Comet ice team ends winter on high note

WAUPACA – The Waupaca High School Ice Fishing Team took fourth place out of 92 teams at the Wisconsin Interscholastic Fishing Association’s ice fishing state championship. Earlier in the winter, they defended their home ice at the Waupaca Chain O’ Lakes Invite by taking first place and they also won a North/South tournament after that.
The state championship ice angling venue stretched from Lake Wausau, Half Moon Lake, Lake DuBay, Big Eau Pleine and the Stevens Point Flowage. Teams were free to fish any of those bodies of water.
The fishing time limit was from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 21. The Comet team converged at the high school parking lot at 3:30 a.m. with gear prepared the night before. One student-angler overslept despite later claims of having set three alarms clocks. The team swung by his home, banged on the door and roused him out of bed and into his parka, bibs and boots. This was important: there was a limit of twelve anglers per team and Waupaca fielded eleven anglers on the ice. One less angler meant less hooks in the water and every hook counted.
Per rules, the only way teams could access the ice was through public property, which mostly means boat landings. Because of last week’s warm weather, no vehicles or ATVs were allowed on the ice. The landing at Lake DuBay was a mob scene and at 6:30 the ice anglers made a mad dash to their predetermined hot spots. It was described as the start of a cross-country race but one with everyone wearing snow boots, heavy outerwear and pulling small sleds. Waupaca’s secret spot was a mile and a half away. Fishing started at 7 a.m. They fished a shallow stump field and later in the day moved to Big Eau Pleine.
They caught a total of 405 inches of fish composed of pike, bass, walleye, bluegill, crappie and perch. The largest Comet-caught northern pike was 29.5 inches. The biggest pike caught in the tournament was 39.5 inches.
Winneconne took first, West De Pere came in second and Freedom took third.