Forest Lake ice fishing tourney is history

[Dragonsm]

http://www.startribune.com/outdoors/story/1471528.html

Historic ice fishing contest is history

By Doug Smith, Star Tribune

A slice of Minnesota lore is history.

The Forest Lake ice fishing contest, a longtime winter celebration that used to be one of the largest contests in the state and nation, has been put on ice for good - a victim of recent warm winters.

At it's heyday, it attracted 6,000 to 10,000 anglers.

The Hopkins Area Jaycees, which has sponsored the Golden Rainbow Ice Fishing Contest as a fundraiser, said Monday they are ending the contest for financial reasons.

The contest has been cancelled in three of the past five years because of poor ice conditions on Forest Lake, and those cancellations have left a sizable debt. The Jaycees had planned on moving the contest to Grand Rapids this winter, to ensure there was enough ice, but elected to kill it instead.

"After meeting with several banks, debt consolidation companies and financial advisers, the Hopkins Area Jaycees have found no other way but to no longer operate the Golden Rainbow Ice Fishing Contest," the Jaycees said in a statement.

"It is with deep sadness that this decision is made to end a dynasty."

The Jaycees bought the contest more than 10 years ago and used it to raise money for charity work. The group lost about $70,000 when the contest was cancelled in 2006 because of thin ice.

The largest ice fishing contest in the state and likely the nation, the Brainerd Jaycees $150,000 Ice Fishing Extravaganza, has mostly avoided the thin-ice woes and continues to attract about 10,000 anglers each winter. The Brainerd and Forest Lake events used to vie for the title of largest contest.

[Shack]

Kind of sad to hear of this, but figured as such!

Never ever did make it out to contest, but sure loved getting that flyer when I was young. I could read that thing for hours on end when I was a boy!

It was to hard to get the old man to drop the entry fee for both of us and also to get him to go ice fishing for that long was another story !

Then with the cheating years and the chaos, I just never went!

[TimR]

But a new contest is coming to fill its place.

Fishapalooza - 130,000 in cash and prizes. Google it - I can't post the HSOforum.

[so haaad]

Personally I think the new contest is going to be better for the Forest Lake area. Now it will be put on by the Forest Lake VFW rather than the Hopkins Jaycees.

2008 Forest Lake VFW FISHAPALOOZA Ice Fishing Contest

Tickets are now on sale for the 2008 Forest Lake ice fishing contest, which will take place February 16th, 2008 - noon to 3pm.

At well over $130,000 in cash and prizes, this will be the largest ice fishing contest in Forest Lake's history. It's also easy to get to at only 20 minutes from St. Paul or Minneapolis.

Prizes include a 2008 Ford F150, Arctic Cat ATV's, Ice Castle Fish Houses, Marcum Flashers and Underwater Cameras, Otter Portables, Strikemaster Augers, and much more.

92 KQRS will be broadcasting live the day of the event and a member of the KQ Morning Show will emcee the event.

Part of the proceeds will go to benefit the charities of the Forest Lake VFW post 4210, the Make-a-Wish foundation and Meals-on-Wheels.

For more info please visit our HSOforum at www.IceFishingForestLake.com

[Loogie]

The Forest Lake contest IS NOT history!!!

It's just not run by the Hopkins Jaycees anymore. It's now the Forest Lake VFW and is called Fishapalooza.

It's being held February 16th. They are a FM sponsor .

There HSOforum is www.icefishingforestlake.com

[Shack]

Jinx, double timed post! Almost a triple!

Cool to hear of this. I think I had heard something about a Apalooza occuring in Forrie town.

[Loogie]

New story in the Star Tribune about the contest and the new contest to replace.

http://www.startribune.com/531/story/1471528.html

[harvey lee]

And there a FM sponsors to boot.

http://www.icefishingforestlake.com/

[Shack]

Thanks Tom,

I knew I read about a Apalooza in Forrie Town on here some were!

Anyone else love getting those Ice fishing tourny flyers and reading during school and dreaming! I sure did!

[Loogie]

New story about this contest in the Pioneer Press today.

Story by Chris Niskanen

Forest Lake has lost one big ice-fishing contest but landed another.

The victim of thin ice and debt, the Golden Rainbow Ice Fishing Contest is gone for good, but two Forest Lake fishing buddies have scheduled a replacement.

The Fishapalooza Ice Fishing Contest, set for Feb. 16, is the brainchild of Jim Woods and Dan Luger, avid ice anglers who didn't want to see Forest Lake without a major ice-fishing contest.

"We were actually sitting in a fish house having a cold beer when we thought of it,'' Woods said. "Our theory was to keep a big contest in Forest Lake."

For more than two decades, the Golden Rainbow Ice Fishing Contest was one of the largest ice-fishing contests in the nation, attracting up to 8,000 people to Forest Lake, which had hosted the event since 1987.

But after poor ice conditions forced four cancellations since 2002, organizers decided to scrap the event. Its sponsor, the Hopkins Area Jaycees, planned to hold it this winter in Grand Rapids, Minn., but the group faced large debt after last year's cancellation. The Jaycees decided to give up on the event entirely.

Woods and Luger formed a corporation with a new sponsor, the Forest Lake VFW Post 4210. Fishapalooza is scheduled three weeks later than the Golden Rainbow event in hopes of avoiding thin ice.

Woods, a truck driver, said he is hoping for 10,000 entrants and wants his event to compete with a Brainerd contest that bills itself as "the world's largest ice fishing contest."

The

Brainerd Jaycees $150,000 Ice Fishing Extravaganza attracted more than 10,000 anglers last year, organizers say. It is scheduled for Jan. 26.

The Hopkins Jaycees bought the Golden Rainbow contest in 1995 from Bert Momsen, of Woodbury, and used the event as a fundraiser.

The prize money was good - up to $100,000 in cash and prizes and a first-place prize of a new pickup truck for the largest fish. Anglers also won prizes in a popular raffle.

Thin ice forced the contest's cancellation in 2002 and 2003, and again in 2006 and this year.

Earlier versions of the contest were held on other Twin Cities lakes. The origins of the name trace back to when organizers released tagged rainbow trout and gave prizes to anglers who caught them. The Department of Natural Resources made the practice illegal to discourage indiscriminate releasing of fish.

Fishapalooza will offer prizes and cash worth $130,000, including a new Ford pickup for the largest fish caught. Other prizes include a new all-terrain vehicle, fish houses and fishing equipment.

Woods said Fishapalooza will be a fundraiser for the VFW post, which supports a variety of charities, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Helping Hands Foundation. Tickets are $30 until Jan. 27, when they become $40.

Chris Niskanen can be reached at [email protected] or 651-228-5524.

Fishapalooza information: icefishingforestlake.com or 651-249-1091