Big Al continues to thumb his nose at anglers in the Hot Springs Fishing Challenge for the third year in a row. But there is still one week left to catch the fish, or one of the 44 others in lakes Catherine and Hamilton.
"This has really been the most successful tournament to date," said Steve Arrison, CEO of Visit Hot Springs. "Sixteen fish have been caught so far and we've given out the most prize money we ever had at $22,350."
According to Arrison, the challenge started out strong this year with fish being caught each day; however, it's been a few weeks since the last fish was caught.
"I'm not really sure why that is," he said. "I've asked our partners at the (Arkansas) Game and Fish Commission, and no one's really got an answer because the weather's been perfect. I suspect they all got scared when they saw how many of their buddies were getting caught at the start."
To ensure that Big Al doesn't prevail this year, Arrison said anglers need to get out on Lake Hamilton and fish for the walleye.
"We certainly want this $10,000 walleye caught this year," he said. "But don't forget there are also three $5,000 fish between the two lakes."
There are also 27 $1,000 fish and 13 fish worth $500.
The Hot Springs Fishing Challenge continues to be a success in promoting area fishing and, as it draws to a close at 5 p.m. July 31, Arrison and partners of the challenge will evaluate how to approach the future of the event.
"Like every year, we'll get together and discuss how much money we put in and gave out, the response from the community and of course how fishing was this season," he said. "We've already had more fish caught than last year and we want people to get out there this week and catch even more of them."
Local on 07/24/2014