Over the years, guide Wes Carlton has caught a lot of impressive walleye from north Georgia’s clear, cold mountain reservoirs. Just about every morning when he leaves his Gainesville, Georgia home, he says to himself it could be the day he catches a new state record.
Carlton remembered it as odd that he didn’t even think about it the morning of Feb. 19 as he drove north to meet clients for a trip on 835-acre Lake Rabun. Perhaps that’s why karma picked that Friday for him to land a 14-pound, 2-ounce walleye that shattered the existing 1995 state record by nearly 3-pounds. Carlton’s fish measured 31.5 inches.
Walleye have gathered a cult following among the few anglers who have learned to target them since Georgia ramped up its walleye stocking program in the 1990s. It is native to the region, but state fisheries biologists have had to work hard to bring populations up to sustainable levels. Carlton said he has been chasing the record since 2007 and has learned a lot about catching them along the way. He’s even taken trips up north to learn from experienced walleye anglers and said Georgia’s fish are bigger because of the longer growing season and plentiful blueback herring in the lakes they inhabit.
Walleye were not, however, the initial species targeted on the morning in question. A slow morning fishing for largemouth bass called for a change.
“Let’s go try and stick a walleye before the sun gets up high,” Carlton told his clients.
They motored to a long point that tapered off to the main river channel. Carlton said walleye use these points to move up and feed on herring and then return to deep water. The anglers deployed three downlines baited with herring, and Carlton pitched out a freelined herring with an 8-pound fluorocarbon leader to sink slowly as they trolled at about 0.6 mph.
On the graph, they could see fish interested in the downlines but couldn’t convince them to eat. Cartlon was casting a jig tipped with a crappie minnow when one of his clients noticed the freeline was getting a bite.
“After trying to set the hook numerous times on this fish, I decided to lay some slack out and let the fish take it,” Carlton said. “It took a minute or so, and finally she inhaled the blueback. The fight was on!”
Walleye are not known as fighters, but Carlton knew it was either a very big walleye or a catfish because it was strong. He had to be careful with the light-test line but got the fish in the boat as quickly as possible for fear of losing it.
“I know this is a great fish, but I have seen two others that were bigger and didn’t have a hook in them,” Carlton said. “I will continue to search for those bigger fish, although I know the chances are slim.”