Category Archives: Smoker of the Year Contest

Your 2011 Smoker of the Year Champion!

Posted on January 23, 2012 • 3 Comments

Ron's Stinky Pinkie takes top honors for 2011!

Well, the public has voted and Ron Milam’s stinky pinkie won this year’s Smoker of the Year Contest by a landslide!

As the “lucky” angler who bested this year’s nastiest fish, Ron has of course won the Harrison Ibach perpetual crown, along with a lifetime supply of Cooter’s Chawspit Doughbait for carp, a subscription to Squawfish Enthusiast Magazine and a free guided sucker fishing trip. Way to go, Ron!

For those of you who missed it, here’s the story behind Ron’s trophy catch: … Continue Reading

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Vote for the 2011 Smoker of the Year!!

Posted on January 10, 2012 • 6 Comments


Like the drawn-out college bowl season, we’ve got one more championship to be decided before we close the book on 2011. I am, of course, referring to the Smoker of the Year Contest, in which we crown the angler who caught the ugliest, darkest…I’d never touch that thing with my bare hands…fish of the season. It’s gonna be tough to top the 2010 Smoker Champ, which was about as disgusting as you could imagine, but we’ll see how they do. So, without further adieu, here are your finalists: Who gets the coveted Harrison Ibach Smoker of the Year Trophy for 2011??

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Ron’s Stinky Pinkie (2011 Smoker of the Year Contest entry)

Posted on September 6, 2011 • 13 Comments

Look ma, no gloves!!


Not two minutes before this “slightly past its prime” pink salmon inexplicably ate Ron Milam’s lure, he had suggested a change to the Smoker of the Year Contest rules.

“I think that anyone who enters has to hold their fish up…with bare hands,” he said.

Then this stinky ol’ pink comes along and I suddenly make an executive decision that yes, the rule change has been officially adopted. Time to pick that thing up, Big Boy!

To his credit, Ron bravely adhered to the bare hands regulation, now know as “Ron’s Rule,” and went skin-to-sores with this tired fish. He gets high marks for the ratty fins, “money shot,” and the fact that he didn’t even ask for some hand sanitizer after releasing the living carcass!

If you’ve got a Smoker to enter, click HERE

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Starting ‘em out early (2011 Smoker of the Year Contest entry)

Posted on April 16, 2011 • 1 Comment

Could young Max someday give Hall of Famer Harrison Ibach a run for his money? Time will tell...


We may just have a young prodigy here — Max Wagner sent in this photo of 9-year-old Max Jr. with a well past its prime coho from Washington State’s Yakima River to be entered into the Smoker of the Year Contest I was unaware that coho even make it back to the Yakima anymore…or perhaps it was just a typo and it was supposed to read “Yuckama,” which would make more sense…

Well, anyway, the aspiring youngster gets many style points for holding it away from his face as far as possible — and the look on his face is classic…it’s almost as if he’s saying “Dad, snap the pic before I puke!” Well done, young man! You have a bright…er…”dark” future ahead of ya!

If you think you’ve got a fish dark, rotting and skanky enough, send us an email and we’ll tell ya how to enter it!

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Don’t give me no lip! (2011 Smoker of the Year Contest entry)

Posted on April 7, 2011 • 6 Comments

Man, that's a huge trout...but about that growth on its lower lip....?!?!?!?


Okay, so here’s the deal…there’s absolutely no denying that the rainbow trout that Randall Von Chongenmeister III is holding up is a huge. And the fact that he caught it out of tiny Cedar Hall Creek in hills of New Mexico…with a super micro mini rod is quite impressive indeed…

In fact, this fish has many attributes that make it a serious Hawg of the Month contender…but I just can’t get past that disgusting black growth on its bottom lip! I’m sorry, but I just want to take a hacksaw and lop that thing right off. Anyway, sad to say but the tumor is a deal breaker for me…the good news, however, is this fish makes for an excellent first entry into the 2011 Smoker of the Year Contest! If you think you’ve got a fish dark, rotting and skanky enough, send us an email and we’ll tell ya how to enter it!

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And the “Smokie” goes to…

Posted on January 8, 2011 • 9 Comments

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. … Continue Reading

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Vote for the 2010 Smoker of the Year!

Posted on December 30, 2010 • 3 Comments

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Eggs so good they can wake the dead (2010 Smoker of the Year Contest entry)

Posted on December 28, 2010 • 4 Comments

Shawn Schmidtke with one of the greatest smokers of all time!

Everybody knows that one of the key ingredients of being a successful king salmon angler is having great eggs. Apparently, noted Oregon guide David Johnson has a really, really good cure! Here’s a recent photo of his client Shawn Schmidtke with a very-near dead king caught while back-bouncing eggs.

“I think maybe my eggs can resurrect the dead they are so good…” says Johnson. … Continue Reading

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