2012 Master Anglers!

Download Master Angler 2012 list here: Master Angler 2012

Outstanding smallmouth bass fisheries dominated the program with 88 lunkers. Largemouth bass followed (68), with pike (61), muskie (41), and rainbow/steelhead (36), and walleye (33) next. Muskie entries have never before topped those for walleyes.

To find hot lakes and prime times to fish them, peruse these records. For example, Bob Daly of Indiana has consistently picked a prime time to target coho salmon in Alaska, bagging the two biggest this year as well as the largest one in 2011, all from the Cinder River.

Anglers landed three pike of 50 inches or more, fish of a lifetime: one from Alaska, one from famous Reindeer Lake and one from Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area. And speaking of massive toothies, consider Ryan Marjama's 58½-inch muskie from Leech Lake, Minnesota, caught on a sucker rig! For the scoop on this deadly presentation, check the new In-Fisherman Pike & Muskie Guide on news stands or available on our website. On a smaller scale, give props for Arthur Huttemeyer Sr.'s 31-inch pickerel from Lake Hopatcong in New Jersey. They don't get much bigger than that.

Some notable cats were entered, led by Kyle Simmons' 56½-inch monster from the Missouri River. In West Virginia, Mark Foster set a new state record for blues with a 43.9-incher that weighed 44½ pounds. Amazingly, he also set the state record for longnose gar on the same day. A 52-inch flathead also was caught in Tappan Lake, Ohio, and Brandy Tiller landed a 77-pounder at Clinton Lake, Missouri. Also noteworthy are big cat catches on cut Asian carp, both silver and bighead.

Catch a lunker, check size requirements for that species, and fill out the application found in In-Fisherman or at in-fisherman.com.