Skillful Angler Winners

[Wilson]

The winners of the 2015 Skillful Angler Recognition Program have been announced!

The program recognizes anglers' talents (and luck) at catching remarkable fish in the state, and there were exciting changes to the program in 2015. There is something for everyone from the newest angler-young or old-to seasoned anglers with decades of experience.

The view the list of winners and more information visit http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/skwinn15.htm on the NJDEP Division of Fish and Wildlife website.

[NJSquatch]

Chrisper taking care of business!

[Jigman13]

Rocco, Mikey, Rob and rob's girl with solid catches too! Congrats guys and gal! Good stuff!

I don't think chrisper fishes enough lol...

[jimmythegreek]

you forgot to notice mikeys walleye at the bottom on the big D!!

[Mikey topaz]

Aghhhhh hahahaha yayyyyyy!!!!!

[Chrisper4694]

Rocco, Rob and rob's girl with solid catches too! Congrats guys and gal! Good stuff!

I don't think chrisper fishes enough lol...

I'll forward this to my wife! I don't think I fish enough either!

2016 lets do it again ladies!

[Jigman13]

Oh sh*t! Sorry bud... guess I gotta read mo betta!

All this time I thought his last name was Topaz ;););)

[liveitup1.75liter]

Congrats gentz!!!! Epecially chrispher.. u dominated dude!!

[JDTuna]

Congratulations to everyone, awesome work all around. Chrisper putting up numbers in both fresh and salt, congrats dude!

[Captiva]

Congrats to everyone. This is a great program. I participated in a similar program in NY, but not as good as NJ. I hope to get a master angler award from the kayak someday.

[dakota560]

Have to laugh at the channel catfish winner through the ice on the Delaware. My guess is this was one of the thousands of channels snagged through the ice this past winter using Rapala jigs to the extent as recently posted here NJ was prompted to change their daily retention limits for channels this year as the number of fish snagged through the ice was unprecedented. It's legal but should have an asterisk next to the winner since I'm not sure snagging any fish does justice to the term "Skillful Angler". If the fish was actually hooked in the mouth, my apologies to the angler. If you look up any video on you tube of that fishery last year you'll see EVERY fish is snagged. To all other winners, congratulations on your accomplishments. Some nice fish landed skillfully!

[JackStraw]

stop laughing....he is an ethical fisherman.

[Skunk City]

Have to laugh at the channel catfish winner through the ice on the Delaware. My guess is this was one of the thousands of channels snagged through the ice this past winter using Rapala jigs to the extent as recently posted here NJ was prompted to change their daily retention limits for channels this year as the number of fish snagged through the ice was unprecedented. It's legal but should have an asterisk next to the winner since I'm not sure snagging any fish does justice to the term "Skillful Angler". If the fish was actually hooked in the mouth, my apologies to the angler. If you look up any video on you tube of that fishery last year you'll see EVERY fish is snagged. To all other winners, congratulations on your accomplishments. Some nice fish landed skillfully!

That was me with the Channel Catfish and it was legit. It was before "that spot" got blown up and honestly, before any of us knew about snagging them. I had 2 Walleyes and that monster cat that day, Eddie was with me and wacked a few too. The cats, believe it or not, were hitting raps early on. The Snaggers didn't move in til a few weeks later, then it was the raps hitting the cats :mad:.

[Chrisper4694]

Have to laugh at the channel catfish winner through the ice on the Delaware. My guess is this was one of the thousands of channels snagged through the ice this past winter using Rapala jigs to the extent as recently posted here NJ was prompted to change their daily retention limits for channels this year as the number of fish snagged through the ice was unprecedented. It's legal but should have an asterisk next to the winner since I'm not sure snagging any fish does justice to the term "Skillful Angler". If the fish was actually hooked in the mouth, my apologies to the angler. If you look up any video on you tube of that fishery last year you'll see EVERY fish is snagged. To all other winners, congratulations on your accomplishments. Some nice fish landed skillfully!

