A Good Day Fishing

Of course, any day fishing is better than a day in the office, but it would be nice to collect a $25,000 check too.

TV news producer wins Maryland’s Diamond Jim fishing contest

Television news producer Blair Wheeler became the first person to win the Diamond Jim fishing contest and its $25,000 cash prize when she caught a “19- to 20-pound rockfish” at Chesapeake Bay.

The 25-year-old Wheeler was among a record-high 39 anglers eligible for the top prize and one of 59 who caught striped bass designated by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources with the Diamond Jim tag between May 24 and Sept. 2.

However, she was the first to catch the real Diamond Jim since 1957, when one fish was designated with a diamond stud attached to its jaw.

Aside from the cash prize, Wheeler received a pair of 1-carat diamond stud earrings and six $1,000 gift cards from local tackle shops that sponsored the contest.

“I thought there was something wrong with the fish,” Wheeler said after seeing the chartreuse tag attached to it.

I had wondered how often the "Real Diamond Jim" was caught in the past (but was never curious enough to investigate.  Now I know.  Never before.  Which is a good thing, because you wouldn't want to think the odds of a single fish being caught in the Bay each year are very high.

The targeted fishing mortality of Striped Bass coast wide is 0.3, in other words, 30% of the spawning age female fish removed from the population every year.  (They don't follow the males, who, as always, don't count). But that is coast wide, and it's quite likely that the "Diamond Jim" fish, which are large, join the coastwide migration.  Still, I'm surprised it hasn't happened before.  It's not very good odds:

The format had changed over the past nine years as the grand prize, and the chances of winning it, went up.

Gary said the prize money in the Diamond Jim contest for one month rolls into the next if the Diamond Jim fish isn’t caught.

“By the third year, we were getting some feedback that everyone’s initial excitement wore off because the statistical odds of catching that one fish were pretty slim,” Gary said. “When we decided to split it up if nobody won it, people went wild with that.”

While it's fun to know that somewhere out there there may be a fish worth $25k, it doesn't influence my decision on whether to go out or not.