Countdown to the Big Bobber

Lake Washington should be a pretty exciting and busy lake this weekend with the Big Bobber Ice Fishing contest.

Registration and hole selection begins at 10 a.m. The contest runs from noon to 3 p.m. I plan on being out there for the kickoff of the contest, and I plan on providing pictures and updates via my Twitter account. Those same posts should appear on our home page on the right-hand side. We've periodically been posting staffer's tweats on the home page, so you can follow the contest action there.

With good temperatures forecast for this weekend, I'm looking forward to seeing how this Minnesota State Athletic Scholarship Fund fundraiser goes.

Washington fishing report
Lenny Sweet of Sweet Living Pool and Spa is an avid Lake Washington ice fisherman. He's pretty busy in the summer, so he says he finds the winter to be a good time to get on the lake and fish.

Sweet's report for the upcoming fishing contest, which he will participate in on Saturday, isn't a good report. Up until January, Sweet said the fishing at Washington had been at the top of its game.

Now?
"The fish are down there," Sweet says. "They're just tough pickins."

Sweet has been mixing it up, switching between minnows, maggots and spikes (colored maggots for those who don't know what the heck a spike is). He prefers red spikes, not that any of them have provided much action. He says his best action has been on a whole minnnow with a green forage minnow, but he says he's done OK with a Swedish Pimple and a minnow head.


Let's hope participants in this weekends contest fare better than that fishing report suggests.