I would've thought the same thing if i didn't know skunks name, but yeah thankfully, in this instance, the cat was caught by a legit angler.

the guys snagging and filling buckets would not care enough to submit anything to anyone. they don't care about promoting nj fisheries or the stocking programs or giving information back to the angling community or the division of fish and wildlife.

take take take and F anyone else.

congrats rob, it was a sick catch.

[dakota560]

That was me with the Channel Catfish and it was legit. It was before "that spot" got blown up and honestly, before any of us knew about snagging them. I had 2 Walleyes and that monster cat that day, Eddie was with me and wacked a few too. The cats, believe it or not, were hitting raps early on. The Snaggers didn't move in til a few weeks later, then it was the raps hitting the cats :mad:.

Rob my apologies for the bad assumption which is why I added in my post "If the fish was actually hooked in the mouth, my apologies to the angler." Congrats on your catch. The amount of channels removed from that system ass backwards was a disgrace but unfortunately legal based on '15 regulations. People who obviously don't give a shit about that fishery or any other. Couldn't be happier NJ changed their regulations although Pa is still at 50 fish a day from what I understand which is absurd. I know the hard water guys are going through withdrawal with the mild winter but I'm glad the Delaware for the most part is lacking safe ice so the channel population doesn't get pounded for three consecutive years.

[Delawareriver]

Don't worry dakota I assumed it as well and had the same thoughts. Glad it was legit. Congrats skunk that's an impressive cat. I've hit 3 so far on the ice on my hole this year two on tip ups one while jigging a spoon and shinner head. Biggest so far was 25"

[Esox Luciano]

Great job all around lady & gents. Big up to Cris... You killed it bro!!

[Mikey topaz]

Yes sir i can back skunks fish up as well, we whacked some good fish there and were catching those channel cats on tip ups along with some other good fish before evreyone got there! Congrats robert!

[ScowardNJ]

I was there with Skunk and the rest of the crew the day we saw dudes snaggin cats for the first time. Rob's kitty was caught days, maybe even weeks before that day. Like Sunk said, we fished that area a few times before we ever knew about or saw the snaggers.

Congrats to all the NJF's on the list!

[Chrisper4694]

Just realized, I'm pretty sure that's catfishonthelake with the kid and the giant musky caught on a live trout. That thing is huge!

[catfishonthelake]

Just realized, I'm pretty sure that's catfishonthelake with the kid and the giant musky caught on a live trout. That thing is huge!

It is, thanks man. Shawn contacted me through the magazine and said his son Ryley wanted to catch a world record fish. There is a vacancy for the small-fry record for tiger musky, so I offered to take them fishing. They drove up from MD and we just needed to catch ANY tiger and it would have been a world record for the kid. Instead we caught a huge true strain, which actually would have topped the small fry record for trues, but since I handed the rod off and Ryley needed some help it would have been disqualified. It was the first time I ever tried live bait for muskies and I do not advocate it AT ALL. This one was about giving the kid the best shot at fulfilling his dream. Although we didn't hit that goal, it was obviously a memorable day nonetheless. Shawn and Ryley were great about not wanting to put it in the sling to weigh so I could get it back as quick as possible. She swam off strong.

BTW, the state page is incorrect. The fish was credited to Ryley. He's 9 years old.

[NJ219bands]

My 4 applications were all rejected in 2015 because the pics were not clear enough from my 2.0 megapixel cell phone camera. I got a better camera now, but I can't take a selfie of me with a big fish. Maybe this year I'll look for a certified scale and practice catch and kill instead of catch release and getting my applications rejected.

[Eskimo]

My 4 applications were all rejected in 2015 because the pics were not clear enough from my 2.0 megapixel cell phone camera. I got a better camera now, but I can't take a selfie of me with a big fish. Maybe this year I'll look for a certified scale and practice catch and kill instead of catch release and getting my applications rejected.

Practice using the 10-second timer on your camera phone. It's the best way to take selfies with a fish.

It's funny that I caught-and-released my biggest bluegill from the same little pond that the Skillful Angler Award for Bluegill came from. Either that little pond grows monster bluegills or somebody else caught the same sunfish after I released it.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn38/Full_Stringer/Bluegill_zps21b79233.jpeg



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