, who lives in Shawnee. “Once I got it to the bank we realized it was a walleye. We didn’t have a good scale with us, but after measuring the length, we realized what a nice fish it was.”
A nice fish is a modest understatement. The big walleye weighed in at 12 pounds, 13 ounces was 30 3/8 inches long.
Carter said that he, like any other angler, had always hoped to break a state record. He just never thought it would be a walleye. Carter caught the fish on 17-pound test line using Hog Wild liver red worm.“I guess now I am going to learn how to really fish for walleye. I have always heard there is some great walleye fishing in the state, now I am going to give it a try,” Carter said.
According to Kim Erickson, fisheries chief for the Wildlife Department, there are plenty of places for Carter and other anglers to give walleye fishing a try. “Robert S. Kerr Reservoir near the mouth of the Illinois River has produced big walleye before, but it’s not the only place. Canton Lake in northwest Blaine County, Broken Bow Lake in southeast Oklahoma and Altus-Lugert Lake in the southwestern part of the state are also known as walleye hotspots,” Erickson said. The previous walleye record of 12 pounds, 10 ounces was set by Jerrod Lingle who pulled the walleye from Altus-Lugert in March of 1995. For a complete list of record fish and the procedures regarding certifying state record fish, consult the “2004 Oklahoma Fishing Guide.” If you think you may have hooked a record fish it is important that you weigh the fish on an Oklahoma State Department of Agriculture certified scale and the weight is verified by a Wildlife Department employee.-30-
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