February 7, 2019
Weather breaks favor Bite the Ice
By Jerry W. Kram
The 2019 Bite the Ice at the Hook threaded the needle between bone-chilling below zero temperatures and 10 inches of snow and anglers who braved the ice were rewarded with one of the best tournaments results in recent memory.
Shortly after 11 a.m. there were enough fish caught that all of the categories were full. That’s also when anglers started bringing in big, fat walleyes more than two feet long. Not to be outdone, pike fishermen brought in not one, not two, but three three-foot long monsters, only to see them all dwarfed by a 42.5 inch monster brought in by Olaf Drosdol. Pat McCarty claimed the walleye prize with a 28.5 inch lunker. Nick Sundahl was the first to bring in a 9.5 inch perch to claim first in that division.
Tournament organizer Jenna Hoff said that the number of anglers on the ice was down from the record highs of the last two years. Still, more than 580 competitors were on the ice for the tournament, including 48 youth anglers. Hoff said the lower numbers were understandable because the ice on the Van Hook Arm only got thick enough to support vehicles when a cold snap happened in late January.
Shortly after 11 a.m. there were enough fish caught that all of the categories were full. That’s also when anglers started bringing in big, fat walleyes more than two feet long. Not to be outdone, pike fishermen brought in not one, not two, but three three-foot long monsters, only to see them all dwarfed by a 42.5 inch monster brought in by Olaf Drosdol. Pat McCarty claimed the walleye prize with a 28.5 inch lunker. Nick Sundahl was the first to bring in a 9.5 inch perch to claim first in that division.
Tournament organizer Jenna Hoff said that the number of anglers on the ice was down from the record highs of the last two years. Still, more than 580 competitors were on the ice for the tournament, including 48 youth anglers. Hoff said the lower numbers were understandable because the ice on the Van Hook Arm only got thick enough to support vehicles when a cold snap happened in late January.
