Ice fishing 101

Last Saturday morning my day started at 4 a.m. Yep, 4 a.m. occurs very early in the morning!  

I was chairman of the 53rd annual Sunriser Lions Ice Fishing derby. I’ve been its chairman for the last 25 years or so. This is the longest running ice fishing tournament in Montana. While the official tournament doesn’t start until 7 a.m., I have to get up to turn on the big 100-cup coffee pots. It takes about an hour to perk good coffee. I start a second big coffee pot with just plain water for the kids’ hot chocolate. It also takes time for me to load all the food supplies for our food sales. The hamburger and hot dogs can be loaded the night before. They keep well in our 20-degree nights in the back of my truck. But the buns need to be kept warmer, so they can’t be loaded until the morning.  

As tournament chairman, I feel it is my duty to sample all the food to be served. So, my early morning breakfast consisted of a couple of our donuts. I’m not sure my doctor would not agree this was a healthy breakfast. But, hey, this is America! I was finally loaded by 6 a.m. and headed west to Smith Lake, the site of our ice derby.  

As I rounded the west side of Smith Lake, I could look across the lake and see a bright light on the shore. That would be another Lion, Burt. He is another early riser and was on the ice or rather in the parking lot of the Smith Lake fishing access site long before me. Each May or June I need to go through a permit application process to get permission to use Fish, Wildlife and Parks’ public lake access site for our tournament headquarters. Let me say here that working with Fish, Wildlife and Parks was a pleasure. While sometimes in this column I express disagreement with Fish, Wildlife and Parks’ decisions regarding fish and game regulations, they have always been great to work with regarding our annual Lions ice fishing derby. Thanks!  

Upon my arrival at our derby site, Burt had plowed out the ground around our concession trailer. After plowing, he parked his truck behind the concession trailer and ran an electric cable from the generator in the back of his truck to the concession stand. Then the electric lights came on in the concession stand. Burt and I had pulled the concession stand out to Smith Lake the prior afternoon. I parked by the trailer. After unloading the food and other tournament essentials, the tailgate on my truck became the official weigh station for the fish caught. Fish, Wildlife and Parks loaned us a nice electric scale weigh the fish. We weigh the northern pike in pounds and the perch in grams.  

This tournament is billed as a family fishing tournament. The Lions want to promote good clean outdoor activities for families. That is why we have contests for not only the biggest northern or perch, but also for the smallest pike and perch caught on a hook and line. The smallest fish contests are open to kids 12 and under. Anyone can enter the big fish contests. 

The official start time for the tournament is 7 a.m., but there are always anglers in line to sign in by 6 a.m. Fishermen seem to enjoy the competition with other anglers. By 6:30 a.m., another half dozen lions showed up to fulfill other tournament duties. A bonfire was started for warming cold hands and s’mores for the kids. By 8 a.m., Tim Jacobs from the local Flathead chapter of Montana Walleyes Unlimited showed up with 75 new rods and reels for kids 12 and under that catch a fish. Tim helped weigh fish and hand out rods and reels to kids. It is a delight to see the eyes of kids light up when you weigh their fish and award them with a new rod and reel.   

One mother, perhaps a single mom, brought her child to the tournament, without any fishing equipment. But we were prepared for that because the Lions had a supply of hooks, lures, bobbers and bait to get her and her child started. There were a hundred or more ice augers on the ice, so there was no shortage of ways to drill a hole in the ice.