This is why its called fishing....and not catching

[DTro]

ALEXANDRIA, Minn. - Thousands of anglers turned out for the 11th annual Alexandria Ice Fishing Challenge over the weekend, but the fish stayed away.

About 2,200 anglers came to Lake Agnes in Alexandria Saturday for what is billed as Minnesota's second-largest ice fishing tournament. But remarkably, no one caught a fish during the three-hour contest.

Each of the top 100 finishers were to receive at least $100 in prize money, with a top prize of $10,000 for the biggest fish caught.

Event co-chair Eddie Reif (reyef) tells KSAX-TV that the one thing organizers could not control was the fish — "unfortunately, they just didn't bite."

DNR area fisheries supervisor Dean Beck says the lake was well stocked with fish and there was a good supply of oxygen in the water, but low barometric pressure and a quick temperature rise could have kept fish from biting.

[pushbutton]

sugar lake in wright county also had a tourney that day, obviously not as big(i think about 250), but same result......not one fished caught!!!

[TruthWalleyes]

So what did they do with the $$

[McGurk]

That blows, too bad for the tourney. Might turn people off for future dates for that contest.

[TooTallTom]

So what did they do with the $$

I'm thinking about that post a while back asking about the bet for first, biggest, and most fish. What happens if only one person catches a fish?

[MN BassFisher]

Wow, all those people and not even one dinky fish caught. That's crazy! Imagine if the winner caught a 2.5" sunfish and walked away with a top prize (Truck, ATV, Fish House). That would have been comical.

[DTro]

I have a friend who won a new Strikemaster Auger by taking second place with a 3oz sunfish a few weeks ago.

[MN BassFisher]

I have a friend who won a new Strikemaster Auger by taking second place with a 3oz sunfish a few weeks ago.

Haha that's great!

[LeRoy_Metz]

was the contest sponcered by PETA ?

[Kyhl]

I'm thinking about that post a while back asking about the bet for first, biggest, and most fish. What happens if only one person catches a fish?

In the full article they mention that a kid caught and released a perch. Doh!

[Ice_Fishin07]

I heard that they did not give any of the prizes. I know a guy who was there, he said that lot of people who were there thought that they would raffle all the prizes. But the tournament committee didn't raffle the prizes, I guess there were few [PoorWordUsage] off people there.

I went to a small local tournament last year, only 2 guys caught small dinky perch and won 1st and 2nd prize and they raffle away rest of the prizes.

[IceHawk]

Heard they didn't raffle off the prizes were going to ad them to next yrs prizes. If this is true there are sure to be some unhappy anglers!

[Swimmer]

The full article said a kid caught and released a perch? OOOch. That is a huge Dohhhh.

[CJH]

was the contest sponcered by PETA ?

[mrklean]

haha thats awesome

[BobT]

I guess I'm not the only one that gets skunked now and then.

[slipperybob]

Everybody was trying the catch something big, but not something small or anything.

[firedew]

Everybody was trying the catch something big, but not something small or anything.

Thats crazy,any fish is worth registering at a tourney like that.

[ChuckN]

Everybody was trying the catch something big, but not something small or anything.

Incorrect. Lots of people tried to catch everything and anything, including myself. It was the strangest fishing experiences of all time. Three hours with my eyes strictly on my Marcum and only saw 2 small fish off the bottom. We fished the smallest jigs known to man, no fish were interested!

Fishing at home the rest of the weekend yielded similar results....almost nothing! One small perch for mornings, evenings and 2 full nights in the fishhouse.

[TruthWalleyes]

I'm simply amazed that nobody out of 2,200 ppl cheated!

[Big Tom]

Lakeshore on Agnes is prolly going to be a lot cheaper...not a huge selling point when 2k people can't get any fish.

[walleye365]

Agreed 100%.

[GotALunker]

sponsored by PETA..

ha that's good!

[HardTopFowler]

This was the first year that had the tourney on that lake.... said they moved it for economic reasons... they choose a spot on the lake that 1) none of the locals fish during the winter 2) the spot was next to the water treament plant puts it's run-off into the lake 3) they kept the money and will add it to next year's prizes...

Saw a lot of bottle bass caught though!

[woodspliter]

The article I read said they couldn't raffle the prizes because they didn't have a raffle permit.