by JD on January 23, 2012
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:
[click to continue…]by JD on September 6, 2011
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 
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!
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!
by JD on September 27, 2010
The Master shows you how!!
With fall salmon runs in full swing in the West and out in the Great Lakes, you guys have no excuse for not sending in some fresh new Smoker of the Year pictures! If you’re unfamiliar with the contest, the basic gist is this: When you catch a fish that’s…well, let’s just say…a little past its prime, be sure to snap a quick photo or two (if you don’t mind touching it!) and email them to us.
At the end of the year, we’ll let the general public vote for their favorite and the winner gets a prize. For more details, click
HERE and for inspiration, take a look at
previous entries.
Now, to help ya take a prize-winning shot this year, we’ve enlisted the help of Harrison Ibach (pictured above), the world’s greatest Smoker Hunter and the sole member of the Smoker Hall of Fame. Ibach’s work in this field was light years ahead of the competition and it looked for a time that he’d never be beaten, but he inexplicably retired right at the apex of his career and has not been seen in person since. It took some doing, but we finally coaxed the hermit to speak with us through an interpreter (he hasn’t spoken English in over 3 years!) via ham radio from a remote island in the Azores archipelago where he is currently plotting a comeback. He wouldn’t give any verbal clues to his success but instead sent us this diagram via passenger pigeon. It’s pretty self explanatory and you’d do well to heed his advice. Also, pray he doesn’t get back into the game because it’s over if he does!
Our latest 2010 Smoker of the Year Contest entry comes to us via time machine. Normally, we like to keep things a little more current, but when you get your mitts on a photo of Big Fred Contaoi from the fourth grade, you just gotta run with it!
Here’s the Big Fella early in his career or raping and pillaging the Eel River drainage, with a black beauty. I’m sure the folks were stoked we he dragged that one home! Of course, those of us with similarly dark pasts, should cast no stones. Just take a look at some of my own hall of fame smokers HERE. You won’t be disappointed!
