Master angler award

[STEINFISHSKI]

Anybody know how to apply. My fish is now frozen can I still get a certified weight and entry? Will it have lost some weight from it's live weight?

[Shoeman]

Stein, there's no doubt, it lost weight.
Most Tackle Shops have a certified scale and I'm sure they are willing to witness and fill out the paperwork for you.

[Gone Fishing]

SKI, You can get the master angler form from the DNR website. http://www.dnr.state.mi.us/SubPage.asp?sec=fish
Also, I have had a taxidermist verify the fish for an award before. Might be worth asking the question.

[STEINFISHSKI]

Nope I made the 31" length for catch and release, but she only weighs 10 6 now frozen and minimum is 11 lb catch and keep.:( Guess I should have taken it right in. Well live and learn, still a trophy for me though.:) Thanks for the help.

[mich buckmaster]

I have never taken a fish in to get one of these awards. What do they look like. I would have been able to get a lot of them over the years. I just wonder what all the whooplah is about them?

[islaysteelies]

Just braggin' rights...

[mich buckmaster]

Is getting a Master Angler Award like killing a CBM buck? I am just wondering how they classify them. I havent really paid much attention to them. I am just curious.

[STEINFISHSKI]

Check the Master Angler Awards at the DNR website. You can search by year and species in Catch and Release and Catch and Keep catagories. They do have minimum requirements Biggest fish puts you on the top of the yearly list and you get a "handsome" patch which is more what I was interested in. That would look cool in a frame with a picture near the finished mount.

[Shoeman]

Stein, I guess we both learned the hard way.

We caught several in the category, just to find out they lost a pound or two by the time we got them to a certified scale.

I remember my dad catching a 28.5lb king and by the time we got it in a few hours later, it was just 2 oz. shy of 27.

A trick you may use, is to fill your cooler with water immediately.
This will reduce the evaporation that takes place.

If it's really close, throw it back and get the C&R patch

[STEINFISHSKI]

Nope. It was the first, biggest, and most perfect fish we caught. Some of the other biggies had warts and nowhere near the beautiful gold color of this fish. I hope the taxidermist can come close on the coloring. Got another better pic of her I try and post tomorrow. I'm going to give that one to the tax man to try and get those colors close.

[Homer]

Any qualifying Master Angler fish gets you the nice patch. If you catch one of the biggest (3 or 5?) fish of a given species for the entire year, you also get a nice award certificate. Not sure if you get anything extra for the #1 fish of the entire year (but wouldn't mind finding out:) )

[YPSIFLY]

I think the largest fish per species gets a plaque or some sort of framed certificate.

I'm going for the C+R carp patch. Gotta be 30in or more. No problem, only I'm going to get mine on a fly rod.

[Basscat]

Make sure you take a picture of the fish also. I caught what would have been a master angler award fish, but I did not get a picture of the fish taken. So, the entry was not allowed even though I had it weighed on a certified scale and I had also shown the fish to 2 DNR officer's who checked my license that day. The fish was a carp and it weighed 41 lbs and was 38". I was fishing with a 5" Kalin's grub for smallmouth bass on the St. Joe River in Benton Harbor when the fish hit. Yes, the carp had my bait inside of its mouth. When I got the fish up by the boat my friend and I realized that we did not have a big enough net. There was a small salmon fishing boat going by and I started yelling for them to come over. My friend started telling me to be quiet because he did not want anyone to see us with the carp. I didn't care, I wanted a master angler award. Finally the other boat came over and netted the fish for me. The fish was to big to put in the livewell so I attached it to a rope and headed for the boat launch. We loaded the boat and headed for the nearest bait and tackle. I got the counter person to come outside and weigh my fish headed back inside so I grabbed the fish and ran accross the street to let it go. When I got back to the store the counter person was standing there with a camera:( :( :( I ran back accross the street to see if the fish was still around, but it was long gone. I filled out the paper work and sent it in anyways. I received a rejection letter saying that I needed to have a picture with it. Oh well. BTW the record for a carp caught on hook and line is 46 lb's.

Basscat

[STEINFISHSKI]

I caught and released a 30.5" and a 29.5" which would both qualify for catch and release with photo. I did not even think about til last night when it hit me. I completed the entry and will mail it with photo today.:)

[MuskyDan]

Two years ago I caught what was the longest northern muskellunge in the state that year that was turned in for the award. I recieved a patch, and an award suitable for framing that said, "Congratulations Danny Periard for catch and releasing the largest northern muskellunge in 2000."
MuskyDan

[robin]

I caught master angler channel cats two separate times while trolling for walleye on the bay. I took a picture each time and received the patch and certificate in the mail. I also received a Marbles fishing award application and sent it in also. The patch isn't as impressive, but it's nice to have. I was given the opportunity to go to Trost's fishing award banquet, but decided against it when I found out that it would cost me something like 35$ a person (it could have been slightly less/ happened a few years ago). I still hold on to the hope of catching a MA walleye in the spring or a salmon in the summer, I have not even come close. My suggestion- always have a camera and a tape on hand. You never know what will pick up your bait.

[knockoff64]

In 1999 I landed a 13lb Coho off Manistee. As I brought it to the scale at Insta-Launch, thinking I was hot stuff, I was greeted by a crowd surrounding a 30.1lb Coho. The fish was caught at 8:00am but was not weighed until 9:00pm, I'm sure it would have been the new state record!

I almost didn't enter my fish. When I received my patch and the list, my fish was something like 267th largest Coho. I put the list and patch away, the next year my wife bought me an awesome set of Gortex rain gear and had the patch sewn on for me.