Warrick County angler has 2 Indiana DNR Fish of the Year | Sports & Recreation

Indiana’s 2011 Fish of the Year contest proves the art of angling has not been lost on our youth.

Fish of the Year recognizes the angler who catches the longest fish of each species tracked. In 2011, anglers submitted entries for 25 species.

Four anglers younger than 18 years old accounted for six wins.  However, one adult fisherman from our area is on the list, too.

Joshua Gansman of Tennyson won in both the sauger and saugeye categories. Gansman caught a 19-inch sauger from a private pond in Warrick County on a redeye shad and a 24-inch saugeye from Huntingburg Lake in Dubois County, also on a redeye shad.

The longest winning fish among all the 2011 Fish of the Year species was a 55.5-inch flathead catfish. Tim Kaiser, an angler from Elnora, caught the flathead in the Ohio River in Perry County using a live bluegill as bait.

As announced in an earlier news release, one angler caught a fish of state-record weight in 2011. Nine-year-old Noah Smith of Delaware, Ohio, established the first state record for a spotted gar. He caught the 29.2-inch, 3.2-pound fish from Crooked Lake in Steuben County using a live minnow.

New for 2012 in the contest, the Indiana Record Fish Program and Fish of the Year will recognize the lake whitefish species. In Indiana, lake whitefish are primarily caught in Lake Michigan in early spring and late fall.

For information about the State Record Fish or Fish of the Year programs, go to Fishing.IN.gov/3577.htm. To find out where to fish, go to Fishing.IN.gov and click on the interactive “Where to Fish Finder” link. To purchase an Indiana fishing license online, see IndianaOutdoor.IN.gov.

Have a picture of a big fish you've caught recently?  Send it in...or if you catch one later this year, send us an email (rmiller@14news.com).