Mabry Harper caught a 41-in 25 pound walleye with a 29 inch girth back in 1960 on Old Hickory Lake in Tennessee!

Those who actually saw it in person knew how truly massive it  was but it was the 1960s there weren't many certified scales pictures from, but just about everyone had a yardstick but obviously only measures something that is 36 in nonetheless the handwriting on the picture says 25 lbs. 3 ounces, but story tells it was 25 lbs. 4 oz! Whatevs.

The interesting thing about Mabry Harper's walleye is the fact that the freshwater fishing Hall of Fame recorded it as a world record and then later disallowed it as a world record because somebody decided to do some fancy math according to the size of Mabry’s hands which nobody knows for sure.

That theory got the massive walleye ripped from the record books until a family member had a genius idea! Use the picture of Mary Harper, Mabry's wife, pictured below. Relatives knew exactly how tall she was so all they needed to do was blow up the picture of Mary holding the walleye and measure the fish once they had the life size poster. The walleye  measured 41 inches long and was giving back its world record status.

Another picture that is important to this story is a picture of the massive head and a ruler. That head measured 6 1/2 in. I did the math on the 28 inch replica walleye I am working on right now. If you put the math to Mabry's walleye it equates to a 41 in walleye. Not 36, 38 or 40 but 41.

Amazing!!

▶️41 Inch 25 Pound Walleye