Our Shell Lake/Spooner fishing team’s first event was the WIFA 200 Challange. We placed 10th in a field of 41 schools from across the state. The Wisconsin Interscholastic Fishing Association (WIFA) hosted this first of its kind event. Each participating school picked the water and day it would fish. Coaches photographically recorded fish measurements as well as each lucky angler using the Fishdonkey app. The app allows the host to verify measurements and tally team scores. It also allows everybody to see how the competition is doing in real time.
The total inches of a team’s largest 20 fish, regardless of species, was their score. Northern Pike were our primary target. Averaging longer than most fish, northern can rack up points fast, assuming you can catch them. On January 21, we hit the ice for a dawn to dusk day of fishing. It was cold but not unbearable. Still the hot dogs got cold before you could get the catsup on.
Things started out pretty bleak. More than 2 hours past and we hadn’t gotten a single flag. Fortunately, the northerns began a slow but steady bite during the mid-day hours. The 7 team members that could make the event racked up 434 inches. The lake we fished shall remain anonymous.
Teams meeting the 200 inch minimum are eligible for one of five $250 prizes to be drawn at random at the state tournament in February. Not all the teams got 200 inches so we have a 1 in 6 chance.