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.

Last word on Brainerd ice fishing contest

You may have caught John Cross' column in Sunday's print edition of the newspaper or online. If you missed it, he had a chance to talk with Curt Yess of Waseca. 

Yess won this year's top prize (a GMC truck) at the Brainerd Jaycees $150,000 Ice Fishing Extravaganza.

But other area anglers also fared well at the annual contest. I think it is important to note that some of these catches, like the .68 pound rock bass caught by Roxanne Weingartz of Mankato, produced some pretty quality prizes.

Area anglers who placed and the prizes they won:

1. Winners Choice-2010 Ford or GMC truck
Curtis Yess/Waseca
6.26 walleye

8. $250 Mills Fleet Farm Gift Card
Nicholas Borgnann /Arlington
2.37 walleye

19. Strikemaster Auger
Mike Wolf/Mankato
1.86 walleye

26. Clam Fish Trap Kodiak
Lisa, Schultz/St. Peter,
1.30 rock bass

62. Strikemaster Auger
David, Armstrong/New Ulm
0.78 rock bass

68. Humminbird 385ci Portable
Kristi  Johnson/Montgomery
0.77 Perch

83. $250 Mills Fleet Farm Gift Card
Kristi Myers/Owatonna
0.74 walleye

108. $250 Mills Fleet Farm Gift Card
Wyman Forbrook/Lake Crystal
0.69 walleye

113. Humminbird 385ci Portable
Roxanne Weingartz/Mankato
0.68 rock bass

114. Clam Fish Trap Kenai
Dean Rowe/New Richland
0.68 Perch

147. $250 Lindy Shopping Spree
Jeffrey Strand/Mankato
0.64 Perch