Great Discussion!!! Speaking of records, and the possibility of false record keeping. I have always been fathomed by the current Wisconsin State Record Walleye. Which is held by Tony Brothers. He caught the fish on High Lake in Vilas County on September 16th 1933, at 18 lbs.
Now I don't want to discredit Mr. Brothers but I just have a hard time believing that Walleye was truly that big.
#1 For instance, High lake comes in at 741 acres and I am assuming it did not have a cisco population at that time. That is an extremely small body of water compared to the bodies of water that Minnesota's and Michigan's state records came from.
#2 Minnesota's state record is 17 lbs 8 oz and came in 1979 from a 13,000 acre, 280 ft deep Saganaga lake.
#3 Michigan's state record came from a river that runs from out of lake Michigan and that fish weighed in at 17.19 lbs in 1951.
#4 Tony Brother's Walleye came in at an "even" 18 lbs.
#5 There is literally no record, picture or article of Tony Brother's Walleye let alone even Tony Brothers!!! I have done research on Tony Brother's walleye and have even asked lake link member's if anyone ever heard of Tony Brother's walleye and received 0 response.
#6 The fish was caught in the heart of the great depression. It was not unheard of resort owners making outlandish claims of sorts to bring prospective vacationers to their resort. I am assuming due to the lack of good roads and such that Mr. Brother's was staying at a resort that was located on the lake.
#7 The bay of Green Bay with it's outstanding forage base cannot and has not beaten that record of 18#. Also, look at the dates caught. This is not a Walleye that is full of spawn which could of been the case with the MN state walleye which was caught May 13th 1979 along the MN/Canadian border where spawning is later than WI and that fish may still have been full of eggs. The Michigan State Walleye record only gives a year (1951) but not an actual date. Mr. Brother's walleye caught in mid September was caught at a time in it's yearly cycle when it technically would not be at it's heaviest. Which would be mid November or possibly early spring.
I don't want to discredit Mr. Brother's as I have never met the man and assuming he is no longer alive. However, a little hindsight, common sense and a little science would say that an 18 lb walleye maynot be 18 lbs. I could be, and hopefully I am wrong, but something tells me there's a fish tale in there if you know what I mean.
If anyone knows anything about Mr. Brother's and that Walleye please speak up as I and I think others would love to hear it.