Fife Lake hosted their annual ice fishing derby Saturday. They’ve been holding the event since 2017.
“It’s a great community event,” said manager Amanda Gwizdala. “Everybody loves to go out there and have fun. Some people come out for the sport, and it’s great to see the kids getting involved.”
Gwizdala said they had over 250 people registered for the event, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. “I’ve only seen about 20 fish come up to the winner board,” she said.
The winner of it all has been ice fishing for years, but this is his first year competing in Fife Lake’s derby.
Jason Napodano moved to Fife Lake from Minnesota and ended up taking home the grand prize.
“I heard about it a couple years ago,” Napodano said. “I been wanting to do it for a few years, and I finally got the chance to get out here and do it.”
It may have been his first year, but he came to win. “I kind of had some confidence. I caught some fish with my kids earlier and we put GPS spots on my phone, so when I went out to go catch this thing I went out to one of the spots we were catching the fish on my phone,” he said.
He says there was good competition, even with many not being able to make it out to compete due to the weather.
He plans to defend his title at next year’s derby, and loved getting the chance to meet so many people in his area that love the sport as much as he does.
“Everybody gets to hoot and holler when you catch a fish and you give a wave,” Napodano said.
