January 21, 2013

Saturday was the Catch for a Cure Ice Fishing Tournament hosted out of Tobacco Gardens Resort and Marina.  It was a great time with the proceeds benefitting relay for life!  The wind was howling  and the temps were dropping but that didn't stop 32 teams from venturing out to find the walleye, saugers, northerns, and other fish!  We fished at one our trusty old spots just off the old river channel.  We had holes from 19 to 26 feet.  The fish were definitely scattered as there was no real consistent bite.  About half came from jigging while the others were on deadsticks.  We ended up keeping 8 fish and weighing our top 6 for a total of 11.44 pounds.  We let go 4 small saugers, 2 shiners, and also caught one 4.43lb ling(eelpout or burbot), and lost another ling part way up the hole.  So all in all it was an average day on the ice.  Our weight put us in 5th place overall, and they paid 4 places... The joys  of the bubble!  But our ling did win the biggest other fish category and we won a nice door prize donated by Power Fuels, so we didn't go home empty handed!  Thanks to everyone who turned out as it was a great event and I look forward to fishing it again next year!

Coming up in February I will be fishing the Rooster Run Tournament, hosted out of Skunk Bay on Lake Sakakawea.  It is a 2 day tournament and it sounds like there are tons of prizes.  Come out and join the fun!  Click here for rules and registration.  So hopefully the next few weekends i'll be able to get out and find some fish on that area of the lake.