Deformed W/E Or dorkfish?

[Lee Borgersen]

                        "Deformed walleye? Or a 'dorkfish?"

Tuesday, January 27, 2015 


Maybe that's what Fargo angler Mike Lorz caught in South Dakota over the weekend.



Ice fishing in a perch tournament on Reetz Lake in northeast South Dakota, Lorz pulled a fish through the hole that had all the characteristics of a plump walleye -- except for an oddly shaped head.

 

"It looked like a gorgeous walleye coming up and then my buddy sees it and says, 'Dude, that's a sucker,'" said Lorz. "When I pulled it out of the hole I said, 'I don't know what the hell that is.'"

Turns it out it was a walleye measuring about 20 inches, according to Lorz. But the fish's jaw and head were badly misshapen, it didn't have any upper teeth and it had what appeared to be a horn or knob on the top of the head.

"It was weird," Lorz said. "It didn't have a jaw or upper teeth, so it was hooked into the roof of the mouth kind of between where the eyes should have been."

The rest of the fish, as evidenced by the photos Lorz sent to me, looked like a nice walleye.

South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks fisheries biologist Brian Blackwell said one of two options are likely with this walleye.

 

"Not a 100 percent sure of what may be going on with this fish, but I would say that it either had a birth defect or was injured early in life," Blackwell said. "Even with the messed up head it appears to be healthy."

A couple of people on KFGO's Facebook page said they'd caught similar-looking fish, some in the same area of South Dakota.

The fish is still swimming in Reetz Lake. It is designated as a trophy walleye lake, meaning anglers can't keep walleyes less than 20 inches long. Lorz said he released the fish after his fishing partner snapped a couple of pictures.



Southern-fried comedian Bill Engvall has a bit focused on the mythical "dorkfish," a goofy-looking critter with a severe overbite.

And, just for fun, here is Engvall's "dorkfish" routine: 



Video:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/yH6sE8RMUuU?feature=player_detailpage

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