Big Al continues to elude anglers

A "mug shot" shows Big Al IV, the $10,000 grand prize white bass in the $86,000 Hot Springs Fishing Challenge. The fish was released in Lake Hamilton, and officials with Visit Hot Springs said earlier this week that the fish had not yet been caught. The challenge ends at 5 p.m. today.
A "mug shot" shows Big Al IV, the $10,000 grand prize white bass in the $86,000 Hot Springs Fishing Challenge. The fish was released in Lake Hamilton, and officials with Visit Hot Springs said earlier this week that the fish had not yet been caught. The challenge ends at 5 p.m. today.

The $86,000 Hot Springs Fishing Challenge ends at 5 p.m. Friday, and Visit Hot Springs has released its first-ever mug shot of the $10,000 grand prize fish, named Big Al IV.

Over the challenge's four-year history, Big Al has yet to be reeled in.

"We thought we'd give the fishing public as much assistance as possible in an effort of bring Big Al IV to shore," Steve Arrison, CEO of Visit Hot Springs, said in a news release.

"No one has ever laid a hook on Al, and some people have expressed some doubt as to his actual existence. So, we are not only releasing a mug shot of Big Al, but we also are revealing his species and the last spot where he was seen."

The elusive fish is a white bass, tagged No. 64, that was released into Lake Hamilton on April 30. Arrison said he was last seen "near the dock off Sammie Cove on the Main Channel of Lake Hamilton."

"We ask for the public's help in bringing this fugitive in," he said.

As of Monday, 17 fish had been caught and a total of $22,000 in prize money awarded -- a record in the history of the event.

According to Chrissy Egleston, director of marketing for Visit Hot Springs, 2015 has proved "very exciting" for the challenge.

"Of course we had one more fish caught than last year's total of 16, but this is the most money we've paid out," she said. "Last year, our first $5,000 fish was caught and this year, we had two of them caught -- one on each lake."

Egleston said it's the stories that make the challenge so fun, and 2015 was no exception.

"Where we had the flooding that gave us a couple of weeks where no one caught anything, I think the coolest story we heard this year was the man that caught a fish in the Caddo River, 32 miles away from where it was released," she said.

In 2014, the challenge awarded $16,500 of $75,000. In 2013, $9,500 was paid out and $10,250 was paid in 2012.

This was the first year that bonus $1,000 fish were released each Tuesday and their locations released to the public -- only one of the bonus fish was caught.

Egleston said that, after the challenge concludes, they will review the numbers and determine what worked and didn't this year, but that overall the results of 2015 were positive.

According to Arrison, the fishing challenges "have generated a wealth of positive publicity about the great fishing found on our lakes."

"We've had anglers from states surrounding Arkansas catch prize fish, and prize fish have also been landed by fishing fans from all over Arkansas," he said. "We'll spend some time this fall evaluating the challenge and we'll announce next spring whether we will sponsor a challenge in 2016."

Local on 07/28/2015

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