Annual DNR Big Fish winners include Coatesville man

As stories go, the DNR's Fish of the Year contest is always a long one.

Not in words, but in inches. That's because annual winners are selected on the length of fish they catch and submit to the Indiana DNR Division of Fish and Wildlife.

It was no different in 2014, when 78 entries resulted in 33 winners for 31 species. There were ties in two categories -- bluegill and crappie.

Brian Waldman shows off a bass he caught.

Veteran angler Brian Waldman of Coatesville was one of two multiple winners for 2014.

Waldman caught the longest hybrid striped bass of 29 inches on June 26 at Heritage Lake in Putnam County, and less than a month later (July 20), hauled in the winning buffalo fish (30.5 inches) at Cagles Mill Reservoir in Owen and Putnam counties.

Luke Kosnik (brown trout and walleye) was the state's only other multiple winner.

Winning entry lengths ranged from an 8.5-inch green sunfish caught by Gregory Zentz at Pit 26 in Greene-Sullivan State Forest on May 9 to the 52.5-inch flathead catfish that Eric Spicer muscled out of the White River in Jackson County on April 27.

And there were repeat winners, like Robert Ecenbarger of Fort Wayne, who turned in the top cisco catch for the fourth straight year.

Why cisco? It's a cold water species in the salmon family whose dwindling numbers can be found in a few glacial lakes of northern Indiana like Little Crooked Lake in Whitley County, where Ecenbarger has made a habit of catching them.

"A long, long time ago, I fished there with an uncle," he said. "It was the late '70s, early '80s, and it was really, really popular. There would be 40, 50 boats fishing for them. All of a sudden it just disappeared. All of a sudden, they just came back."

Ecenbarger's first venture into the Fish of the Year Contest wasn't with cisco. In 2002, he turned in the top northern pike.

"I was at a Dunkin' Donuts and someone told me I'd beat out his buddy's catch," he said. "The guy was telling me about winning the cisco category two years before at Lake Gage. So, I did it for fun to see if I'd win because I knew he'd be paying attention."

Attention is something Ecenbarger believes the Fish of the Year Program does for Indiana fishing.

"It shows people what we've got here," he said. "If you fish as hard here as you do in Canada or Wisconsin, you might catch something as good or better here."

Lake Michigan was once again the biggest producer of winners with four -- Kosnik's two catches, plus a 40-inch king salmon (Bret Rocchietti) and a 20-inch smallmouth bass (Alex Neel).

Toss in Tristan Weaver's 36.3-inch steelhead trout and Jeff Armstrong's 20-inch common carp from Lake Michigan tributaries (Trail Creek and Kankakee River, respectively), and Indiana's Great Lake was the place to be in 2014.

Weaver and Armstrong won the same categories in 2013.

Another consistent winner is David Ben Mullen, who lives in Central (Harrison County). He claimed honors in 2014 for the longest blue catfish at 50 inches. It's the fourth time in the past five years that he has won.

The earliest winning entry was caught Jan. 2 -- Kosnik's walleye out of Lake Michigan. The latest winning entry was Ecenbarger's cisco, caught on Nov. 28.

April proved to be the most productive month with seven winners, followed by August with six and June and July with five apiece. February and December were the only months with no winners.

Seven winners were caught on jigs and four on nightcrawlers.

So, if you analyze all of that information, an argument could be made that if you fish Lake Michigan in April using a jig, you might just land a winning entry in the 2015 Fish of the Year Contest. And if you do, go to www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/3577.htm and find the link to the entry form.

Measure the length of the fish. Have at least one person who is not a relative witness the measurement, sign the entry form, and include his/her contact information.

Mail the completed entry form, photos and a copy of your fishing license (if required) to Record Fish Program, Division of Fish & Wildlife, 402 W. Washington St., Room W273, Indianapolis, IN 46204, or submit by email to recordfish@dnr.IN.gov.