February 17, 2022 Comments (0) Fishing Notebook, Home Page

150 anglers fish Camp Autumn

By Steve Weisman

Cold temperatures couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm of 150 anglers on Saturday, February 12 – both young and old – who took to the ice on Camp Autumn Lake near Sutherland for the third annual Camp Autumn Fishing Tournament and Fundraiser!

According to Adam Lybarger, Camp Autumn Camp/tournament director, “It was a brisk morning, but the winds were light, and it ended up being the perfect ice fishing day! A special thanks to Mud on Main Coffee House & Roastery from Cherokee for making sure everyone started the day warmed up and to Spencer HyVee for warming everyone back up after fishing time ended with a nice bowl of hearty chili.”

The first 50 kids received 26″ Ultra-Light Mitchell Avocet Rz Ice combos already spooled with line from the Iowa Great Lakes Fishing Club and handmade/hand-painted custom jig from Catch of the Day (Gary Koelling from Spirit Lake). Lybarger noted, “They were really nice combos, and lots of fish were taken on the fishing outfits.

In addition, the IGLFC provided additional shacks, heaters, fishing gear and drilling additional holes if anglers needed a little assistance.

Bite takes off

According to Lybarger, “The tournament started off a little slow this year, but it didn’t take too long for the flags to start waving, and then they never stopped! Lots of large crappies and bluegills were taken, along with quite a few smaller largemouth bass. Since it was a catch and release tournament, when fish were caught, a flag was raised and a volunteer from the IGLFC would come over and measure the length of the fish, enter that length on the angler’s tally sheet and then the fish was returned to the water. Anglers could tally their top five bluegills and crappies, along with their single largest bass.

Prizes were awarded to the top three placers in the bluegill, crappie and bass divisions. The first place prizes were provided by Stan’s Bait and Tackle, the second place prizes were provided by Oak Hill Outdoor (they also provided all the live bait for participants), and the third place prizes were provided by No Limits Outdoors of Spencer.

Here are the results in the crappie division:

1^stPlace: Ayden Hass – 63.75”
2^ndPlace: Melody Cullett – 63.25”
3^rdPlace: Foster Roos – 59.25”

Here are the results in the bluegill division:

1^st Place: Harrison Daniels – 45”
2^nd Place: Candace Daniels – 43.5”
3^rd Place: Adam Bousema – 42”

Here are the results in the bass division:

1^stPlace: Easton Beehler – 14.5”
2^ndPlace: Melody Cullett – 10.75”
3^rdPlace: Gage Heeren – 5.5”

A special award was given by Shane Akin of Great Lakes Guide Service to the youngster who caught the largest fish of the tournament. The prize was a ½ day fully guided fishing trip along with a parent/adult. Lybarger said with a smile, “Would you believe that Ayden Hass and JT Haas tied for the award with 14” crappies! Right away, Shane said he’d give a ½ day guided trip for each youngster!”

Another special prize was donated by Shook’s of Okoboji. Anglers had the opportunity to fish from a Snook’s chair for five minutes at a time on a first come, first serve basis throughout the tournament. The person who caught the biggest fish from the Snook’s Ice Hole won a free Adirondack chair (standard size) from Snook’s. Drake Booth won that prize with a 13.25” crappie.

Lybarger discussed the importance of the tournament. “We love having a tournament that is fun for everyone from the first timers who get to borrow some gear and a bit of knowledge from the IGLFC to the serious anglers who have the opportunity to fish a great fishery with some really nice fish to be caught and the chance to win some great prizes from our sponsors!”

Being on the ice is not always about ice fishing, as evidenced by the kids sliding on the ice, toasting marshmallows on an open fire along with a warming cup of hot chocolate. IGLFC president Terry Thomsen also demonstrated cleaning fish, while Iowa DNR conservation officer Joe Yarkosky shared ice safety tips.

Success for Camp Autumn

Lybarger was ecstatic with the results of the tournament/fundraiser. “Thank you to all of our wonderful sponsors for helping us put on such a great event and to all of the participants who showed up on a cold morning to have some fun with us and raise funds for our camp scholarship program to help bring kids to Camp Autumn this coming summer! We would like to take a moment now to recognize all 26 (yes, 26!!!!) sponsors for this year’s tournament. We couldn’t put this event on without their amazing support, and we have been blessed this year with an outpouring of support for this tournament and our camp program! Through this tournament/fund raiser, a total of $12,223 was raised for our Camp Autumn Scholarship Fund to help bring kids to camp in the summer.”