Fourteen fish caught the bad end of the stick on Feb. 24.
The Fishing Highway 27 Association hosted their third annual ice fishing derby on Sheridan Lake at the Loon Bay Resort, in which roughly 90 people came to.
“It was pretty slow actually. We had about 90 people versus 150 from last year,” said Irene Meili, one of the organizers. “We think the weather was a little crappy early in the morning and most people decide on the morning to show up or not and we sell tickets on site.”
The snow made it hard to walk around the lake due to its layers of slush and snow, making it challenging to find a good fishing spot.
Meili said the people who did show up did have a good time despite the weather.
“The ones that showed up really had a good time. The fishing was actually good. We had more fish come in than last year,” she said.
Participants caught 14 fish in total, most of them were rainbow and three brook trout. Kids also caught some catfish.
The biggest fish caught was a four lbs. and 7-8 ounces rainbow trout caught by Garry Oling, winning the $1,000 cash prize.
The derby will be back again next year, despite the low numbers of participants this year. There will also be discussions on which day to hold it on, as they have switched it from Saturday to Sunday and back to Saturday, trying to figure out which day works best. Adding to the discussion is that the Family Day Weekend will be moved to the third weekend of February next year to match the rest of the country. Several events in the area such as the Outhouse Races might be moved to that weekend, which makes Meili think the association will move the date to end of January or early February.
“It’s going to be an event that stays on, I mean it’s nature you know,” said Meili.
Around 20 people from out of town showed up as well, which Meili said she found really cool.