Ice fishing fever is on the rise

In my last column, I wrote about the awesome ice fishing extravaganza that is the St. Paul Ice and Winter Sports Show!
After nine years as an exhibitor at this show, it still amazes me how robust and energetic ice anglers can be.
Almost 200 exhibitors and 25,000 show goers packed the Roy Wilkins auditorium over a three-day period, with about a third of the attendees opting for the VIP option, allowing them an early entrée at a price of $20, eight dollars more than the standard $12 fee.
One thing that stood out to me was how many people were there to SPEND money on items such as power augers (the ION X was a big seller), electronics (Helix 7 Ice Kits and Garmin Panoptix ice bundles in particular) and custom fishing rods! One small rod vendor confided in me that they grossed $90,000 in sales, running out of some of their most popular models!
By all accounts, the crowd was smaller than in 2018.
This was most likely due to the fact there were three smaller but earlier ice fishing shows from Sioux Falls to Minneapolis.
But, those that were there were there to buy, and the multiple retailers present were all well-staffed by vendor reps, helping those buyers with their decisions.
Another big part of the St. Paul show is the accessibility to all of the big name anglers in the business, as
well as those making their name through social media, on TV and even through innovations they are bringing to market.
Many of these influencers were either there to work a booth for their sponsors, conduct a seminar or both.
Names such as Dave Genz, Brian Brosdahl, Jason Mitchell, Gary Parsons and even You Tube sensation Aaron Wiebe were all present and spent hours talking ice fishing.
As far as the seminar stage, there were seminars going on all three days and I even had the honor of conducting the closing seminar of the weekend!
The topic of discus
sion? Jumbo Perch of course!
And while all this was going on, tournament anglers were preparing for the National Championship in Minnesota while anglers back here in Montana were preparing for the first Perch Assault of the series.
Anglers fishing the championship were learning two new lakes, and as if that wasn’t enough of a challenge, the weather presented single digit highs, and lows in the negative 20 range!
Local anglers Wayne and Denise Schlegel made the trip to Minnesota for the NAIFC final, representing Montana along
with Eastern Montana angler Tim Marsh, who was forced to fish with an unfamiliar angler from North Dakota when his regular partner had to cancel.
As for the Perch Assault on Smith Lake, most of the anglers were quite familiar with the lake, although most teams have a love/hate relationship with Smith due to the finicky nature of the jumbo Perch that reside there.
If you can figure out the bite, you get rewarded with some of the largest Perch in Montana, with fish pushing two pounds when conditions are right.
Congratulations to the top five teams at Smith Lake!
Terry Riley and Steve Schenck pulled off another win with a great bag weighing in at 7.05 pounds.
Second place went to Russ Owens and Gary Hembd Jr. with a 6.22-pound bag; third place to Clint Jellar and Skyler Anderson with 6.14 pounds just edging out the father-son team of Chad and Brayden Jassman who had 6.13 pounds for fourth place. Lastly, Don Conard and Mike Crowston took fifth place with six pounds even.
With only five perch making up these bags, instead of the usual 10, these teams all averaged well over one pound!
The next derby in the valley comes up Saturday, again at Smith Lake, with the 48th annual Sunriser Lions derby. Look for the yellow posters ALL around the valley for more info.
Lastly, if you still need a gift for that angler in your life, we can help out with a gift certificate for a half or full day of guided fishing!
Give us a call and we will make it happen.
I’ll see you on the ICE!

— Howe is the owner/outfitter at Howe’s Fishing, A Able and Mo Fisch Charters. Call 406-257-5214 or at www.howesfishing.com