ST. HELEN — Darek Thompson, of Attica, spent the weekend at Saint Helen with a number of his friends, ice fishing on Lake Saint Helen. The group have their own little tournament, complete with trophies. Thompson didn’t win the trophy for the largest pike, but his fish may catch him a bigger prize.
Thompson was fishing Saturday, Jan. 15, when it was getting close to dark. He started bringing in the tip-ups they were using, when the flag on his went up, indicating “fish on”!
“When he got close, I saw something. I thought he had gotten caught up in the weeds,” Thompson said.
After landing the fish he noticed it was a tag, not weeds.
“I wasn’t sure what it was from. I thought it was one of the DNR tags. After I got home, I googled fishing tournaments and found it.”
What Thompson found, was that he had caught one of the tagged fish in the Houghton Lake Area Tourism Bureau’s Catch Us If You Can fishing contest. The contest runs year-around, ending on March 15 each year, and beginning again March 16.
Thompson will receive a $50 gas card for registering the tagged pike, and will be entered into the grand prize drawing that will be held in April, 2022. There he will have a chance to win a grand prize of $100,000 and Lund boat from Spicer’s Boat City as an adult angler. 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 sponsored by Pioneer Hills Marine, will be awarded to a third angler.
Youth anglers (under 17 years old) catching a tagged fish 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, in Roscommon County. 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 Motel.
For more information on the contest, please 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.
