Jack Rangaard towed his ice fishing gear across Del Clark Lake on a sled he built himself. Rangaard was on his way to the two-hour fishing competition held as part of the Canby Classic ice fishing tournament on Saturday.

CANBY — The sun was shining, though the wind had a frosty bite out on Del Clark Lake Saturday.

Howevrr, the cold didn’t stop people from coming out of their ice fishing houses and picking a spot for the two-hour fishing contest

More than 150 people sat by holes drilled in the ice, hoping to get a bite.

Anglers Krystal Schmitt and Ryson Schmitt said they hadn’t had any nibbles so far. “But we’ve got two full hours,” Krystal said. “We’re hopeful we’ll get something.”

Both the two-hour fishing contest and a 24-hour fishing contest drew a good-sized crowd at the Canby Classic ice fishing tournament this weekend, said Casey Namken, with the Canby Sportsmen’s Club. A total of 361 people and 159 ice fishing houses gathered on Del Clark Lake for the 24-hour competition. The two-hour event on Saturday afternoon had 183 participants, Namken said.

“We had a perfect amount of people, and everyone had a good time,” he said.

Namken said it was hard to predict when and where the fish would be biting. While the 24-hour fishing contest filled out all the categories on its leaderboard, there were only 17 fish caught during the two-hour event.

Some of the participants at the two-hour fishing contest had also signed up for the 24-hour event that ran from Friday afternoon to Saturday afternoon.

Cody Stoll said he came to the fishing tournament with friends.

“I got one fish on the board,” a crappie, Stoll said.

He was taking a break from the longer tournament to try his luck at the two-hour event.

Of course, lots of the anglers out on the lake were there for the fun of it. “We caught a handful of fish, but nothing on the board,” said Jared Anhalt, of Canby. Anhalt was out on the ice with friends, including Starbuck resident Wade Jakobson. Jakobson said the camaraderie of getting together for the weekend was part of the fun of the fishing tournament.

Noah Swart, with the Lac qui Parle Soil and Water Conservation District, visited with anglers on the ice and played a trivia game about invasive lake species.

Swart said he had been at the Canby Classic in the past. This year, he said, “I thought it would be fun to have a little trivia to it.” Swart handed out prizes like coasters and towels for correct answers.

Jack Rangaard, from Canby, arrived at the two-hour contest towing his fishing gear in a sled he built from wood and lengths of metal pipe. “I made it last week,” Rangaard said.

For Rangaard, it wasn’t possible to narrow down the best thing about ice fishing. “I like everything,” he said.

“It’s just a fun time,” said angler Aarron Wrobleski, of Montevideo. Wrobleski said he used to go ice fishing near Brainerd, but he enjoyed the atmosphere of a smaller fishing tournament.