Bite the Ice: “Unprecedented Success”
Bite the Ice: “Unprecedented Success”
By Jerry W. Kram
The Sixth Annual Bite the Ice Fishing Tournament and Raffle was called an “unprecedented success” by organizers with the most anglers participating and fish caught in the history of the tournament.
Tickets to participate in the tournament were limited to 800 and were sold out well before Christmas. In past years, heavy snow, low water and frigid temperatures – not to mention low fish numbers – had limited the number of anglers who actually got out on the ice. The 2012 tournament will be remembered not only for relatively warm temperatures and near perfect ice conditions, but for the record number of anglers and fish caught.
As registration opened, cars and pickups were backed up nearly a mile at the Van Hook boat ramp as 421 anglers waited patiently to get on the ice. While a heavy fog coated the area with a ghostly frost, the thermometer read a relatively balmy 24 degrees. Some sections of the lake looked like small towns crowded with fish houses and pickups.
