The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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Sunfish takes top prize at Big Bobber

Minnesota State graduate student Matt Bright took home the top prize at the 2010 Humminbird Big Bobber Ice Fishing Contest Saturday.
Bright, 24, an art student and avid ice fisherman, won $2,500 for his whopping .56 pound sunfish.
“Can you believe a liberal won a ice fishing contest?” he said.
Bright’s victory didn’t come easy. With 11 minutes left in the tournament, Sam Schutt weighed a .50 pound perch, good for second place.
“This has been the most agonizing 10 minutes of my life,” Bright said as he waited for the final horn to sound. He said he plans to buy an electric guitar with the winnings.
Gayland Hamilton of Kasota won $500 for 50th place with a .08 perch caught 14 minutes into the tournament, and Jeffrey Flynn of Mankato won $1,000 through a drawing for 100th place.
A total of 69 fish were caught (63 perch, five sunfish, one walleye).
— Doug Monson

Related Photos

  • Corey Cowell, Jr., 11, waits for a fish to bite during the Big Bobber Ice Fishing Tournament Saturday on Lake Washington. Pat Christman

    bobber 1

  • From left, Josh Smith Bobby Houlihan and Jason Myers eagerly watch for another bite on Houlihan’s line Saturday. Pat Christman

    bobber 2

  • Anglers get their lines in the water at Lake Washington in anticipation of a nibbling fish. Pat Christman

    bobber 3

February 7, 2010

Big Bobber contest draws a crowd, but few fish

Pat Christman The Free Press

MANKATO — People arrived in droves for the Humminbird Big Bobber Ice Fishing contest on Lake Washington Saturday. Fishermen came armed with buckets, rods and reels, fish finders and chairs ready to catch the big one.

The only thing missing were the fish.

Apparently no one told them that the annual benefit for the Maverick Scholarship Fund was going on this weekend and they needed to show up. Everyone else did, including a film crew for a Japanese reality television show (see related story in Outdoors). With hundreds of prizes at stake, surely the winner would need something more than one modest fish to win first place and $2,500.

Of course, the fishing’s good whether the fish are biting or not, especially when it’s for a good cause.

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