‘Eye of a prize: Connellsville angler pulls state record from Yough (copy)
Acclaims for Richard “Breeze” Nicholson’s big walleye he caught in the Youghiogheny River at Connellsville on Oct. 28 have been circulating the internet for two weeks.
But it’s now official.
Nicholson’s 18.1-pound, 34-inch walleye is a new Pennsylvania state record. Recognition by the Fish and Boat Commission of Nicholson’s record catch has been pending while the agency reviewed his notarized filing, which included the fish’s weight by a certified scale, signature of witnesses, photograph, and identification of the fish as a walleye by a Fish and Boat Commission officer.
“I just saw a copy of the letter informing Mr. Nicholson his record is official. He should receive it any time,” said Scott Opfer, the Fish and Boat Commission’s waterways conservation officer for Fayette County.
The Youghiogheny lunker surpassed the former state record walleye established more than four decades ago, a 17.5-pounder caught from Allegheny Reservoir (Kinzua Dam) in Warren County in 1980.
Nicholson, 62, of Connellsville, wasn’t thinking about records when he went fishing that evening.
“I fish a lot, and I’m a meat fisherman. I go to catch fish to eat,” he said. “We’ve got a good river here, with good wholesome fish, and I love to eat them. As far as the record goes, I was lucky in two ways. I was lucky to catch it in the first place, and I was lucky my son was there. He wouldn’t let me cut it up because he thought it might be a record.”
Fortunately, the Nicholsons had a hand-held scale in their tackle box, but when they weighed the big walleye, the scale bottomed out at 15 pounds. They took the fish to Martin’s grocery store in Connellsville where a friend weighed it at 18.14 pounds on certified scales. Nicholson’s son used his phone to look up the Fish and Boat Commission’s list of state record fish, and insisted they contact Scott Opfer for verification, and file the required paperwork.
“I was all set to fillet that fish and have a big fish-fry for my family and friends,” Nicholson said.
Nicholson’s humility about it being a lucky catch is overstated. Anyone who fishes knows luck is an infrequent aid, and Nicholson catches too many big fish for luck to explain his success. On the same trip as the history-making catch, he caught another walleye weighing nine pounds, and a big sauger (a fish closely related to the walleye). A few days later, from the same stretch of the Youghiogheny, Nicholson landed walleyes of 10 and 12 pounds, plus a 40-inch muskellunge.
Light tackle holds no interest for Richard Nicholson. He targets big fish, and he knows how.
He’s also one of a vanishing breed, still catching his own bait. He sets minnow traps in the Yough and nearby tributaries, so he can present his quarry exactly the kind of small fish they’re accustomed to preying on.
“My dad took me fishing in this river 50 years ago,” he said. “And Dad told us, to catch big fish you have to use big hooks and big baits. I was using a 6-inch live creek chub for bait when I caught this big one.
“Lots of people know where I fish on the river, right here in town, but you have to know how to fish it, and most people don’t know how.”
He uses a hefty 10-foot “noodle rod,” designed for uniform flex throughout its length. But there is one element of Nicholson’s tackle that’s not so robust.
“I never use heavier than 6-pound line,” he said. “If you use heavy line in there, you won’t catch anything. You might get a bite but when those big walleye feel the heavier line, they’ll drop that bait before you can react.
“I fish early in the morning, and in the evening. These fish are predators, and that’s when predators eat,” Nicholson said.
Walleyes are native to the Great Lakes and the Ohio River drainage, including the Youghiogheny. They are closely related to sauger and yellow perch. Except for its size, Nicholson’s intent to fillet and fry the big fish is no surprise. With their white, flaky flesh, walleye are one of the most prized food fishes in North America.
“This is a great event for our area and for the Youghiogheny River, and it’s great for boosting interest in fishing,” Opfer said. “This brings deserved recognition to the Youghiogheny. There’s no place else in Pennsylvania like that river, and I am proud of it. I have thought of transferring to other county districts, but no place else has anything like the Youghiogheny. Connellsville is fortunate to have that river, exiting the mountains, clean and cold, right at its doorstep.”
Opfer, whose colleagues in fisheries law enforcement work all around the state, put the Youghiogheny in statewide perspective.
“Think of other walleye fisheries we have, like Lake Erie, a huge body of water where people spend $100,000 for a decked-out boat specialized for fishing walleyes, and then the state record gets caught by a guy standing on the bank of a river in Connellsville. That’s got to make people want to fish.”
Nicholson agrees. “For the cost of one fishing license you can fish 365 days a year. How can you beat that?”
Anglers who fish the Yough at Connellsville now, though, might not see “Breeze” Nicholson.
“When that water starts to get cold, they quit biting,” he said. “Anyway, I’ve got enough fillets for winter, and I don’t want to catch them all. I’m needy, not greedy.”