The 2022 Legion Fishing Derby on Fish Hook Lake had a cold, snowy day on the ice Saturday, but the fish were biting.
The Park Rapids American Legion sold 3,431 tickets to the ice fishing contest and prize drawing, according to contest organizer Dave Hanson. He guessed approximately 1,500 actually fished.
Precise tallies of the number of people who participated in the event and of the dollars raised were not available at press time, pending a wrap-up meeting later this week at the Legion.
“Overall, it went very well,” said Hanson. “It was not only busy on the lake, but in town, and in the area businesses, there were lots of people mulling about, even if they weren’t fishing. It was neat.”
In the northern, walleye and largemouth bass division, 39 fish qualified. The top three catches, all northern pikes, were by Matt Casey at 5.89 lbs., Dan Oelfke of Frazee at 2.33 lbs. and Jon Finn of Bena at 2.26 lbs.
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In the bluegill, crappie and sunfish division, 10 fish qualified. The top three catches, all bluegills, were by Amy Weiss of Park Rapids at 0.44 lbs., Dan Zimmerman of Park Rapids at 0.41 lbs. and Jim Card of Laporte at 0.4 lbs.
In the rock bass division, 13 fish qualified. The top three catches were by Tim Brooks of East Grand Forks at 0.88 lbs., Brandon Shapersky of Menahga at 0.82 lbs. and Steve Long of Park Rapids at 0.78 lbs.
In the perch division, 81 fish qualified. The top three catches were by Kayla Griffith of Bemidji at 0.7 lbs., Carrie Eix of Park Rapids at 0.54 lbs. and Kameron Boudin of Sebeka at 0.47 lbs.
Winner of the Ice Castle fish house for catching the 20th largest fish was Florence Kramer with a 1.62 lb. northern pike.
Besides gift certificates and other donated prizes, the top fishing raffle prize winners included the following:
- Kelley Hoad – $30,000 gift certificate to Park Rapids Ford
- Kyle Luther – Polaris side-by-side
- Jean Welton, James Hartig, Don Henning, George Winter, Duane Johanning, Isabel Rutherford, Lacey Hanisch and Alexander Blanchard – $1,000 cash
- Tracy Zarembinski, Kelvin Lubitz, Ron Jacobson, Mike Hauer – $500 cash
- Rita Holland, James Branstrom – $300 cash
- Melissa Schmidt, Kristal Paul, Zach Sullinger, Kayla Holm, Amelia Stanfel, Kent Brock – $250 cash
- Kenneth Thorstad, Matt Clifford, Mary LaHaise – $200 cash
- Tim Bushaw, LeRoy Dempsey, Aaron Wheeler – $125 cash
- Al Marty, Florence Kramer, Theresa Junher Quinn, Randy Beighley, Stuart Perrington – $100 cash
There were also “second hole” drawings for 10 drill drivers. Winners included Zach Fahey, Braden Rohman, Craig Ecker, Cole Joslyn, Tim Erholtz, Ken Kobs, Robert Borger, Tyron Steve, Rodney Keezer and the unnamed holder of ticket no. 225.
