Lake Rabun Walleye Is New State Record

There are some giant walleye in north Georgia reservoirs, but none bigger than this have been caught. Wes Carlton broke the Georgia state record with this 14-lb., 2-oz. Lake Rabun walleye caught Friday, Feb. 19.

A 14-lb., 2-oz. walleye caught Friday, Feb. 19 at Lake Rabun has been certified as a new state record. Guide Wes Carlton, one of GON‘s long-time fishing report contributors, caught the fish during a trip to Rabun with one of his regular customers and a mutual friend.

“We started out that morning fishing for largemouth,” Wes said. “The bite was slow, so after about 20 minutes, I said, ‘Let’s go catch a walleye.'”

The surface temperature was 44 to 45 degrees that morning, and Wes said this time of year he expects to find walleye over an 18- to 35-foot bottom. He marked some fish on his electronics and dropped live blueback herring on three downlines. He also put out one flatline behind the boat and had just cast a jig with a crappie minnow toward the bank and was bouncing it back toward the boat when he noticed one of the downlines was getting bit.

“She actually bit four times before I got a hook in her,” Wes said. “I just happened to grab the rod. Guides typically stick a lot of fish and hand the rod off, and this time I grabbed it.”

Lake Rabun is a small 835-acre Georgia Power reservoir on the Tallulah River in northeast Georgia. It is one of a series of six small mountain reservoirs on the Tallulah that starts with Lake Burton.

The new state-record walleye topped an 11-lb., 6-oz. Lake Russell walleye caught in 1995 by Neal Watson. The previous lake record from Rabun weighed 9-lbs., 6-ozs. and was caught in 2005.

WRD fisheries biologists and technicians have worked hard to establish a viable walleye fishery in north Georgia through a hatchery and stocking program.

For information on Georgia lakes where walleye are stocked and how to catch them during the upcoming spring run, see this Georgia walleye fishing article.

Wes Carlton’s new state record walleye from Lake Rabun was 31 1/2 inches long and weighed 14-lbs., 2-ozs.