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A good day for ice fishing

Hundreds of fish were reeled in at annual tournament in Lake Benton

Photo by Jenny Kirk Kinsley and Jaxton Beer are all smiles as their dad, Justin Beer, holds up the 1-pound perch Kinsley reeled in during the Lake Benton Sportsman’s Club 5th annual Ice Fishing Tournament on Saturday.

LAKE BENTON — Hundreds of fish houses were scattered around Lake Benton as more than 450 people braved the cold, blustery conditions to take part in the Lake Benton Sportsman’s Club 5th annual Ice Fishing Tournament on Saturday.

More than 550 fish were already registered with an hour still remaining in the contest. When 11-year-old Jackson Kerkaert brought in a big northern, everyone seemed to be holding their breath as the fish was being measured and weighed.

“Northerns have to be 24 inches this year,” Lindsey Johnson said. “That’s the state rule now, so we have to abide with it. There was one walleye that came in, but it was short. It was only 13 inches and they have to be 15 inches to register for this tournament.”

Kerkaert’s northern ended up being 24 inches long and weighed 3.46 pounds.

“It felt good,” he said to hear that the fish qualified. “It’s exciting. It was not the best fight, but right when the (northern’s) head entered the hole, it snapped the line. Luckily, we got it in.”

Kerkaert’s 8-year-old brother, Justin, agreed that it was a close call.

“My mom and me had to try grabbing it and it almost got back in the hole,” Justin Kerkaert said.

While the catch could net the youngster some solid cash, his dad, Matt Kerkaert, said the best part was just the experience.

“He was really excited,” Matt Kerkaert said. “That’s what this tournament is all about, is the kids. It was awesome. We were here last year, too. They do a really great job.”

Kerkaert noted that he and his sons caught some decent fish last year in the tournament, so they went back to the same spot. But like all good fishermen, he wouldn’t elaborate.

“It’s somewhere in the tournament area,” he said.

Event organizer Matt Eickhoff was pleased with the overall turnout.

“It’s going really good,” he said. “We’ve had a very good turnout for as many tournament that are in the area.”

Johnson, who has volunteered to help out each year, kept track of all the fish being brought in. This year marked the first that she was the one to weigh them as well.

“It’s been mostly perch, but then we’ve also had three blue gill come in and one northern,” she said. “This is the first blue gill that I’ve seen come in to get registered in five years. I think that’s good for the lake.”

Garrett Petersen, president of Lake Benton Sportsman’s Club, admitted that there’s a lot of effort that goes into hosting the ice fishing tournament.

“We had people out plowing roads,” Petersen said. “In places, there’s a good foot of snow or better. But we’re very fortunate to have ice. We’re sitting on pretty much 21 inches of ice.”

Prior to Saturday, Petersen said boundaries were set up on the east side of the lake.

“It’s to control the fishing area,” he said. “So there’s quite a bit of work that goes into the tournament. I’m extremely happy with the turnout, though, especially considering the conditions of the ice and the weather. The fishing has been excellent. We’ve had a lot of fish being brought in.”

Petersen was excited to hear about the blue gills being caught, but he wasn’t as surprised that the walleyes weren’t biting.

“The blue gills are in the lake, but you don’t usually see people catching them in the wintertime near as much,” Petersen said. “It’s pretty cool to see a few come in. The walleyes are there, too, but we have an overpopulation of bait. They’re just well fed.”

Lake Benton youth Caedmon Bressler brought in several perch contained in a Ziploc bag. Accompanying him were Blake DeVries and Bressler’s cousin Brecken Forster.

“It’s been fun,” Bressler said about the experience. “The fishing was better this morning. We got a bunch of little walleyes.”

Bressler said he was in the fish house with his grandpa, while his dad and one of his friends were in another fish house nearby.

Hendricks resident Justin Beer enjoyed fishing with his two children — 6-year-old Kinsley and 5-year-old Jaxton, who both reeled in nice perch.

“Kinsley caught the 1 pound perch and Jaxton caught one earlier that was three-fourths of a pound, so they’re having fun,” Beer said.

Of course, people also had fun trying to snag the smallest catch of the day. Several candidates were registered and released — at least 400 of the registered fish were released back into the lake.

Prizes were given to all of the kids participating. A variety of other prizes were also handed out throughout the day and after the tournament.

“We go around asking for donations, soliciting prizes,” Petersen said. “We gave an 8-foot by 16-foot Ice Castle away (Saturday morning). Leslie Lueck of Lake Benton won it. That’s an $18,000 fish house. We sell tickets all year. They’re $100 apiece and we only sell 200 tickets.”

Shaun Thomas won the second-place prize, which was a 2,000-watt Honda generator. The third-place prize, a Vexilar FL-18 fish finder, went to Chris Zent.

Petersen said the first-place prize in January 2020 will be different, but will still have a retail value of $18,000.

“Next year, we’ll be giving away the Ranger with the portable Otter fish house in the back,” he said. “Second place will be a Green Mountain pellet grill and third place is an Aqua-Vu underwater camera. We’re just changing it up a little next year.”

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