PITTSBURGH (100.1 FM and AM 1020 KDKA) A Fayette County man has broken a Pennsylvania state record that stood for 41 years.
Richard Nicholson hauled in an 18-pounds, 1 ounce walleye on the Youghiogheny River near his Connellsville home on October 28.
"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 it was only the start of the best day ever."
The PA Fish and Boat commission says Nicholson continued to fish after that when around 6:45 p.m., his son alerted him that something was tugging on his 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."
The fish measured 34 inches with a girth of 21.5 inches.