3rd annual Mixed Bag Contest final results

Channel catfish caught by Jim Johnson

At our recent Christmas banquet, Tournament Committee Chair Bill Morrison gave a recap of this past year's Mixed Bag Contest. The MBC is a CPRO (catch-photo-release optional) tournament where size doesn't matter, but diversity does. Basically, most species caught within a defined geographical area wins.

Year 2020 saw a record total of 126 fish entered, despite restrictions on travel and several favorite spots severely impacted due to  hurricanes. Of those, the top three species entered was bluegill (17), followed by rainbow trout (12), and longear sunfish (9). The most unusual entries were Goldeneye Shad, Skipjack Shad, Striped Mullet, and Northern Hogsucker. Altogether, 33 different species were entered into the contest!

Entries came from four states - Louisiana (85), Arkansas (39), coastal Alabama (1), and Oklahoma (1).  None came from Texas or Mississippi.  The most entries from one body of water was the Little Missouri River in southwest Arkansas (28). While most of those were rainbow trout, they also included brown trout, smallmouth, largemouth, and several other species.  Runnerup location was Little River near Fishville/Jena, with 16 entries.

Top flies were poppers (10 entries), Clouser Minnows (9), Sqwirmies (8), Fluff Butts (8), Lunch Money (5) and Mardi Craw (5).

Six places were awarded. Here are those winners and number of species they entered:

• 1st - Bill Morrison (18)
• 2nd - Carlton Townsend (15)
• 3rd - Glen Cormier (12)
• 4th - Joel Dinnat (11)
• 5th - Jim Johnson (11)
• 6th - Robert Hughes (11)

* 4th, 5th, and 6th places were determined based on the tiebreaker rule of first entered

As is tradition, each participant who entered a fish and did NOT get awarded was entered into the Consolation Drawing. Each received one ticket based on the number of fish entered, e.g., Terry Stafford had 6 entries so 6 tickets were placed in his name.  This year's Consolation Winner was Hunter Lonsberry, who had 4 entries in the Mixed Bag.  Hunter wins a new Cheeky Tyro fly reel.

The club wishes to thank everyone who participated, and to the members of the Tournament Committee - Bill Morrison, Jim Johnson and Glen Cormier - for another successful contest.  The Committee will hold a Zoom meeting over the holidays to finalize details for the 2021 Mixed Bag set to start on January 1st.  If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, please do submit them to one or all members before the new year.