A fish caught Tuesday during a Hot Springs tournament netted his captor a whale of a prize, the Hot Springs Sentinel-Record reported.
"Big Al" was captured during a weekly fishing tournament Tuesday night with 10 days left in the 2017 Hot Springs Fishing Challenge, the paper reported.
It was one of 61 fish placed into Lakes Hamilton and Catherine to be reeled in for money during April, May and June. The competition, which began in 2012, is sponsored by Visit Hot Springs. Each year, one fish is designated "Big Al" and assigned the largest cash prize. This year, it was $15,000. The designated high-prize fish hasn't been caught in the tournament — until now.
Pete Clark of Magnet Cove hooked the 3.84 largemouth bass at the mouth of the Hot Springs Creek basin, the paper reported.
Each year, the fish released in the challenge are tagged with a colored plastic tag bearing a phone number and the prize number of the fish.
Officials released clues about "Big Al's" species and the spot where it was released in hopes someone like Clark would come along and catch it before June 30.
"We knew that 'Big Al' was out there, but we were concentrating on winning our tournament," Clark told the paper.
Clarke was fishing with his brother when he caught "Big Al," so half the money will go to him, he said.
"Fishermen are friends, they're buddies, and it didn't have to be my brother. If I had been fishing with one of my other buddies in that tournament and caught this fish, we'd split the money," Clark said.
Hot Springs Mayor Pat McCabe gave Clark a ceremonial $15,000 check during the news conference after the competition. It was bass shaped.
"Obviously, catching 'Big Al' is luck," Clark reportedly said. "You have to get lucky enough to run into that fish, but you can't catch him if you ain't fishing."