Nick's Christmas Present

Christmas Eve and Chritsmas Day are always a couple of my favorite days to ice fish.  It is a great time of year and the lake is usually rather quiet.  In return for all my hard work and time the fish gods usually reward me with a few nice fish over the 2 days. 

Well this year was no exception.  After leaving the fish house to race back to my mom and dads for Christmas Eve dinner Nick hooked into a walleye on a rattle reel at about 9 p.m.  Little did he know he had hooked an early Christmas gift, because on the end of that line was a 12 pound walleye measuring 31 1/2" by 19 1/2".  This fish was a absolute giant.  Lets just say it made his Christmas and Winter!  

It was so big I had to take a couple pictures with it.  So here it is at another angle. 

Nick kept this fish to put it on his wall.  I always recommend catch and release and would like people to consider getting a replica.  Being that Nick was alone at the time he caught it and had no camera he decided he wanted to keep it to mount the fish for lasting memories of Christmas Eve 08!