Angler of the Year 2022 (AOTY)

A reminder to please take good pictures to make sure you get all the points you earned and the fastest possible turn-around time on your entries.

We really want to award as many points as possible and fair, so please make our job as easy on us as possible. We haven't yet required specific measuring devices like most tournaments, hoping some common sense basic rules will work. Please review the AOTY rules which include rules about measurement:

4.) Photographic evidence of fish size (total length) against a measuring device must be provided. Photographs must be clear, with measurements easily read. It is recommended to use a sharpie on measuring devices that are not clearly marked. All entries must be rounded down to the nearest quarter inch. The ENTIRE fish must show on the measuring device in at least 1 picture. Missing portions of the head or tail will result in a disqualification of the fish. Any fish that has the appearance of possibly being not qualified for entry (such as the appearance of an adipose fin from a non native retention body of water) will be disqualified. Participants are responsible for ensuring the pictures are of sufficient quality to demonstrate the legality of the catch as defined by the laws of the respective state. Fish may NOT be gutted, have their throat cut or ripped through, or manipulated in any way prior to photographs being taken. Cutting of gills is permitted. Tails may be pressed together or tilted.

Measuring some fish, especially large fish that you intend to release, can be very difficult. It's difficult for all of us, so we get it, but it's also critical that you are prepared for that situation and take the best pictures possible. In cases where the picture does not adequately follow the rules or in some way does not allow for an accurate measurement, deductions or disqualification will be considered on a case-by-case basis by the panel of judges.

Congrats everyone on this years AOTY... dang near the most overall competitive year there has been since I started. had to break 1300 just to get in the top 10. I had a lot of life stuff this last year but hopefully the next year see's me on the water a little more... and hopefully making JED an honest man... lol. As an aside we can start a side fund on cutting the valve stems on Jeds car just sayin... J/K congrats again to everyone!

I agree with Dean, great to see the new competition. I achieved my goal of posting 10 species and that barely kept me in the top 10. Going to up my goal for next year. I have never broke the 200 point mark so I am going to add that to my goals. Hopefully not send my phone swimming either.

Good luck in 2023 everyone!

Not sure that taking out his tires will be enough, but it is a good start!

Yeah, it was a record-breaking year from my end of the world too. This was the rainiest summer I have experienced in 53 summers here. Broke all kinds of records for rainiest this month, that month, the next month, most consecutive rainy days, most volume of rain each month. I swore that if this WX trend continued into winter we would have 20 feet of snow.

Well, this has been the most snow here on the Kenai Peninsula before Christmas of the 53 winters I've been here. I'm buried. Had a 2 foot dump in one storm followed by snow every day for a week straight more than once. Probably over the 4+ foot accumulation so far.

So I'm lucky to make it on the board this year. At least its not a goose egg. As they say, There is always next year...which I guess starts today. Gonna be a late breakup to open water this coming spring with the thickness of lake ice and the snow cover. Probably have to focus on Whisky Gulch spring halibut to get the boat wet.

Still have my eagle, Denali, visiting every day for his meal. New Year's Day Dinner Special for him today was sockeye salmon cubes with chunks of sea duck breast meat as a special treat! (My neighbor is a taxidermist who supplies me the bird meat.)

Here's hoping HOW will continue to see the benefit of NWKA's AOTY challenge.

HAPPY SAFE NEW YEAR TO ALL.

Was my first year doing AOTY,  and I had a blast!
Gonna try to fish less but smarter in 2023. I spent WAY to much on gas, trying to stay ahead of Jed the past few months.

Moving to Eugene this week, gonna have a bit of a learning curve fishing new waters.

Is there any change to minimum donation amount for 2023, or any change in rules or process?

I hope to see n fish with as many of y'all as possible this year.
Thanks to everyone who helped me, offered advice, and provided good company on the water in 22!

Gonna try for my first ever lake and bull trout this year.

