CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A remote fishing trip into northern Canada proved to be a productive vacation for a South Charleston angler. Matthew Pfohl of South Charleston was announced on this past Saturday’s West Virginia Outdoors as the grand prize winner in the Hoodoo Sports Trophy Photo Contest.
Matthew submitted a picture of a smallmouth bass he caught on a trip to northern Ontario in May 2022.
“We had booked a fly-in fishing trip on Lake Eric in northern Ontario and then covid hit. We had to wait two years to even taken this trip,” Matthew said on the show.
He and two other individuals finally made it there and it was worth the wait.
“We flew in with Gateway North Outfitters and they dropped us off with a generator and a cabin all by ourselves. We fished for smallmouth, walleye, and northern pike. That was about a six-and-a-half or seven pound smallmouth, said Pfohl.
He caught the the fish while fishing alone during one day of the trip and had the difficult task of trying to get the huge fish into the frame of a selfie.
“I knew it was a big fish and my brother wouldn’t believe me when I got back to the cabin if I didn’t take a picture,” he laughed.
Congrats Matt, what a catch! That one would look great laying in your new kayak. 🔥💯 https://t.co/WuIUqyi7ns
— HOODOO Sports (@HoodooSports) February 4, 2023
The computer randomly selected Pfohl’s picture from the 366 entries received in the contest from October 1st through January 31st. He wins a Hoodoo Sports Element 100s 10′ sit-on-top kayak, paddle, dry bag, fishing rod holder.
Ironically, Pfohl was contacted and came on the show live from a cruise ship returning to Port Canaveral, Florida after a Caribbean Cruise. He admitted he never dreamed the picture he took on a remote Canadian lake of a massive smallmouth bass during a trip which was delayed by two years would result in news on a Caribbean vacation that he had won a kayak.  Most probably wouldn’t have had that square on their bingo card.
According to Pfohl, he currently floats the Greenbrier and New Rivers with inflatable pontoons. That will be changing this spring.
“I’d been considering getting a kayak, now I guess I won’t have to. Thanks to you guys and thanks to Hoodoo Sports,” he said.