***Due to high-water levels, opening day for Chik-Wauk has been postponed and the location for this event has been moved to Seagull Lake Community Center located at 12059 Gunflint Trail (2 miles before Chik-Wauk’s entrance).***

Minnesota’s state-record walleye is home! LeRoy Chiovitte’s state record walleye was donated by his family to the Gunflint Trail Historical Society.

Chiovitte’s, big walleye was caught on the Seagull River where it enters Saganaga Lake. The walleye was caught on May 13, 1979, on the Seagull River, at the end of the Gunflint Trail. The walleye was 35 ¾” long, 21 ¼” girth, and weighed 17 lb. 8 oz.

On May 29, from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m., there will be a special induction of this walleye at the Seagull Lake Community Center. Join in the celebration and have a chance to own a special Walleye wire sculpture that was created by Bud Bullivant.

The closest anyone has come to catching (and keeping) a walleye as big was on July 4, 1989, when then-University of Minnesota President Bob Bruininks caught one that weighed 17 pounds, 6 ounces on Loon Lake along the Gunflint Trail. It was weighed more than two hours after it was caught and it could have possibly bested Chiovitte’s record had it been weighed sooner. But we’ll never know.

Fish pictures and big fish stories abound.