Yep, this one should smoke up nice!
The polls are now closed and, it’s time to crown our new Smoker of the Year Champion! Shawn Schmidtke earned this year’s Harrison Ibach Smokie Trophy with this black beast that took a glob of Oregon guide David Johnson’s special “wake the dead” cured eggs.
At the crowning celebration, held in banquet room of the Rufus, OR McDonalds, Schmidtke was speechless as his boyhood idol and, up to this point, the only member of the Smoker Hall of Fame, Harrison Ibach, made a rare public appearance.
“The kid’s got a lot of potential,” was all Ibach said before he was quickly whisked away by his handlers, out the back door and then into a waiting limo.
The newly-crowned Smoker Champ dominated this year’s competition, earning 37% of the vote. Darkies from the Klamath (20.7%) and the Cowlitz (18.1%) fished well back in second and third place and our very own Big Fred Contaoi finished fourth.
In addition to the glory and endorsement deals that come with being Smoker of the Year, Schmidtke will also be treated to a guided “Crap Slam” trip in which the junkfish trifetca: carp, sucker and squawfish will be targeted!
Here are the final results…As you can see from the map, Schmidtke carried the west coast, and also got votes from as far away as Alaska and the UK!
Spawned out Chinook the other white meat
I just want to thank all those that supported my efforts in winning the Smoker of the Year title. A special thanks to David Johnson of David Johnson Guide Service for the special eggs that were inhaled by the beast. The beast put up a fight like no other and only succombed to an open net after several fins fell off during the fight. The meat fell from skin in such a way that I unfortunately wasn’t able to smoke it properly, yet made a delicious patte. :)
Well, done! Let me know when you want to collect on your guided carp excursion! :)
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by David Johnson. David Johnson said: RT @fishwithjd: Ladies and gents, allow me to present the 2010 Smoker of the Year!! http://fb.me/Iiegm415 [...]
Shawn was so proud of his trophy I felt so bad when I made him release it
A well deserved victory and shawn looks so proud wearing his new crown!!!!
Excellent! Hope you washed yer hands….
I was guiding a group on the Smith river and we had some friends in another guides boat and they where all watering the trees(PEEING) with there backs to us and we put a spawn out, tail missing, STINKEN ,DEAD , I MEAN DEAAD salmon in there fish box and WOW was that funny, they got back in the boat and they said wow there is a dead salmon around here somewhere they where looking along the river bank they finally found it when they hooked a steelhead and went to put it in the fish box the guide PUKED funny stuff!!!!!
Yar, congrats on winning the coveted Fungus-Fish Trophy, Shawn! How did that buck smoke up?