Fishing his way from Montana to Mongolia

Thane Melton has fished long before his first memories. When he was 18 months old, he was already accustomed to an ice fishing hut. 

The Bigfork resident and avid fisherman, now 37, has had a lifetime of fishing experiences and stories. The latest of which, however, is among the best ones yet — bringing home a silver medal for the United States at the World Ice Fishing Championships in Mongolia. 

“It was like all of our work paid off,” Melton said this week. 

Throughout his early life, Melton went fishing with his family quite often across the state. It was a hobby that they all shared, from Michigan to Montana. 

From “open water to closed water, we did pretty much every kind of fishing,” he said. 

He graduated from Bigfork High School in 2005, around the same time he began competing in Montana fishing derbies seriously. 

“It’s as fun as it can get,” Melton said about the competitions. “You meet a lot of cool people too.” 

Mongolia was no different. It was the first time Melton had taken a trip out of the continent, competing against and alongside anglers from 10 countries: Lithuania, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Mongolia, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Kazakhstan and, of course, the United States. 

The recent competition in Mongolia was the 20th annual World Ice Fishing Championship, where the competitions are held in a different country each year. America has never taken a medal home from an overseas competition, Melton said, until this year.

Throughout his life, Melton often competed in fishing competitions alongside his cousin, Tim Marsh, who now lives in Westby, Montana. This year, the pair received a call from the United States ice fishing team asking if they would be interested in being a coach and spotter for the competition. According to Melton, it was an easy yes. 

“I still got that little kid passion for fishing,” Melton said. “I still get excited about catching a fish.” 

The team consisted of 12 people: five athletes or anglers, five coaches and two captains. Each country moves across the frozen lake to different zones, attempting to catch the most fish by weight. The winner, at the end of the competition, has the largest weigh-in. 

Simply put the more fish, the better chances of winning. 

“Fish is a fish, everything counts,” Melton said. 

At the end of each day, the fish caught by the 10 teams was distributed to neighboring villages. 

The lake that the championship was held on was home to two special fish that Melton and some other team members had never seen or fished for previously: redfin perch and roach. Both fish are beautiful, he said, with bright red fins and interesting ecologies. 

One of Melton’s favorite moments from the trip was when he spotted a school of perch beneath the ice. Together, the team sat around an ice hole, prior to the competition beginning, for three hours, fishing alongside some of the best anglers in America. At the end of the three hours, they had put probably 50 pounds of fish on the ice, Melton said. 

The overall highlight though, according to Melton, was taking home the first medal won abroad for Team USA. By the end of day one of the competition, the team was coming in at seventh place. With hard work, by the end of the second day, they were able to clench the second-place spot. 

Lithuania received first place, and Ukraine fell third. 

The competition was the first international ice championship where Montana was represented. Melton and his cousin, Marsh, were proud to represent not only Montana but the United States abroad, meeting amazing anglers in the process from across the world. 

Melton encourages those who have an interest or passion in fishing, specifically in competing, to put themselves out there and “just start.” It is open to everybody, he said. 

That’s what he did, he said, and it paid off. 

The United States is hosting the competition next year in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Melton plans on trying out for the team again, looking forward to seeing team members and competitors he now calls friends. 

Reporter Kate Heston can be reached at kheston@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4459.