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Author Topic: Winner Brainerd Jaycee Extravaganza  (Read 3108 times)

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Offline Lee Borgersen

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                 Winners of the Brainerd Jaycees Extravaganza

 
news GULL LAKE - In 11 years of competing in the Brainerd Jaycees Ice Fishing Extravaganza Jerry Ellefson of Rochester has hooked one fish. While his production is low, his longevity makes him an expert in fishing the contest.


   

While his production is low, his longevity makes him an expert in fishing the contest. He, like many others have tried it all, in order to win it all at this, the world's largest charitable ice fishing contest.

Professional and novice ice anglers gathered by the thousands on Gull Lake's Hole-in-the-Day Bay Saturday afternoon with a goal of winning one of 150 major prizes.

Ellefson and others shared their thoughts on how to catch the whopper.

"I pretty much empty my tackle box," he said. "We try everything."

His wife, Chris, was on hand to help in the endeavor this year.

Jim Stueve of St. Cloud is also a veteran of the contest and has worked for about 10 years to catch a fish. He and his family, which joined him on the ice, caught a couple fish over the years, but he's never won anything. He uses very precise techniques to lure in the fish.

"I change the lure every hour," he said.

And in the past, deep water and shallow water didn't help land a lunker, so this year they moved to the mid-depth water, right around 50 feet.

While that may be a solid technique, Stueve admits that the truth is, the contest is all about chance.

"It's more about luck than anything," Stueve said.

The first place winner of the event, Steven Baumgarten, who landed a 6.73 pound northern pike, agreed, saying it was luck that he happened to move just before the close of the event to find where the big fish was lurking.

The real winners

With excellent temperatures around 35 degrees, no wind and lots of cheese curds to go around, it was a perfect day on the ice.

"This is almost like winning," Ellefson said, just pleased to be able to sit on the ice in January without getting frostbite.

It was so warm, it was not uncommon to see shorts, T-shirts and a plethora of holes that were not frozen over.

The chair of the Extravaganza, Sarah Stenerson was proud to see everything fall into place after a year of planning. She was ecstatic that the Brainerd Jaycees were lucky enough for such good weather.

"The people are really coming out of the woodwork," Stenerson said. "We have more volunteers than usual and that's what helps make the difference."

Typically about 25 percent of the contest tickets are sold the day of the event, according to event co-chair Angie Nelson. So the nicer the day, the better chance of big crowds.

Based on estimates and the hum that could be felt off the surface of the ice, it appeared this could have been a record setting year.

"It's more than everything I hoped it would be," Nelson said of the event participation.

Nelson noted that she hadn't seen such a long weigh-in line for at least three years.

The line stretched for a couple hundred yards for much of the first hour of the event.

It's all those thousands of anglers coming out to fish and party on the ice that makes it possible for more than 40 area charities to raise major funds in just one three-hour event a year. It's those charities, which volunteer in all areas of the event, that really win, Stenerson said.

They've been lucky enough to win the contest for 25 years.



Dressed as superheroes, Seth Clayton (left), Patrick Hermann and Nolan Swenson walk onto the ice Saturday for the 25th Annual Brainerd Jaycees $150,000 Ice Fishing Extravaganza on Gull Lake in Nisswa.

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« Last Edit: January 01/26/15, 09:18:27 AM by Lee Borgersen »
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Offline Lee Borgersen

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Owatonna man wins truck at Brainerd Jaycees $150,000 Ice Fishing Extravaganza.



Anthony Welch of St. Paul thought he had the Brainerd Jaycees $150,000 Fishing Extravaganza grand prize fish in the bag.

He literally did have it in a plastic bag within the first five minutes of the contest, which started at noon Saturday on Gull Lake's Hole-in-the-Day Bay. The 3.67 pound walleye he lured in with a minnow head on a buckshot hook stood as the top fish for much of the three hour contest.

 

But Steven Baumgartner of Owatonna had other plans.

Not having any luck in his original spot at about 26 feet of water, he told his buddy he was going to move to shallow water. As the clouds rolled in and the anglers moved out, he felt he had a chance on the edge of the boundary.

Baumgartner dropped his pink glow plug hook down the hole with a shiner on the tip. In a moment, he knew he was in for a ride.

"He hit the hook like a ton of bricks," Baumgartner said.

Baumgartner reeled up a 6.73 pound northern pike within the last 15 minutes of the event with cheers from the thousands of onlookers as he passed by.

"I just wanted to get it in," Baumgartner said. "I could hardly run."

Standing at the results board just after 3 p.m., he still had tears in his eyes from all the excitement.

Then he found out he was the winner of the new truck. He chose the GMC.

"I can't cry anymore — all the water is gone," Baumgartner said as he was named the winner. "We all come here to catch the biggest fish, I was just lucky enough to catch it."

This is the first fish that Baumgartner has caught in the tournament, though he's been coming for the past 10 years or more, he said.

This was the 25th anniversary of the Brainerd Jaycees event. With temperatures hovering above 30 degrees, a record crowd was expected. The current record stood at over 13,000 contestants. No official count was available at the time of publication.

Proceeds from the event go to over 40 charities in the Brainerd lakes area. The event is run completely by over 350 volunteers. In 25 years, the event has raised over $3 million.

A complete list of contest winners is available at http://icefishing.org/leaderboard/index.htm.
Proud Member of the CWCS.
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Offline Lee Borgersen

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      Largest charitable Ice fishing contest in the world. Minnesota

                             MN: Awesome drone vid...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lc_Ysm-yoI&feature=youtu.be
Proud Member of the CWCS.
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Member of Walleyes For Tomorrow.
www.walleyesfortomorrow.org

              Many BWCA Reports
http://leeslakegenevaguideservice.com/boundry_%2712.htm

If you help someone when they're in trouble, they will remember you when they're in trouble again