Nearly 500 West Palm Beach Fishing Club (WPBFC) members, families and friends gathered at the South Florida Fairgrounds in early November to celebrate the club’s 84th annual, Awards BBQ & Auction. It was an evening complete with live music from the Mid-Shift Band, delicious cooked-on-site BBQ, a silent auction and raffle, and angling award presentations. Throughout the year, club members compete in the club’s year-long fishing contest, entering their catches for a variety of different species in numerous tackle categories. The annual BBQ is where these anglers are recognized for their angling accomplishments, which included some really impressive fish this year.
Every PeeWee member, kids under 10 years old, who caught a fish got their moment in the spotlight. One by one they made their way to the stage to claim their trophy and new Penn Pursuit spinning rod and reel combo. Recognizing PeeWee anglers is a long-standing fishing club tradition, which continues to engage our youth in the sport of fishing. While these kids simply just have to enter a fish to win an award, earning the title of Grand Champion Adult Angler and Junior Angler of the Year entails much stricter criteria through demonstration of true angling skill.
Fourteen-year-old Emily Hanzlik, a decorated IGFA world record holder, earned herself the 2018 Junior Angler of the Year trophy, one of the WPBFC’s most coveted titles. She posted several largemouth bass over 7 lbs. and one massive 33 lb. 12 oz. barracuda. Emily landed contest qualifying fish on everything from light spinning rods casting artificial lures out in Loxahatchee, to using bait on heavy conventional reels in the Florida Keys.
The Grand Champion Adult Angler award is arguably the WPBFC’s highest angling honor recognizing the best fisherman in the club. With over 1400 members there is a lot of competition. Winning this award isn’t easily accomplished, it demands catching a wide variety of fish species on different types of tackle including light spinning gear, plug casting rods and fly. Max Lichtig of North Palm Beach persistently entered impressive fish all year long. His 26 lb. 8 oz. snook at the spillway using a jig on a plug casting outfit was one of Max’s many impressive contest entries. He also bested double-digit muttons, grouper, kingfish and a behemoth 38 lb. 3 oz. jack crevalle, which he fooled with an artificial lure on 8 pound test. Max got it done offshore and inshore to earn the WPBFC’s top angling award. Congratulations to Max and Emily cementing their names among many other talented anglers throughout the history of the WPBFC.
Special thanks to our friends at Tuppen’s Marine & Tackle, Penn Fishing Tackle and TD Bank for sponsoring this event, to all the WPBFC volunteers who work tirelessly to pull the event together, and all the WPBFC members and friends who attended. There’s opportunity to enter fish all year-round and walk away with awesome prizes at the WPBFC Awards BBQ & Auction; we hope to see you there next year as a member of the club!