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Anglers Flock to 48th Annual Brown Trout Festival

ALPENA, MI – The 48th Brown Trout Festival kicked off on Saturday with the start of the Regular Tournament. Skilled anglers from all over head to Alpena to compete in the variety of events that Brown Trout has to offer.

Eager fishers could be on the water officially at 6 a.m. Saturday, July 16 with the start of the Regular and Three-Day, High Stakes Tournament. The leaderboard offers several categories of fish and the leaders change daily, as the tournament ends at 3 p.m. Sunday, July 24.

None of this would be possible without the help of Brown Trout volunteers who record every fish’s weight that’s brought in. Festival volunteer, Andrea Hepburn, describes the weigh-in process.”They’re shouting out what’s in the coolers, what type of fish, what size of fish and we’re documenting that,” she said. “If they have the biggest fish of the day, we’re documenting it with magnets so it can go on the scoreboard.”

Although only one brown trout was caught on day one, the volunteers see plenty of other fish in the process. “They range anywhere from three fish to 16,” said Hepburn.

Despite it only the beginning of the tournament, Hepburn and the weigh-in table have already seen some memorable catches. “The biggest one I believe today was 14.70 pounds,” she said.

Additionally, a variety of tournaments will be running all week. The Brown Trout Festival concludes on Sunday, July 24, with an Awards Ceremony following at 6 p.m.