As Yogi Berra would say, “it was déjà vu all over again” when Jacob Wendel brought the remarkably beautiful big, golden walleye to his 18-foot Lund boat late in the afternoon of July 18. That’s because 21-year -old Ethan Bear from Jamestown, North Dakota, caught and released what’s believed to be the same big golden-hue walleye on July 10.
The First Encounter
On July 10, 21-year-old North Dakota angler Ethan Bear and his friends Connor Dahl and Drew Kramlich enjoyed an exceptional day of walleye fishing on an eastern North Dakota lake. Using forward-facing sonar (FFS) to locate fish, the trio caught and released seven walleyes between six and nine pounds by midday while fishing with 3/8-ounce jigs tipped with nightcrawlers. Later, after targeting deeper fish along a submerged ridge, Bear hooked what initially appeared to be another quality walleye.
As the fish neared the boat, its striking golden coloration revealed it to be an extraordinarily rare specimen believed to exhibit xanthism, a genetic mutation that causes unusually bright yellow pigmentation. The 27-inch fish, estimated at about six pounds, is considered an exceptionally uncommon find among walleyes.
The odds of Bear catching such a super-rare golden walleye has been described as a one in a billion fish-catching event. The odds of the same walleye being caught from the same lake a week later by a different angler boggles the mind in its rarity.
“I was targeting big walleyes with forward-facing sonar on a deep natural lake I’d rather not name,” Bear told Wired2fish. “I was fishing alone and finding fish in over 20 feet of water. For the day I had 10 fish over 28 inches, and some 8-pounders – all of which I released.”
The Second Time Around
Late that July 18 afternoon Wendel’s buddy Dalton Scheuring joined him at the lake and the pair of anglers continued targeting and catching oversize deep walleyes.
“About 5:30 p.m. I spotted a fish on sonar and made a cast to it with a 3/8-ounce jig and a 3.75-inch natural color plastic fluke,” said the 30-year-old farmer from Sanborn, North Dakota, who also guides ice fishermen in winter. “The fish was on bottom near a tree, and I had to reel my lure past the branches and drop it on its nose. I saw the fish on my sonar, and as soon as it spotted the jig it slammed it. I thought it was maybe a pike.”
Wendle used spinning tackle with 15-pound-test braided line, and a 12-pound-test fluorocarbon leader. After a brief fight he worked the fish to his boat, and Scheuring netted it and brought it aboard.
“We were stunned at its color, of course, measured its length, [took] a couple fast photos of it, and released it right away,” Wendel told Wired2fish. “It swam away strong.”
At the time Wendel had no idea that Bear had caught a big golden walleye from the same lake a week earlier. But through friends and social media they learned about each other’s catches and are convinced they each caught the same rare golden walleye.
“The fish looks identical in photos of my walleye and pictures of Bear’s catch,” Wendel said. “I’m going to have a replica mount made of the fish and hang it in my living room. Don’t think something like this will ever happen to me again.”
