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Connellsville resident Richard Nicholson has been fishing the Youghiogheny River all of his life, and in that time, he's had plenty of good days on the water. But none will likely compare to Oct. 28, 2021.
Fishing at one of his favorite spots, just across from the Connellsville Police Station, Nicholson hooked, reeled in and landed one of the biggest fish in Pennsylvania history. Nicholson hauled in a walleye that was recently certified as a state record. The walleye weighed 18.1 pounds and measured 34 inches with a 21.5-inch girth.
Nicholson, 62, and a retired union carpenter, had three words for his ability to haul in a record fish.
"I got lucky," Nicholson said with a laugh.
Actually, it was much more than luck. Fishing in late October, and through years of experience, Nicholson anticipated having a good night on the water. But the events that happened over the course of less than two hours were beyond his expectations.
Using 6-inch creek chubs that he caught at East Park as bait, Nicholson began fishing around 5:30 p.m. It wasn't long after he started that he pulled in a sauger that measured approximately 18-20 inches. It got better from there. A little later, Nicholson hooked into a nice 27-inch walleye that weighed nine pounds. And that's when things got very interesting.
Nicholson, who was fishing with his son Richard Jr., had his noodle rod laying on the bank with the line in the water. His son noticed the rod starting to show some action.
"My son said 'you better check that pole,'" Nicholson said. "When I lifted up the rod and hooked it, I told him to get the other poles out of the water because this is something big."
Nicholson fought the fish for approximately 20 minutes before he finally caught a glimpse of the underwater behemoth.
"It made a couple of good runs and then it surfaced," Nicholson said, noting that he hooked the fish with a No. 2 size hook. "I stopped reeling and just started walking back. When we got it in the net, we picked it up and the handle of the net snapped."
It was clear that Nicholson had hooked a giant, but he wasn't really thinking about a state record.
"I fish for meat," Nicholson said. "I fish for big walleye."
And Nicholson kept on fishing, for about two more hours. Finally, Nicholson took his prized catch home and put it in a spring-fed well on his property. The fish was still alive.
Nicholson's son started doing some research on his phone and quickly realized that his dad might have landed a state record.
The next morning, the fish had died and Nicholson weighed it. However, his scale bottomed out at just under 18 pounds. He then took the fish to a couple of local grocery stores for an official weight. After a second weighing, Nicholson suspected that he may indeed have a record fish.
Nicholson filled out some paperwork and notified the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission. PFBC official Scott Opfer went to Nicholson's house to take pictures and record official measurements. The fish was then certified as a new state record. The former record stood for 41 years. It was a 17.9-pound walleye caught by Mike Holly in the Allegheny Reservoir in 1980. According to PFBC regulations, state records are judged by weight and a new state record fish must exceed the former state record by at least two ounces.
The PFBC sent Nicholson an official citation for his record-breaking catch.
Nicholson wasn't looking to catch a state record fish, but he also believes there are walleyes in the Youghiogheny River that are bigger than his current state record, just waiting to be caught.
"It's really unbelievable that with so much big water all across this state, including the big rivers and Lake Erie, that this fish was right here in the Yough," said Nicholson in a PFBC press release issued on Tuesday. "There's a lot of pride in that, and I'd bet there are a lot more records in that river if people would fish it harder. Like I said before, I like to eat fish, so I wasn't after the record, but if this inspires somebody else to get out there and fish, then it's all worth it to me. We need more people out there fishing. That's what it's all about."
Nicholson is keeping the fish, which he plans to eat, in his freezer. He has plans to have a mold of the fish made by a taxidermist.
Jason Black is the sports editor at The Daily Courier. Reach him at jblack@daily
courier.com or 724-628-2000.