HARRISBURG, Pa. – The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) is pleased to announce a new state record Walleye!
On the evening of October 28, 2021, angler Richard Nicholson, 62, of Connellsville, Fayette County, was fishing from the bank of the Youghiogheny River along with his son, Richard Nicholson, Jr. The father and son both live nearby and frequent the section of the river near the Crawford Avenue bridge in sight of the Connellsville Police Department.
Nicholson was targeting Walleye using a spinning reel equipped with 6-pound test and a live creek chub attached to a number two hook, weighted down with bb-size split shot and a slip sinker.
“We were fishing the bottom along the edge of a sandbar, just having a nice time being on the river,” said Nicholson. “Conditions were good, and we were catching fish right away. Before we knew it, we landed a big sauger and then a 27-inch walleye that weighed about nine pounds. It turned out to be only the start of the best day ever.”
Nicholson continued to fish the same hole, when at around 6:45 p.m., he recalled his son yelling to alert him that something was tugging hard on his fishing line.
“I looked over and the rod had really taken a bend, so I grabbed it and just started reeling,” said Nicholson. “I knew right away it was something big, and I thought maybe it was a musky. It fought me for about 25 minutes before I got it up on the bank and my son got it in the net, and we could see it was a walleye. It was so big that it actually broke the net.”
Larger than any previous catches that evening, the fish measured 34 inches, with a girth of 21.5 inches.
