Congrats to commercial fisherman Barry Mann, who caught 28,669 pounds of the biggest nuisance fish, the Asian carp in the Carp Madness tournament held out of Kentucky Dam Marina Wednesday and Thursday March 12-13.
Second Place winner was Heath Frailley with 22,005 pounds, and third place was taken by Owen Trainer with 7,788 pounds. Nearly 83,000 pounds of carp were brought to the scales in the two-day tournament aimed at putting a dent in the flourishing populations of dangerous nuisance fish that have been streaming down the Ohio, Tennessee and Cumberland rivers at an alarming rate.
There are markets opening up for the usage of Asian Carp for fertilizer, pet food and now human consumption as well. The tournament hosted taste tests at Kentucky Dam Village Restaurant. It’s a great start to the erradication of a fish that does not belong in our waterways. They decimate shallow areas, run gamefish out of their natural habitat and worst of all jump out of the water and into oncoming boats of anglers and recreational water enthusiasts. There have been several deaths from flying Asian carp hitting boat drivers and riders on many waters in the US.
Hopefully this organized effort by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife will spur a movement to get these fish populations thinned out. If you’d like to get involved you can start by making a small donation to the Invasive Aquatic Species Fund at http://www.kentuckywildlife.com/Donate.aspx. For more information about this tournament visit http://fw.ky.gov/carpmadnessinfo.asp.
Amid a fishing trip on the bass-starved Ohio River in the summer of 1987, Alan McGuckin’s Dad told a then 16-year-old “Guck” — “I don’t care what you do for a living, just promise me you’ll do something you love.”
Originally from Pittsburgh, McGuckin considers himself a blue-collar kid, who has been richly blessed to live-out the best piece of advice his dad ever gave him for many years now in the Tulsa area.
After earning a degree in ecology at Juniata College in Pennsylvania, where he placed radio transmitters in largemouth bass to track their habitat preferences, he moved his life to Oklahoma in 1992, where he earned a Masters in Zoology and Fisheries under the direction of Gene Gilliland at the University of Oklahoma, before then embarking on what’s now a nearly three decade long career as a marketing and media veteran in the fishing industry.
His career spans 28 years of wisdom-rich marketing experience working to strengthen brands and increase sales for Lowrance, Terminator Lures, Toyota, Yamaha Outboards, Boat U.S., Carhartt, Costa, Quantum, Vexus Boats, and Zebco.
- Member of the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame voting committee, as well as a Board of Directors member for Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful
- Co-piloted the Terminator brand of premium lures from its birth to more than 10 Million pieces sold between 1997-2006.
- Has authored and published more than 800 stories on Bassmaster.com, along with several other popular bass fishing websites.
- He has generated $3 Million dollars’ worth of branded digital media since 2020, as a content creator.
- Serves as emcee for hundreds of guests at the annual Toyota Bonus Bucks Owners event.
- Avid angler, who fishes nearly every weekend when not on the road working.
- 13,000 followers on Instagram @GuckFishing.
“Guck” lives just north of Tulsa, OK at Lake Skiatook with wife Sherrie, an elementary school principal who also loves her job, and has a genuine passion for slinging a Rapala Brat crankbait on shallow points and habitat-laden flats.
