Fishing challenge draws to a close

The Sentinel-Record/Max Bryan ANGLING AWAY: Walter, left, and Carol Jackson, of Pearcy, cast their lines off a dock at Andrew H. Hulsey State Fish Hatchery on Lake Hamilton on Tuesday.
The Sentinel-Record/Max Bryan ANGLING AWAY: Walter, left, and Carol Jackson, of Pearcy, cast their lines off a dock at Andrew H. Hulsey State Fish Hatchery on Lake Hamilton on Tuesday.

With five days remaining in the 2016 Hot Springs Fishing Challenge, Visit Hot Springs is giving the skinny on "Big Al."

The fifth annual challenge, which is held every summer on lakes Catherine and Hamilton, is set to end Sunday. This year's challenge began May 1 and has featured a variety of species -- each marked with a tag for prize money -- in the two lakes. Each year, a fish christened "Big Al" is tagged with the grand prize of $10,000. To date, no one has been able to land "Big Al."

To give anglers the edge in the waning days of the contest, Visit Hot Springs announced Tuesday that this year's "Big Al" is a channel catfish bearing the tag No. 19 on Lake Hamilton.

In addition to "Big Al," a total of 70 other fish were tagged and released as part of the challenge. Of the 70, 20 were marked for $500, 46 for $1,000 and four for $5,000.

Visit Hot Springs has so far awarded 11 cash prizes to contestants, including nine for $1,000 and two for $500. Visit Hot Springs has awarded three $5,000 prizes over the previous four years of competition, but has yet to give one away this year.

Steve Arrison, CEO of Visit Hot Springs, said that all different kinds of people have seen success in the challenge.

"Fishing makes everybody equal," Arrison said. "We had a teenager catch a fish earlier this year; we've had retired folks catch fish this year. Age doesn't matter, physical abilities don't matter, income doesn't matter. It's just a wide-open contest."

From 2012 to 2015, 21-28 percent of the tagged fish were caught. This year has so far seen a dip in volume, with the 11 fish caught making up only 15 percent of all that were released for the challenge, according to a study done by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission's Andrew H. Hulsey State Fish Hatchery. To meet the trend of past years, four more fish will have to be caught by the end of the week.

To make the lakes more accommodating for fishing, Arrison said that Visit Hot Springs might move the contest up one month next year because of tourism. He said that the months during which the challenge is currently held present some difficulty for fishing.

"There's so much pressure on our lakes when you get into July with all the leisure traffic," he said. "We might look at starting it in April and then look at ending it on June 30."

Although there is a lower percentage of fish being caught than previous years, Arrison said the lakes have still seen plenty of activity. One of the things that helps such activity is the challenge's bonus fish, those 11 fish marked at $1,000 that were released each week of the challenge in specific locations announced to the public.

"We give them something to really shoot for instead of fishing all over the lake," said Colton Dennis, black bass program supervisor at the fish hatchery. "A lot of them go to that area, knowing that we just dropped the fish there."

Even with the obstacles, Hot Springs' fishing challenge is still widely enjoyed. Both Visit Hot Springs and the fish hatchery have noticed great participation in the challenge this year.

"We've gotten the perception that it's been real popular -- not just for the folks visiting, but also for the locals," said Brett Hobbs, district fishery supervisor. "It seems to be an exciting option for them to be able to go out on a normal fishing trip and be able to catch a fish that's worth some good money."

Local on 07/27/2016

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