Ramblin' Outdoors: Despite no fishing, Walleye Challenge was fun

Despite the fishing portion of the Walleye Challenge not taking place, the event drew one heck of a crowd.

A few buddies and I did some fishing that morning anyway. Ice conditions were variable, with 3-6 inches in the area we were fishing on the west side of the lake. We picked up around 10 walleyes and a few smaller northerns, but nothing to write home about. Around noon, we packed it in and headed to Lanzi's On The Lake.

As per usual, Route 30 was lined up bumper-to-bumper, for 3/4 of a mile in each direction. Prizes upon prizes were given away; six "fish" prizes an hour for eight hours. All kinds of door prizes, from jet sleds, to ion augers, to sets of Heritage tip ups, not to mention a side-by-side and two 4-wheelers. The $60 entry fee is really nothing when you look at all the chances you have to win some rather high-end to very high-end prizes.

In my opinion, this was the easiest Walleye Challenge to make a call on because the ice conditions were so poor. Usually it is somewhat of a toss up whether to host the event or not. This year was a hard no. I felt the contestants took that a little better than usual.

Learn more from the full article, written by Jerrod Vila here.