My first AOTY too after moving to Oregon in Spring of 21.  Changed the way I fished a bit.  Spent a lot more time looking for specific fish rather than just hitting a normal cycle of lakes.  Got to a bunch of new lakes looking for big trout and eventually got me into the shallow end of the big salt.  Loved the change in styles and all the new places.  Shoot, I went all the way out to Ana Reservoir from Eugene looking for a Hybrid striper.   Weather and fishing sucked, but talked to a local guy and I ended up at some drying up reservoir in the area catching a pile of nice largemouth and trout in the little water that was left.  Didn't catch a giant trout (jealous of SD2OR's brown and BasinKayak's rainbow) but fished 11 new lakes looking for one and caught a good number of good fish along the way.  Lot of gas money spent headed to the coast or into the mountains.

Already looking for some nicer weather to get out this week. Also scheming a road trip to look for some of those giant yellow perch JED posts every year.

Keith

Congratulations, all. It was interesting to watch the leaders as the year went on. Going kayak fishing six times in a year does not get one too far in this contest. I resolve to catch more and bigger fish in '23.

Got out on the kayak just twice this past year. Watching everyone else is pretty inspiring. Looking forward to a great 2023.

I get a lot of inspiration from these anglers.... Congratulations to the winners!!

It was a competitive year for sure! I had a mixed bag of fun successes and heartbreaking failures this year, including what would have been my personal best lingcod escaping my grip and my personal best flounder flopping out of my kayak. Still, it's hard to complain when I was able to get out on the water as much as I did and enjoy this awesome sport. It remains to be seen how much time I'll have to fish in 2023, but here's hoping.

Reminder: You're welcome to donate and get set up for 2023 at any time, but we won't roll over the AOTY leaderboard, etc. until mid-January as people technically have 2 weeks to enter fish. Any catches made after donation will be honored.

Great to see some folks who haven't competed before or not for as long placing in the top 10. I really thought SD2OR had it there for a while, but, barring any late entries, hats off to jed once again for doing what he does - simply amazing consistency over the years! Congrats to all the competitors for making 2022 a really fun year for the competition.

My first AOTY too after moving to Oregon in Spring of 21.  Changed the way I fished a bit.  Spent a lot more time looking for specific fish rather than just hitting a normal cycle of lakes.  Got to a bunch of new lakes looking for big trout and eventually got me into the shallow end of the big salt.  Loved the change in styles and all the new places.  Shoot, I went all the way out to Ana Reservoir from Eugene looking for a Hybrid striper.   Weather and fishing sucked, but talked to a local guy and I ended up at some drying up reservoir in the area catching a pile of nice largemouth and trout in the little water that was left.  Didn't catch a giant trout (jealous of SD2OR's brown and BasinKayak's rainbow) but fished 11 new lakes looking for one and caught a good number of good fish along the way.  Lot of gas money spent headed to the coast or into the mountains.

Already looking for some nicer weather to get out this week. Also scheming a road trip to look for some of those giant yellow perch JED posts every year.

Keith

This is what the AOTY is all about.  In the early days, this lead to a lot of 1st water and 1st of a species from a kayak attempts.  I'm glad it's still driving people out of their comfort zones and into more fun fisheries!

-Mark-

What's the over/under on how many 200 pointers Jed has yet to turn in?

Congratulations to everyone catching a new species, trying a new technique, or fishing a new body of water.

Nah, I don't think so. Now, if Jed had been below 1st place then hell yeah!

Congrats to those who placed high in AOTY this year! I agree, it was fun watching the top standings change back and forth in the closing months of 2022. Placing high takes dedication, and 2022 gas prices must've made it an expensive year for you guys  .

Looking forward to seeing what's landed in 2023! Fish on!

I agree, it was fun to watch the scores for the last few months
Congrats to everyone that participated this year and especially those that fished new areas or got personal best catches. Had fun fishing with some competitors this year and hope to fish with more of you this year. Let me know if you plan on heading out East and I'll try to meet up. I'm bummed the gas prices kept me away from the salt but I did get to dial in water closer to home. Walleye on the Columbia is quickly becoming on of may favorite fisheries. Since I'm only 1.5625 points ahead of Snopro on the goat board, my goal for 23 is to find some bigger fish;) Good luck to everyone this year and stay safe.