Mustad to Award $1 Million Prize at Fred Hall Show

Byline: The Log Staff

Mustad to Award $1 Million Prize at Fred Hall Show

After an exciting yearlong contest, Mustad, the world’s largest-selling fish hook brand, will award a $1 million prize to a lucky angler at the Fred Hall Fishing Tackle and Boat Show in Long Beach — at 2 p.m. Thursday, March 7.

Mustad’s “Hook a Million” promotion ran from October 2011 to Sept. 30, 2012 and targeted 10 of the country’s most popular fresh and saltwater fish. The species included largemouth bass, walleye, channel catfish, white crappie, coho salmon, striped bass, calico bass, redfish, speckled trout and yellowfin tuna.

The contest was open to anglers in all 50 states — and to participate, anglers had to use a Mustad hook and be registered in the “Hook A Million” contest at least 24 hours in advance of fishing.

Potential cash awards for the promotion totaled $1.4 million for certified freshwater and saltwater state records and the first new world record. In order to be a winner in the contest, an angler’s catch had to meet specific contest rules, specified on the Mustad website.

To earn the World Record Category prize of $1 million, the angler had to follow the contest rules for reporting the catch to Mustad, and the fish had to be the first entry officially certified as a World Record by the International Game Fish Association (IGFA).

The IGFA has announced plans to present angler Guy Yocom of Dana Point with a World Record Certificate for his 427-pound yellowfin tuna. The massive fish was caught Sept. 18, 2012 out of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico on his boat, El Suertudo.  Mustad plans to award the $1 million prize immediately after the IGFA presents the official certification.

“All of us at Mustad would like to thank all anglers for your participation in the ‘Hook a Million’ contest,” said Magnus Gunnarsson, Mustad vice president, Americas.  “We are very proud to congratulate Guy Yocom on his fantastic accomplishment and are looking forward to presenting him with a well deserved $1 million prize at the Fred Hall Show.”

Along with Guy Yocom’s world record catch, an unprecedented total of three giant yellowfin tuna eclipsing the 400-pound mark were taken in 2012 — and all were taken on Mustad Hooks. They are: a new 427-pound world record taken by Guy Yocom (39950BLN-12/0), a fish that taped at 432 pounds taken by Ron Tegland on his boat Tenacious (39943BLN-10/0) and a monster 455-pound fish taken by John Petruescu on the long-range boat Excel (7691DT-10/0).

Both the 455-pound and 432-pound fish, although reported at higher weights, do not qualify under rules for IGFA world record consideration, but they are truly remarkable catches.

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