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Located 57 miles up the Gunflint Trail, the Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center will open to the public on May 28, a day to celebrate. But the next day the museum will also have a big day when it hosts a ceremony accepting the state record walleye mount as a permanent feature of the museum.
The public is invited to witness the event which will run from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The walleye was mounted and encased in glass by the late LeRoy Chiovette of Hermantown, who passed away in 2019. LeRoy’s family is making the donation to the Gunflint Trail Historical Society who runs and operates the Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center.
On May 13, 1979, 1979 LeRoy Chiovitte pulled a 17-pound, 8-ounce walleye from the Sea Gull River between Lake Saganaga and Sea Gull Lake at about 8 a.m. He and his two fishing buddies were using spottail shiners fastened to a plain hook and weighted with split shot to keep the bait down in the fast water, which was 10 to 12 feet deep.
When measured, the walleye was 35 ¾” long, with a 21 ¼” girth.
Chiovettt’e fish broke a state record set in 1955 by Merle Pulliam who caught a 16-pound 11-ounce lunker from Basswood Lake.
The induction will take place at the Chik-Wauk Watercraft Building which his located about one mile from where Chiovette caught his legendary lunker walleye.
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