ELK RIVER — An annual ice fishing competition in Elk River more than tripled its typical turnout Saturday, inflating the winning purse to $1,610, but organizers and attendees said the grand prize is only a small part of the draw.
Dixie Stephens who, with her husband, owns the Elk River Lodge and General Store at the heart of town and organizes and sponsors the contest every year, said with 161 participants, Saturday’s ice fishing derby was the biggest in the event’s history.
Stephens said the competition has been around for at least 20 years and people from all over the region will drive out and pay the $10 entry free for the chance at a winner-take-all pot by catching the biggest trout of the day.
Saturday’s winning fish weighed in at 1.95 pounds, earning the lucky angler about $51.60 per ounce. However, Stephens said other competitors were entered into a raffle for a chance to win one of about 70 additional prizes ranging from T-shirts and cup koozies to a Damascus steel knife and even a Yeti brand cooler valued somewhere north of $200. She said almost all of the raffle prizes were donated by local businesses or vendors who work with the store.
Stephens said the store doesn’t make money directly off the event but it brings a boost to the entire town at a much needed time, making the effort and fees needed to organize the contest well worth it.
“(It’s) minimal for the amount of excitement that we bring to town and … winter is tough on our town,” she said. “You get some snowmobilers and stuff but in the summer, we’re packed; in the winter we’re not — and so we have to create avenues for that.”
Out on the ice, the atmosphere was largely cheerful. Small groups clustered here and there around blocky tents, laughing, drinking and reminiscing. Many crouched quietly over holes drilled in the 3-foot-thick ice, while others tromped through 6 inches of snow to chat with adjacent groups.
Through the lazy curtain of falling snow, yet more tents could be seen dotting the lake with children and dogs playing on the margins.
Randy Smith, who grew up in nearby Bovill but now lives in Moscow, said the opportunity to get out and socialize has always been the biggest draw for the event.
“I’ve done it for seven or eight years — second (place) is the best I’ve ever got,” Smith said. “The real reason we’re up here is just doing what we’re doing right now — just standing around bull****ing. The beer’s not bad either.”
In a typical year, Smith said, the grand prize is usually somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 and many are just as happy to take home one of the many raffle prizes.
Amos Dean said he and his wife Dani, of Santa, Idaho, have participated in the event for around 15 years but they’ve never won.
Amos said they’ve come close — winning second place twice — however he agreed with Smith that winning isn’t really the point. Seated contentedly in a special camp rocking chair, surrounded by his small family and with a bottle of peach brandy by his side, it was easy to see his point.
“When you’re an old man, it helps the fishing — it helps the joints for sure,” he joked.
Indicating the snowy landscape around him, his wife, daughter and son-in-law laughing nearby, Amos said the trip itself is a prize of its own.
“We love it out here. The other years, almost all the time we have sunshine and I sit in my rocking chair and I have my peach brandy and I go to sleep,” he said. “We may not catch the winning fish but we have a lot of fun.”
February 07, 2021 at 03:00PM
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