Ethan Bear and his two fishing friends will never forget a day of walleye fishing on July 10 in North Dakota. Along with a handful of trophy-sized walleyes, Bear also caught the eye of a rare, bright gold-colored 27-incher.
“I have heard of such a fish,” says the bear. outdoor Life. “But I had never seen photos before or known of anyone who had captured it.”
21-year-old Bear and his friends arrived at the lake early that morning because they knew it would be a severe fire and expected quick action (the lake would remain anonymous to avoid excessive fishing pressure). By mid-morning they had only caught one nice fish measuring 28.5 inches and as the water temperature rose they moved to a deeper part of the lake. He scanned with forward-facing sonar, looking for bigger fish and casting ⅜-ounce jigs tipped with nightcrawlers to the marks.
Eventually Bear spotted another fish with his electronics that he thought might be worth targeting. The fish was lying on a muddy bottom in about 19 feet of water.
“I wasn’t even going to toss it because it seemed so small, and we just got closer and closer and slowly got a little bigger and I thought, ‘Okay guys, I’m not seeing much around, so I’ll just go ahead and see what it does,'” Bear says. “I hit it and immediately it jumped and destroyed (my bait).”
“I was like, ‘Man, this is a huge fish here,’ and then my friend started recording it,” Baer says. “And we saw a flicker and we all went quiet because we were like, ‘What was that?’ It was a very strange glow in the water. Then it came up a second time and hovered right on the surface, and then my other friend said, ‘Oh my God, it’s gold,’ and we were all instantly shocked. “We all got a little nervous when it was in the net.”
Ethan Bear catches an incredible golden volley
Beers says he thinks the fish had xanthism, which is a genetic mutation that prevents the scales from forming the proper molecular structure to turn white light into blue. target walleye. In other words, the wallet becomes gold instead of green.
Bear says that for a second he thought about keeping the fish on the skin, but immediately abandoned it after taking a few photos. He says the fish emerged healthy and he plans to get a replica made.
“I generally don’t keep walleyes longer than 21 inches,” says Baer. “Our goal is to just go down and catch (and release) as many big fish as possible.”
Bear, a wind-tower technician, was born and raised in North Dakota and has been an avid walleye angler his entire life. Later that day he and his friends managed to catch a few more stud walleyes over 25 inches.
“I don’t even know how many people we caught,” Baer says. “I’m sure we’ll definitely be planning another weekend day here soon.”
