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A day on the water
By Juli Probasco-Sowers
Iowa Anglers of all ages have new challenges to undertake with the introduction of the Master Angler and First Fish awards.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ new programs replace the Big Fish awards program, and add a new certificate to mark a youngster’s first catch.
The Master Angler and First Fish awards originated with Chris Larson, the DNR’s southwest regional fisheries supervisor. “We had the Big Fish award for 20-some years and part of the award was a patch,” he said. “People used to like to have patches to sew on their jackets, but now patches aren’t such a big deal. We started looking for other ways to mark special catches.”
Larson looked into what other states do and saw that they were going more with the master angler-type program. “We decided to go that direction because Master Angler brings with it a greater sense of accomplishment,” he said. “People like to be recognized.”
The Master Angler award includes a certificate marking the catch and a window decal that notes the achievement and can be placed on a vehicle window or the window of a home.
Anglers can fish for more than 40 fish species as part of the program. The determination on whether a catch qualifies is based on length. An angler needs to measure the fish and have one witness.
Larson said to give anglers even more of a challenge, they also have reward levels called the Silver Master Angler and Gold Master Angler. To become a Silver Master Angler, a person must catch five different species of Master Angler-qualifying fish. For the Gold title, that number goes up to 10. Silver and gold medallions are awarded for the designations, along with window decals and certificates.
Criteria for meeting Master Angler levels are cited on the DNR Web site at http://www.iowadnr.gov/fish/files/ma_form.pdf. Basically a qualified species must meet the length requirement; the angler must have a fishing license; and a witness is needed.
The criteria are much easier for the First Fish award. All a person needs to do is take a picture when a child catches his or her first fish. Then fill out the form available on the DNR Web site at http://www.iowadnr.gov/fish/files/form_firstfish.pdf, and send in a photo. A certificate which includes the photo will be issued for the child.
Both programs have already garnered a lot of interest since implemented in January. As of mid-May, the DNR had registered 64 Master Angler awards and 23 First Fish awards.
Elaine Marsh, 72, of Jefferson couldn’t be more thrilled about the Master Angler certificate she received for her April 10 largemouth bass catch. Her son, Mike Marsh of Coon Rapids sent in the entry without her even knowing. The fish qualified because it was 24.5 inches long.
“I love to fish,” she said. “I was fishing in a farm pond near Coon Rapids with a worm when I caught the largemouth bass. I had the worm on the bottom of the pond, kind of fishing for blue gill, but was kind of jigging it too, just in case something else would bite.”
Elaine said she and husband Duane
Marsh, 74, fish all the time.
Three-year-old Hunter Quist of rural Lewis is the proud recipient, not only of a First Fish Award, but also of a Master Angler Award.
According to father, Kyle, Hunter was fishing on April 1 in a Montgomery County farm pond with a child’s fishing pole when he caught a 24 ¼-inch largemouth bass that weighed in at 7 ½ pounds.
“It was his first fishing trip and I had just stopped at Walmart and bought the fishing pole, and brought along a brown plastic worm. He was just fishing for anything he could catch,” Kyle said.
Hunter started reeling in the line and as the fish got closer to shore, it started to thrash. Luckily, the fish swam into the shoreline and Kyle was able to retrieve the fish before it broke the fishing line.
Kyle said he didn’t know anything about the awards until he talked to a DNR officer. “The Master Angler Award doesn’t seem like a big deal to Hunter, but the Big Fish Award is a nice keepsake. Now that I know about the Master Angler Award I’ll register to see if I qualify on future fish.”
Larson said that at some point in the next two months, the DNR will add a Web page that contains the photos of all the award winners. Cars pole, brown rubber worm on a bobber.
This is about exactly where he caught the fish.
Contact Juli at: juliprobasco@yahoo.com