Must watch ice fishing video. Go USA!

[Rick G]

Looks like a couple guys from FM/HSO are going to be there. Congrats and good luck Cyberfish and Juan Arellano.

[Northlander]

Good luck you guys. Congrats on making the team Mike. You will fit right in.

[buzbunni]

Attaboy Mike.

REPRESENT!

[Zenit]

I serve as the International Delegate for the USA Ice team (that's me in the AJ-Z video in the first post, talking about the "anti-doping" clause in the rules) , and I was out at Big Eau Pleine Reservoir this past weekend for the 2013 Ice Team tryouts, held next February in Wausau, WI. We had a total 29 anglers signed up to compete for 10 open spots on the squad. The bite on the reservoir was not exactly hopping, owing to lake and oxygen levels being down, murky run off water, etc. - but that is a pretty good duplication of what happens during international competition in Europe. Using a combination of both speed trials (total # of fish per trial, catch & release) and total weight trials, the field was wittled down to 20 sportsment for the finals on Sunday, 8-11 am local. The events in the two zones went down to the last minute, and as a result this was by far our closest qualification tournament yet. We've got a strong team, with a good mix of returning veterans (including about half the guys who went to Kazakhstan this past February, and 4-5 gold medalists from the 2010 team which won it all in Rhinelander that year) and new faces that more than ably demonstrated their merit and skills this past weeken, like Mike and Juan.

I got a chance to meet both Mike and Juan this last weekend, althogh I seemed to have been a judge in Juan's zones more often than in Mike's. I think it is great to see Minnesota represent and get some fellow Minnesotans on the squad - the last couple of years, the team has been dominated by sportsmen from Michigan and Wisconsin, with a few from Illinois in there for good measure.

If Mike gets a competition ice fishing league going locally around the metro next season, I hope that a lot of you will come out and try it. It seems a bit strange at first, not very similar to how we fish, all this microfishing with 2-3mm jigs and palm rods, racing around a predetermined zone with hole markers and hand augers - but after a while, it does get under your skin a bit, and as Mike and Juan can both attest to, it requires a LOT of patience, skill, understanding about ice/water conditions, and a competitive drive that doesnt know the meaning of the word quit.

Since I started with the USA Ice Team, I have a new appreciation for my 4.5" Nils hand auger, that much I can say

Even though the trials just ended and there is a long way to go until Wausau 2013, for a lot of us on the Ice Team staff the REAL work now begins. We expect representatives from all of other 10 countries that were in Kazakhstan, plus Canada returning, and there may be a few new entries (a team from the UK and also from Japan have been talked about.) You can keep up with news about X WIFC 2013 in Wausau by regulary checking out the USA Ice team HSOforum at http://www.usaiceteam.com, where updates will be posted regularly; the NAIFC Tournament Series is actually a separate entity, but a sister organization that actually helps out the Ice Team efforts a lot, the NAIFC HSOforum http://www.naifc.com and their forums there are excellent sources of news and events surrounding the Ice Team.

Lastly, although we right now have some great sponsors in Cabela's, St. Croix, Kahtoola, etc., we're always looking to bring more on board; the USA Ice Team is administered under the auspices of the United States Freshwater Fishing Federation, a non-profit corporation, and most expenses for the Ice Team are self-funded by the participants. Donations to the Ice Team and USF3 are both tax deductible. Our guys usually do a good job of having some fun doing fund raisers; I am a member of the Anoka chapter of the American Legion, and I think Juan has a couple connections to that post as well, I'm looking to organize a late fall pig-roast team fundraiser & seminar there.

If any of you have any questions, please feel free to drop me a PM or send me an email via HSO.

Sean.

[Zenit]

Also, the Al Jazeera English Service did a slightly lengthier report at:

The AJZ-E correspondent,, Robin, was a real hoot. Props to him for trying out the hand auger and finding out that it is not as easy as it looks. Some of those European teams can work that offset handle auger at speeds that would astonish you.

FWIW, once you get the hang of that two handed offset handle on the Euro auguers, you will never go back to the North American style that we're accustomed to. Both arms working with the offset, much faster and less tiring. All the guys on the 2012 Ice Team used off-sets, mostly from Nils, with a few Swedish models and the new Strikemaster offset 4 inchers also being used.

Also, Relax Lures did a 9 part video report on IX WIFC Kazkahstan, can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/user/relaxlures

[Cyberfish]

Nice post!Thanks for all your hard work helping to make this happen Sean!

[ski_otter]

But then again Kazakhstan is the greatest coun-try in the world. All the other countries are run by lit-le girls. Kazakhstan in Asias #1 exporter of potassium, all other countries have inferior potassium...

[Stick in Mud]

I was wondering when the Borat jokes would commence.