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Contestants brave wind during annual Rod & Gun Club ice fishing contest
Though fishing was good during this year’s annual ice fishing contest hosted by Ely Winton Rod & Gun Club, attendance was low due to windy conditions and Ely’s mild winter.
“This year’s dead compared to most years. There are people here, but I would say there is usually double the amount of people,” said participant Ron Peterson.
Peterson has fished in the contest for 40 years without missing a single year. He said he has won or been runner-up 10 of those years. He said his highlight over the last 40 years was catching a 12-pound pike one year during the contest.
He attributed the low attendance to the ice conditions this winter.
“So many contests got canceled this year because of ice conditions. A lot of people thought it was canceled, or they stayed in because of the wind,” he said.
Peterson said he prefers fishing when the ice pack is small because it allows more oxygen in the water, increasing the activity of fish, especially pike.
This was the case during the fishing contest, as just about every party who took to the ice caught pike.
About half of the contestants fished on the west end of the bay by the creek, and half fished on the east end of the bay closer to the main body of Fall Lake. Both parties produced fish.
Peterson and his party fished on the far east end of the bay by the Longbranch, near a small island in about 11 feet of water and used tip-ups baited with sucker minnows. They caught multiple pike during the contest.
“Not too many communities put on fishing contests anymore. I appreciate they do it. I was kind of worried when they sold it (the building) two years ago, I thought it was going to be canceled,” Peterson said.
