By Scott Smith
The 2016 Eric Workman Memorial Muskie Tournament was a big success again this year. Each year it has steadily grown, and this year was no exception. For 2016, 185 registered for the tournament and 44 were in the youth division. It is awesome to see all these kids come to the banquet and out catching all those fish – getting hooked on fishing, and not on drugs! In the youth division, we had 29 kids register fish. There were eight different species of fish turned in from eight different bodies of water with farm ponds being number one by far. Most of us grew up catching our first fish out of farm ponds, and it is still a very enjoyable way to fish. In the 10 and under division, 8 year old Adam Howell won first place with a 33” Muskie caught out of the Monongahela River! We have had a youth now catch a Muskie every year! In the 11-15 division, 12 year old Evan Bass won first place with a 13” bass. Way to go young men! Here is a listing of the largest fish turned in by the youth: Largemouth bass – 19”, Muskie – 33”, Catfish – 24.5”, Trout – 15.5”, Bluegill – 10”, White bass – 10”, Small mouth bass – 13”, Buffalo drum – 25.5”
Unfortunately many of the kids’ catches were on the wrong forms so it wasn’t possible to do an overall total and spreadsheet of total fish caught. Next year, we will have separate sign in tables for the kids’ tourney and Muskie tourney. Great job to all the kids who fished!
In the Muskie tourney, many had to fight some torrential storms in parts of the state which also muddied up some rivers, but we ended up with 38 anglers registering 53 Muskies from 14 different bodies of water. Of those, 42 were legal fish with an average size of 38.4” again this year. Thirty eight inches has been average size since we started four years ago. We had 14 fish turned in 40” or bigger, with 47” being the largest. Forty-nine fish were caught casting,4 by trolling.
Zach Adkins took first place with fish of 42”, 40”, and 32” from the Tygart River. Brandon Lilly took second place with fish of 42 3/4”, 39” and 31” from the New River. Joseph Keiffer took third with fish of 39.5”, 38” and 34.5” out of the Gauley River. This is the first year that nobody won or placed with fish coming out of one of the lakes. Scott Smith won big fish with a 46” out of Stonewall. However, Sam Caldwell caught a 47” from Burnsville Lake, but he forgot to take a picture according to the tournament code and his fish was disqualified. He did have time stamped video of fish on the bump board and he had witnesses – other guys fishing the tournament saw him catch it. In showing what good sportsmanship is all about – as badly as I wanted to win big fish, I knew in my heart I didn’t actually catch the biggest fish and had no doubts Sam did, so I gave Sam the biggest fish plaque. It was Sam Caldwell’s new personal best. Several other personal bests were also caught . There were lots of stories about big fish being seen and hooked, they were snorting around for sure.
We had over 275 people at the banquet. It was very emotional and inspiring as always. Bob Fala, the head of our state DNR, showed up with Jeff Hansbarger and presented the family with a letter of appreciation for all the good the Foundation is doing from both Bob and Governor Tomblin! This goes right back to each and every one of you supporting the tournament and the Foundation! We will post finals on monies raised soon, after the last shirt order goes in, but probably at least $6000 was made this year. WCHS TV out of Charleston also covered the tournament this year both before and during – hope you got to see yourself on the news. Want to especially thank all the volunteers who work so hard to prepare the food, man the tables, set up and tear down and the list goes on and on. The tournament could not run without you. The Foundation board will be working all year distributing the money to the causes we always support – keep watching the page for those updates. And as always, the 5th annual tournament will be the first Saturday in June 2017 so mark that on your calendar now and don’t miss it! Going to do some big things next year for the 5 year anniversary for sure. Thanks again for the support, I know Eric would be proud. As the code said this year – Gift Give back. We are all doing that in his honor. Fish on brother…
