NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — Lynn Owens of Prairie Creek doesn’t mess around when it comes to setting the hook.
During a fishing trip with her dad when she was 12, Lynn got excited by each bite and yanked her line so hard she sent every single fi sh flying into the trees for her father to fetch.
Her account of that memorable day makes Lynn the winner of the 2012 fish story contest sponsored by the Outdoors section of this newspaper.
We’re tickled today to publish Lynn’s championship story and other fine entries from this year’s contest.
As the 2012 fi sh-story champion, Lynn receives the grand prize - a swell bag of fishing lures courtesy of Keith Brashers at War Eagle Custom Lures in Rogers and fi shing guide extraordinaire Jeff Fletcher of Eagle Rock, Mo.
When I headed over to Prairie Creek to deliver the prize to Lynn, she said she didn’t tell anyone she’d entered the contest until she won.
Lynn was surprised ourpanel of judges picked her story as the winner. The champ seemed pleased to get her Ziploc bag of lures almost guaranteed to catch the big ones at Beaver Lake.
It was tough duty for our trio of judges to pick the winner from so many gripping fi sh stories.
Darrell Bowman, Bella Vista lakes ecologist, Dixie Androes, a science professor at NorthWest Arkansas Community College, and my tomcat, Boat Dock, read every word as fi sh-story drama unfolded.
Here’s how the judging went down:
Judge Bowman was the first to weigh in with his winning pick. It was a family affair at the Bowman house with the whole gang reading the stories and making their picks. Afterspirited debate, Lynn’s story emerged as their choice.
Judge Dixie said being a fi sh-story magistrate proved harder than she expected.
That’s understandable in such a prestigious contest with a coveted grand prize.
Dixie chose the story by Chris Hofferber of Bella Vista as her pick. Chris wrote about a fi shing trip, or maybe it was a squirrel trip, at Lake Windsor.
So we had our two finalists in Chris and Lynn.
Had the judges picked the same story, it would be the automatic winner. That has never happened in all the years of fi sh-story contests.
It always comes down Judge Boat Dock donning his flowing black robe - all rise - to pick the winner.
I can hear you readers now. “How can a silly tomcat judge a fi sh-storycontest?” He does it like this:
While Boat Dock is outside, or in the throes of a 19-hour power nap, I take the two fi nalists’ stories and lay them side by side on the living room carpet. Then I open a bag of cat treats and put a couple of treats on each entry.
I shake the package of treats. That gets Boat Dock’s attention. In he prances with his orange tail held high.
Whichever story Boat Dock goes to for his treat is the winner.
This year we have photographic proof this scientific judging is the real deal. As you can see, Boat Dock stops first at Chris’ story and seems on the verge of picking it as the winner, but shows a moment of hesitation.
At the last nanosecond,Boat Dock sticks his nose over to Lynn’s story and chows down on his treat. We have our winner. It’s Lynn by a whisker.
Her story had tough competition. Madeline Queen, a former fi sh-story champion of Bella Vista, entered a story. So did last year’s winner, Paul Hale of Rogers. Both were valiant attempts to reclaim the championship.
All of us here at fi sh story central say a thousand thanks to all our scribes who entered the contest. Each story is a joy to read.
Time now to hit the water and gather the goods for next year’s contest. Good fish stories await.
FLIP PUTTHOFF IS OUTDOORS EDITOR FOR NWA MEDIA.
FOLLOW HIM ON TWITTER AT TWITTER.COM/NWAFLIP.
Outdoor, Pages 6 on 06/21/2012