# What happened to this walleye???



## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

Jighead and Brad Anderson were fishing a week or 2 back and they pulled up this interesting specimen. Anyone want to take a stab as to how this happened? They said it didn't have ANY signs of scars that would've come from predators.

It came out of Devils Lake.


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## Doug Panchot (Mar 1, 2002)

Bioman any ideas? I'm guessing it must have been like that from birth. It's amazing it has survived as long as it has!!


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## Austin Bachmeier (Feb 27, 2002)

Mount it. :beer: That is a very weird fish, I have seen rainbows that look like that to.


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## jig head (Mar 24, 2002)

We (Brad and I) cut it open to see what it looked like, it was ugly.


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## Miller (Mar 2, 2002)

jig head said:


> We (Brad and I) cut it open to see what it looked like, it was ugly.


Can you elaborate on "ugly"? What was the backbone like? What was the digestive system like?


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## Fetch (Mar 1, 2002)

scoliosis of the walleye

Hunchback walleye

that was a wallhanger for sure or should have kept it alive & donated to someone to study ???

Maybe it was part Rattle snake & it was ready to strike ??? 

Did it bite on a Mr Twister :roll:

Did it come from under the High Voltage power lines ??? 

was it missing part of it's belly or is it all crooked ??? Weird for sure :huh:

I know it bit you & you drop kicked it :lol:

Left it in the cooler all night on a can of beer ??? :biggrin:


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## Backwater Eddy (Jun 16, 2003)

Yup, you found yourself a "Quasimodo" Walleye.

I would venture to guess it was injured or malformed in it's youth. It was able to grow to adulthood and by the looks of it feed well. I have seen this in several species of fish.

Odds are untell he met up with you folks, he or she was doing OK.

I have seen catfish in the high 20's with such maladies that appear to be doing very well.


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

Was in Minneapolis this weekend and went to the zoo. They had a dolphin, I know, different animal, but it looked extremely similar to this. They said that she had scoliosis of the spine!! Was otherwise very normal.


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## MNhunter (Oct 20, 2002)

Yup...they have had that dolphin for as long as I can remember...


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## muzzy (Mar 21, 2002)

Backwater Eddy is right, the fish received a back injury when it was young more than likely. I have seen this in Northern Pike several times.


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## bioman (Mar 1, 2002)

I am trying to find my old aquatic ecology text book to confirm, but I believe the fish had a parasite (typically when in the fry stage) that caused the weird body form.


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## Nick Roehl (Mar 7, 2002)

I caught a walleye exactly like that a few weeks ago on Rush Lake in Minnesota. It kind of freaked me out. I never got a picture though.


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