HOUGHTON LAKE ‘ Jeff Reed of Rochester was more than excited when he discovered the 19 and three-quarter inch lake trout he landed while fishing on Higgins Lake was tagged. He asked his fishing partner and friend, Bob Stockton of Higgins Lake, what the yellow tag meant. Stockton said it was a tag from the Houghton Lake Area Tourism Bureau’ Catch Us If You Can fishing contest.
Reed had his catch verified at contest sponsor Lyman’ on the Lake and received a $50 gas card purchased from the Schmuckal Oil Shell station in Houghton Lake.
He also is eligible for the April 2017 grand prize drawing at Spicer’ Boat City in Houghton Lake. The grand prize is $100,000 and a Lund boat from Spicer’. There is a guaranteed major prize of $500 cash and $500 in prizes.
The second-place prize is a Mark Martin Ice Fishing School valued at $500.
Reed, who has been fishing Higgins Lake in Roscommon County for more than 10 years, said the ice fishing has been great.
‘There are a lot of fish in Higgins Lake. I usually go for the lake trout,’ Reed said. ‘The largest lake trout I have taken from the lake was about 18 pounds. I caught many last winter and have already had good success this year.’
The Catch Us If You Can contest has more than 200 tagged fish in Michigan’ Other Great Lakes (Higgins Lake, Houghton Lake and Lake St. Helen). The contest is open to anyone required to have a valid Michigan Fishing License, or their children, and runs from June 1, 2016 to March 15.
Anglers can bring their tagged fish in for verification at Lyman’, H&H Fireworks in Houghton Lake, Korbinski’ Marine in Prudenville, West Higgins Lake Hardware, or Trail’ End Motel in St. Helen.
For more information on the contest, contact the HLATB office at 1-989-422-2002, 1-800-676-5330 or email info@visithoughtonlake.com. Contest rules are found on www.visithoughtonlake.com.
