'Big Al' worth $15K during this year's Fishing Challenge

Visit Hot Springs announced Monday that it is increasing the prize money for landing "Big Al" in this year's Hot Springs Fishing Challenge to $15,000 and moving the start date up a month in a bid to get more prize money in the hands of anglers.

Steve Arrison, the CEO of Visit Hot Springs, had been contemplating moving up the start date of the three-month challenge after fewer fish were caught, but the number of anglers remained consistent with previous years, in the 2016 challenge.

The sixth annual challenge will begin at 6 a.m. April 1, instead of the May 1 start date used in the first five challenges, Arrison said in a news release on Monday. The challenge, which is held on lakes Hamilton and Catherine, will end at 5 p.m. June 30.

"We conferred with our fishing friends, and they told us that starting and ending the challenge a month earlier might result in more of the prize fish being caught," Arrison said. "And, since the whole purpose of the challenge is to showcase the great fishing in Hot Springs, we decided to give the earlier dates a try."

Arrison said last year that moving the start date of the three-month challenge up a month might allow anglers to cast their lines into calmer, less-populated waters.

During the course of the challenge, roughly 20 to 25 percent of the fish have been caught and prizes redeemed, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission told The Sentinel-Record last April. At the conclusion of last year's challenge, AGFC said only 15 percent of the fish released were caught.

The fish used in the challenge are tagged each year by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission at the Andrew H. Hulsey State Fish Hatchery on Lake Hamilton.

"The AGFC staff at the Andrew Hulsey Fish Hatchery on Lake Hamilton has been spectacular in selecting, tagging and releasing the prize fish," under the leadership of Jeff Newman, hatchery manager, Arrison said.

Each tag resembles a piece of brightly colored spaghetti and is imprinted with a prize number and a telephone number to call to claim the prize. Sixty-one fish, representing six different species, will be tagged and released this year in undisclosed locations on the two lakes in the days leading up to the challenge, Visit Hot Springs said.

In addition to the one fish dubbed "Big Al" that will be worth $15,000 if caught, four fish will be worth $5,000 each, 46 will be worth $1,000 each, and 10 will be worth $500 each, for a total of $86,000 in prize money.

Since the challenge began in 2012, no one has ever caught "Big Al." In last year's challenge, "Big Al," a channel catfish released into Lake Hamilton, was worth a prize of $10,000.

Clues will be given out during May and June about "Big Al" if he has not been caught by then, Visit Hot Springs said Monday.

"On May 1 we will reveal the first clue about Big Al if he remains at large," Arrison said. "Then we'll reveal a second clue on June 1, and a third on June 26" if the top prize hasn't been claimed.

"Hot Springs residents and visitors coming to Hot Springs from throughout the nation have told us this is their favorite time of year," Arrison said. "Many people have told us they had an exciting time on the lakes trying to land one of the prize fish, even if they haven't yet hit the cash jackpot."

Local on 01/24/2017

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