Nobody does it bait'er - Canton teen hooks record walleye
BY: ED WRIGHT
STAFF WRITER
May 7, 2006
The split-second he felt the first tug on his fishing line Sunday afternoon, Chris Merbler knew that whatever had wrapped its jaws around his perch-colored crawler harness was a whopper.
However, the 13-year-old Canton outdoorsman had no idea that the fish he had enticed to clamp onto his bait in the middle of Lake Erie was a potential world record-sized walleye.
"It felt heavy right away and it pulled out a lot of line, so I knew it was big," recalled Merbler, who, along with his dad Ron was participating in the Lance Valentine Walleye 101 Fishing School. "It took me about a minute and a half to bring it in, which is longer than it normally takes."
Once it was netted and weighed, the walleye tipped the scales at 9.8 pounds, which is considerably heavier than the 8.5-pound specimen currently listed on the International Game Fish Association Web site as the largest ever caught by someone 16 years old or younger.
"It may take the IGFA a couple of months to decide if my walleye becomes the new world record for junior anglers," said Merbler. "We have to fill out some paperwork and send them a photo of the fish. Then they talk to the people who weighed it and saw me catch it."
Merbler said his prize catch is presently on ice, but it will soon be mounted and showcased in his family's Canton home.
"It would feel really good if I get the world record because I've been trying to get the record for about two-and-a half years," said Merbler, a seventh-grade student at Plymouth Christian Academy.
The walleye was caught in 30 feet of Lake Erie water, not far from Rattlesnake Island, Merbler said.
