The cold weather gripping the upper Midwest in recent weeks has kept lakes frozen, which is good news for the hosts of ice fishing tournaments in Minnesota.
On the final Sunday of January, more than 500 people participated in an ice fishing contest sponsored by the Hanska Firemen’s Relief Association on Lake Hanska in south-central Minnesota. Over the next two weekends (including Super Bowl Sunday), other organizations held ice fishing tournaments around the state. The Sleepy Eye Sportsmen ice fishing derby on Sleepy Eye Lake, also in south-central Minnesota, was expected to attract 800 participants, while the New Ulm Area Sport Fishermen hosted its own ice fishing contest on Clear Lake northwest of Minneapolis, with an anticipated 600 participants.
In fact, nearly ever lake in the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” has an ice fishing tournament, according to The Journal of New Ulm, Minn.
“This is some of the best ice in a long time,” Sam Domeier from the Sleepy Eye Sportsmen told The Journal, explaining that snow can insulate the ice and keep it from freezing. “We’ve had lots of cold weather but no snow.” Ice as thick as 19 inches was reported on Lake Hanska and Sleepy Eye Lake.
The fishing might be good, but officials with the Brainerd Jaycees Ice Fishing Extravaganza — which is billed as the world’s largest ice-fishing contest and attracted 12,000 anglers on Jan. 27 — are investigating whether three men from Ohio legitimately caught the fish they say they did.
According to the paper, a hold also has been placed on the contest’s third-place prize, a $1,000 check, won by Ivan Lyogky, Stephan’s father, and on the 98th-place prize, a certificate good for an ice auger, won by a relative, Rostik Lyogky.
“We’ll have additional security protocols in place next year,” Meyer told the paper.
Ice fishing event organizers in other states aren’t as fortunate, weather-wise, as those in Minnesota. The Fish Lake Perch Tournament, slated to begin Feb. 24 on Utah’s Fish Lake, has been canceled— grounding almost 2,000 anglers.
The ice at Fish Lake, normally between 18 inches and two feet thick by this time of year, was less than five inches thick in some spots, The Salt Lake Tribune reports.