Many states have citation, master angler or other award programs in place for key fish species in their waters. Like most records, their primary purpose is to act as a kind of achievement benchmark, giving competitive anglers a target to shoot for. For state fishery departments, citation programs let them court tourism by tooting their horns about the quality of their sport-fishing. Also, information about large fish and where and when they were caught is interesting data for fish managers, field biologists and yours truly, so I can give a local fishing hole a proper workout during the best time.

-Jerry Gibbs, Fishing Editor