Excerpt from today’s Times.
Headline of the Year Award: To the Denver Post. Over
a story about a dispute between anglers who float in boats and those who fish
from shore, this headline appeared: "Row vs. Wade."
Catch of the Day Award: To
Norwegian angler Kjell Wilhelmsen,
who hooked a fellow fisherman and saved him from drowning. While fishing in
July, Dane Ovesen fell from the riverbank into Norway's Gaula River, known for
its salmon. Wilhelmsen tried grabbing him from the
bank but couldn't get close enough. So he used his rod and hooked Ovesen on his first cast and reeled him to shore.
Bait of the Year Award: To Charles
Ashley Jr. of Marion, Ark. He reeled
in a 116-pound, 12-ounce, world-record blue catfish
from the Mississippi River in Arkansas on Aug. 3.
As bait, he used an old favorite: Spam. Just goes to show, catfish will eat
anything.
Reeling in the New Year Award: To the
town of Prairie Du
Chien, Wis. It plans on
ticking down the final seconds of 2001 a la New York's Times
Square ball. But instead of a dropping
ball, the town intends to use a dropping carp.
Fish Swatter Award: To the
boaters on Kaskaskia River in Illinois, who are
forced to keep an eye out for flying carp. Seems these silver carp, which grow as big as 40 pounds, jump as
high as 5 feet out of the water, creating quite a hazard. Boaters have
gotten injured by getting hit by a jumping carp while speeding along the river.
"It was pretty cool until people started getting eight or 10 in their boat,"
Ervin Smith told the Belleville News-Democrat.
Street Salmon Award: To the chum
salmon of Skokomish Valley
Road. When the Skokomish River swelled
from runoff in mid-November, a number of chum salmon found themselves swimming
on Skokomish Valley
Road. The salmon seemed to wait for the
wake from passing vehicles to dash across the road and get back into the river
to continue their call to spawn. So that's why the salmon crossed the road.
— Dave Streget,
The Orange County Register
