A participant in the 2020 Mustang Classic keeps an eye on his line on Lake Sarah. This weekend, the annual ice fishing derby will be held using a virtual format.

MARSHALL — For many area residents, the coldest part of the winter is the time to head out onto the ice and enjoy some fishing. COVID-19 has changed that scene a little, with some large ice fishing contests — and area contests like the Mustang Ice Classic — switching to virtual formats this year.

However, in spite of the changes there’s still plenty of interest in ice fishing.

For the Mustang Ice Classic, “We’ve had the most pre-registrations prior to the event than ever before,” said Mike Van Drehle, alumni director at Southwest Minnesota State University. The contest will be kicking off with a virtual format this weekend. Instead of anglers gathering on Lake Sarah, they can take part from any frozen lake they choose.

“This year, the challenge is that we can’t physically gather on the lake,” Van Drehle said Tuesday. For COVID-19 safety reasons, the fishing contest couldn’t get a permit to have a physical fishing tournament. Instead, anglers can submit photos of their catches through a phone app, to be verified by judges.

Limits on large gatherings hasn’t stopped Minnesotans from enjoying ice fishing this year.

Area anglers have shown strong interest in ice fishing this season, said Jeremy Barck, at Borch’s Sporting Goods in Marshall. Barck said it didn’t necessarily show in terms of the number of fishing licenses bought — Minnesota fishing licenses last until Feb. 28 each year, so many anglers already have licenses by January and February, unless they’re specifically interested in ice fishing.

But, Barck said, “There were a lot of new people too, this year.” A lot of people were also interested in equipment like ice augers or fishing shelters, he said.

What may have hurt ice fishing a little this season was warmer temperatures earlier this winter, Barck said. It’s taken a while for the ice on area lakes to be thick enough to fish on.

Fishing license sales and ice shelter numbers did go up over the past year, said Dan Ruiter, south region information officer for the Minnesota DNR.

“Angling licenses, by and large, were about 10% higher,” Ruiter said. From March 1 through Dec. 31, there were about 1.16 million angling licenses sold in Minnesota, compared to about 1.06 million in the same time period in 2019. Those numbers will likely change a little by the end of the license year on Feb. 28.

The number of licensed ice fishing shelters in Minnesota also went up significantly over the past year, Ruiter said. As of Wednesday, there were 56,262 licensed ice shelters, compared to 43,309 licensed in 2019.

“That’s about a 30% increase,” he said.

Ruiter said anglers should remember the fishing license year goes from March 1 through Feb. 28. While people will be able to purchase new licenses starting Feb. 18, they won’t go into effect until March 1.

While COVID-19 restrictions have led some large Minnesota ice fishing contests to go virtual, other area contests have still gone on, Barck said. The Canby Fire Department and Canby Sportsman’s Club held their annual ice fishing contest at Del Clark Lake last weekend. On the contest’s Facebook page, organizers said attendance was up from last year.

Organizers of the Mustang Ice Classic hope that support will stay strong for this weekend’s contest. Being able to hold a three-day virtual tournament will allow a broader range of people to take part in the contest, Van Drehle said. Alumni or friends of SMSU could participate from across the country.

“I think people like that they can go anywhere for this tournament. But the true test will be to see how many we have register for the day of the event,” Van Drehle said.