The heavy rain moved out just in time Saturday morning for Carly Ball to blast the horn at 10 a.m. to start the Last Chance Hardwater Shoot-Out on Cedarville Bay.
This is the last of the three EUP Ice Fishing Circuit competitions. The other two were the Munuscong Bay Hardwater Walleye Classic and the Steve Tassier Memorial Ice Fishing Tournament.
Two hundred anglers, of all ages, fished 253 holes hoping to catch a fish and a big prize that went along with it.
Each hole cost $50 to drop a line in. Some anglers bought more than one hole hoping to increase their chances in landing a fish.
But before the horn blasted, volunteers spent Friday evening drilling 325 holes in the 26-inch thick ice on the shallow bay.
Wilderness Treasures owners, Thomas and Carly Ball hosted the event and wanted to end the fishing season with a different kind of competition. Islands Wildlife also helped organize the event.
So they looked west where ice fishing is also popular.
"We always wanted to do something different because we kind of get used to doing the same over and over. We have seen these big events over in Minnesota and Wisconsin and we thought, why can't we do something like that in Northern Michigan? We always have ice. And I want everyone to utilize that and come to our area because of that reason," Mr. Ball said.
"It's a good community event. Luckily the weather turned out okay. It's more of a community event than a tournament. You can sit around each other and joke and not be so competitive," said angler, Cody Mayer.
Amazingly, only one fish was caught in the four-hour event.
Andrew Ordiway caught a pike in the first 45 minutes earning him first prize.
However, all other prizes were given away from entry tickets to the event.
The prizes, totaling $20,000, were given away at Les Cheneaux Distillers after the shootout wrapped up at 2 p.m.
