First Place Winners
Getting the money!
2nd place
Sarona, WI-
Professional anglers gather on Long Lake for the W.I.F.L.’s (Wisconsin Ice Fishing League) fourth and final tournament of the 2012 ice fishing season.
Anglers came from across the tri state area to compete for cash prizes, fellowship, and fun.
Long lake definitely provided a challenge for many anglers. Although the lake was clear, it was a slow bite and chalked full of northern pike that seemed to chase the bluegill away. “I have NEVER used the northern pike excuse for losing a tournament before” said Raymond Tiffany of Hardwater Maniacs, one of the competitors “but I’m using it today. When I looked down a hole, I’d get a nice ‘gill to come in, but then a pike would show up and the ‘gills disappear.”
One of the many tactics used in the tournament was sight fishing. Anglers took advantage of the crystal clear waters and looked down their ice holes to see and hopefully pick out the fish they wanted to take in for the weigh in.
“The rules are simple, you can catch your limit of ‘panfish Tiffany explains, ” we get to weigh in 12 of our biggest fish. The tournament consists of 30 teams of 2 and they fish for 5 hours. We have 4 tournaments throughout the state (Wisconsin)”. Other locations for the tournament this year was Amery, Balsam Lake, and Chetek.
For this tournament, first place in both the big fish and tournament went to Josh Gleaser and Aaron Berg. They brought in 9.14 lbs worth of crappie, with their best fish a crappie weighing at 1.49 lbs, they also placed first in the tournament series.
Second Place went to Mike Yahn and and Ted Coplin.
When I asked them what their tactic was Berg replied “We just found the crappie and we stayed on ‘em”.
“we are a growing tournament circuit and it’s only going to get better” says Bill Schutts director of the WIFL. When asked about future destinations, Bill chucked and said “you’ll have to see”.
The WIFL is on it’s second year, to learn more about the WIFL visit their website
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