Big! (And I'm Not Exaggerating!)

Last night I monitored my two spots for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.  The Secchi Social I went to last weekend in Little Falls upped my motivation to do a good job.  I had a busy day but took time to monitor Coon Creek and the Rum River at the Pleasant Avenue bridge.  As I threw my dollar store bucket over the bridge (which already has a hole in it - what can you expect for a single dollar?) over the bridge over the Rum River the barn swallows left their perches under the bridge and flew up in a huge murmuration.  I watched the swallows fly around in their beautiful flight patterns as, hand over hand, I pulled my bucket up from the water.  As the bucket left the surface of the water I saw two big fish following the bucket. Their tails were towards the dam and their heads were pointed upstream.  Holy cow.   Two big fish.  Big, I say!  They were big fish at least 18 inches long.  Maybe 24 inches long.  It's hard to tell from the bridge deck.  But big.  These were definitely big fish.  What kind of fish?  I know river fish have different body shapes than lake fish. And I am more familiar with lake fish.  But these two fish were too long to be bass or panfish.  The girth on them was too wide to be pike.  Their heads were too narrow to be carp. That leaves walleye.  Two big walleyes were eyeing an orange bucket in case it was edible leaving a citizen scientist on the bridge with widened eyes and saying out loud, "Big Fish!"