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A few ounces cost Chris Martinkovic thousands of dollars in prize money, but did not lure him away from the thrill of tournament bass fishing.

The 27-year-old Liberty Twp. resident competed in the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League's 25th annual All-American Bass Fishing Tournament, in late May in Hot Springs, Ark.

Martinkovic began the last day of the three-day event in ninth place, but landed a 4-pound fish and several other smaller fish to thrust himself ahead of the competition and closer to its first place prize of $140,000.

However, one dead fish in his bucket caused officials to subtract 8 ounces off Martinkovic's total score, putting him 3 ounces away from first-place. Instead, he took home third place honors and $32,000.

"That's a lot of money for that little fish that died," he said. "I thought I had it won, but apparently I didn't."

Martinkovic said he was still excited to finish as a winner in the national competition, which is scheduled to air Oct. 26 on Fox Sports Net.

He plans to use the majority of his prize money to enter all five qualifying events for next year's FLW Series, which features a first-place prize of $200,000.

To get to the All-American, Martinkovic first had to rack up enough points during five fishing events to finish in the Buckeye Division's top 40. Advancing to the regional level, he finished in the top six out of 160 and qualified for the 54-person All-American tournament.

Martinkovic first cast a line into the water at 4 years old, started tournament fishing at 12, and began entering BFL events at 16. He said the ups and the downs of bass fishing are what hooked him in the first place and what keeps him coming back for more.

"Sometimes you catch them and sometimes you don't," he said. "It's not like any other sport. It's something you can't really control. You can't make the fish bite. You've got to figure out a way to do it."

Contact this reporter at (513) 755-5126 or eschwartzberg@coxohio.com.