Fishing Derby Declared a Success

With cooperative weather and 44 anglers participating, the Chinook Rod and Gun Club considered their Third Annual Ice Fishing Derby, held on February 5, a success. Top winners were Nick Rosman, Jimmy Snow, and Shane Fox.

About the event, Joe Kennedy, a Board Member for the local club, reported that the event boasted the "most anglers ever, best weather ever, and most fish caught ever!"

With early morning sunshine, temperatures rose to around 43 degrees by Saturday afternoon, making a day on the ice almost pleasant for the 44 entrants who fished the hard water at Dry Fork Reservoir. When the wind picked up as the day wore on and cloud cover moved in to take away the warmth of the sun, several anglers took advantage of the community warming shack. The 850XD Outbreak Eskimo insulated structure was made available by Treasure State Title Company in Chinook and Cassie Johnson with Lodestar Land and Home, who collaborated with one of the Rod and Gun Club members.

By the conclusion of the Debry, 110 northern pike, one perch, and two walleye pike were measured and scored. At 35 inches, the largest northern pike was caught by Shane Fox. For his record catch of the day, Fox walked away with $220.00 of prize money. Believing the adage that "the bigger the bait, the bigger the fish," Fox used an eight inch herring on a double treble hook rig to harvest his catch.

A runner-up northern caught by Jacob Metcalf and Ben Hofeldt wasn't quite long enough to get them in the money. At 32.25 inches, their pike was just shy of securing first place honors. Despite their close proximity to the largest fish, both young men did win door prizes.

Measuring 22.25 inches, the largest walleye was caught by Nick Rosman, who also hooked the largest perch, an eight inch specimen. For his two winning fish, Rosman pocketed $440.00. Sharing his fishing secrets, Rosman reports using a tip up with a sucker minnow at about eight feet of water to catch his walleye.

"For the perch, I used a clam leech flutter spoon in blue color while fishing in about 15 feet of water," he added.

Finally, the highest total combined inches of targeted fish was 270.75 inches. That total was reached by Jimmy Snow.

About the Derby's outcome, Kennedy was initially speechless: "All we can say is just, WOW! We have a lot of work to do every year after the tournament with thank you posts, thank you letters, tons of door prize photos and fishing photos to go through, paperwork and reporting to do, but for now, we are just gonna sit back and think about how truly blessed we are."

Kennedy went on to thank the Derby's supporters. "Because of the huge support from all our sponsors, every angler went home a winner this year with a nice door prize!"

Following their day on the ice, many of the anglers attended the Taco Soup Feed at the Chinook Eagles Club. The Feed, awards presentation, and drawing for door prizes concluded around 5:30 on Saturday evening. After paying out the prize money and receiving free will donation money at the Feed, Kennedy suspects that the Rod and Gun Club's Third Annual Ice Fishing Derby generated approximately $320 for their scholarship fund.