Controversy Rocks Angler of the Year contest!

Claiming that he netted it, “so the fish by God was his,” Wayne Baranczyk has challenged Bill Prater’s claim to a 28-inch grass carp as the club’s first 2021 entry in the Angler of the Year contest. Wayne's protest has roiled the waters of a highly competitive but usually good natured annual contest.

Bill insists - and backs it up with photographs - that he hooked the gentle giant by its dorsal fin, and fought it to a standstill after a 45-minute battle that raged the length of the River’s Edge Bass Pond. But Wayne, with photos of his own, clearly landed the carp square in the middle of his float tube. “Besides," Wayne noted, "Bill snagged the damned thing.”  (See the earlier article, "Prater submits first Angler of the Year candidate")

Photo by Bill Prater

Jim Roode, contest manager, has taken the controversy under advisement. But he concedes that “contest rules don’t directly address the question of landing nets. Snagging, though, is permitted under club rules. But who would have thought, though, that two fishing buddies would threaten to foul hook one another over a darned fish?” Jim promises a resolution to the quarrel no later than Wednesday. Stay tuned.