HOUGHTON LAKE— The Catch Us If You Can fishing contests sponsored by the Houghton Lake Tourism Bureau has received their first two entries.
On April 12, Kara Hood of Houghton Lake caught a tagged bass. While fishing Houghton Lake with her husband. “We’ve seen them (tagged fish) before, and threw them back,” Kara said. “We got this big bass, around 21”. It was a fun fish to catch,” she said.
Kara saw a post on social media about tagged fish. She took a picture of it since it wasn’t bass season at the time and took the pictures to Lyman’s on the Lake where her catch was verified. She received a $50 gas card and was entered into the contest.
John Houvener of Sanford caught the second tagged fish in the contest. John was fishing Houghton Lake April 30 when he caught the 17 ½” small mouth bass.
John has a 20-year tradition of fishing the walleye opener.
“It started off great,” John said. “We caught lots of walleye in the morning. That afternoon I caught my personal best 40 ½” northern pike. We were trolling to the north launch when I caught the small mouth. My friend, Evan noticed the tag.”
Adult anglers catching tagged fish are eligible for a chance to win a grand prize of $100,000 and a Lund boat from Spicer’s Boat City. There is a guaranteed major prize of $1000 cash. The second-place prize is a Mark Martin Ice Fishing School valued at $500. A prize packet will be awarded to a third angler sponsored by Pioneer Hills Marine.
Youth anglers (under 17 years old) are eligible to win a $250 cash prize and a new kayak, sponsored by Art-Y-Facts of Roscommon.
More than 100 tagged fish are swimming in Houghton Lake, Higgins Lake, and Lake St. Helen. Anglers can bring their tagged fish in for verification at Lyman’s on the Lake in Houghton Lake, Korbinski’s Marine in Prudenville; The Sports Barn in Higgins Lake, or in St. Helen at The Minnow Bucket at Exit 222 or Trails Inn.
The fishing contest runs year-round, from March 16, 2023, through March 15, 2024.
