Skillful Angler Winners

[catfishonthelake]

Originally Posted by Chrisper4694

Just realized, I'm pretty sure that's catfishonthelake with the kid and the giant musky caught on a live trout. That thing is huge!

It is, thanks man. Shawn contacted me through the magazine and said his son Ryley wanted to catch a world record fish. There is a vacancy for the small-fry record for tiger musky, so I offered to take them fishing. They drove up from MD and we just needed to catch ANY tiger and it would have been a world record for the kid. Instead we caught a huge true strain, which actually would have topped the small fry record for trues, but since I handed the rod off and Ryley needed some help it would have been disqualified. It was the first time I ever tried live bait for muskies and I do not advocate it AT ALL. This one was about giving the kid the best shot at fulfilling his dream. Although we didn't hit that goal, it was obviously a memorable day nonetheless. Shawn and Ryley were great about not wanting to put it in the sling to weigh so I could get it back as quick as possible. She swam off strong.

BTW, the state page is incorrect. The fish was credited to Ryley. He's 9 years old.

[NJ219bands]

My 4 applications were all rejected in 2015 because the pics were not clear enough from my 2.0 megapixel cell phone camera. I got a better camera now, but I can't take a selfie of me with a big fish. Maybe this year I'll look for a certified scale and practice catch and kill instead of catch release and getting my applications rejected.

[Eskimo]

Originally Posted by NJ219bands

My 4 applications were all rejected in 2015 because the pics were not clear enough from my 2.0 megapixel cell phone camera. I got a better camera now, but I can't take a selfie of me with a big fish. Maybe this year I'll look for a certified scale and practice catch and kill instead of catch release and getting my applications rejected.

Practice using the 10-second timer on your camera phone. It's the best way to take selfies with a fish.

It's funny that I caught-and-released my biggest bluegill from the same little pond that the Skillful Angler Award for Bluegill came from. Either that little pond grows monster bluegills or somebody else caught the same sunfish after I released it.





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