Colfax ice fishing team places tenth at state competition

by Marlys Kruger

In their second year as a Club team, ten members of the Colfax High School ice fishing team (known as the Ice Vikes) placed tenth of 53 teams in the Wisconsin Interscholastic Fishing Association (WIFA) state competition held in Shawano on February 20.

Ice fishing is the fastest growing sport in the state but it is not sanctioned by the WIAA as of yet. Students generally do fundraisers to help pay for the costs which include tournament fees, equipment (if needed) and travel costs. According to the WIFA website, their mission is “Committed to education, conservation and management of our natural resources while building an understanding of our aquatic ecosystems and sciences. Our primary goals are to get students involved in the outdoors and to become ambassadors of our sport through the foundation of spirited competition”.

The Colfax team began two years ago under the direction of history teacher Mike Dombrowski, who started a team in New Auburn when he taught there before coming to Colfax. The team tries to get in at least 3-4 tournaments before the state meet but poor ice conditions this year forced cancellations of many of them. The Ice Vikes did manage to get into the Bruce meet on Hemlock Lake and placed fourth.

The team left school at 3:30 a.m. the day before the Saturday tournament to pre-fish the exact hours of the tournament which were from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

“We found fish early but they tended to be on the small side so our strategy was to move often,” Dombrowski said. “The kids fished hard but right around noon, just like the weatherman predicted, wind gusts of 40-50 mph hit and the fish ducked for cover”.

They were eager to get started the next day and at 7:00 sharp, Jacob Steinke and Zach Meyer, who were designated as the panfish team went to the east end of the lake. In less than 40 minutes they had filled out their crappie quota and had a nice bluegill and a jumbo perch. With points being scored by the size of a certain amount of panfish and gamefish added together, it was important for each group to get the type of fish needed for scoring. Ross Taylor landed a nice northern and Trevor Seston pulled in a good sized pike as well, according to Dombrowski.

Ben Christianson, Jack Edwards and Chris Scharlau were on the west side of the lake where Scharlau pulled in the team’s only largemouth bass of the day. Seston, Trey Gullickson and Alex Sykora were coming up with some perch and northerns and Sykora caught all the three inch perch anyone needed. The team needed to fill out their bluegill limit but they weren’t snaring any big ones and with 30 minutes left, they needed a northern and a few more perch. Seston pulled in the fifth northern and with four minutes to go, Seston landed a 19 inch northern that was two inches bigger then one of their other ones, which after everything was measured, put them in tenth place. The final northern Seston caught and Sykora’s four inch perch made the difference between receiving a plaque for tenth place or not getting one.

“It was a great showing for the kids from Colfax,” Dombrowski said. “With 53 teams from alll over the state, they fished to the end and brought some hardware back to the school. Some of our kids have a lot of experience in the sport, and some are just learning. It is a great sport to be involved with during the winter months here in Wisconsin,” he added.

The team will compete in their first open water tournament May 14 which is sponsored by the National Guard on Red Cedar Lake.