Brothers Best at Bridge City
by chamber2387 ~ January 12, 2010
Saturday’s annual ice fishing tournament drew 800 anglers
BY John Papendick, jpapendick@aberdeennews.com
Published on Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Some- times, you can’t get to the biggest fish in the lake even if you know where it is located.
1st Place Winners of the 9th Annual Mobridge Chamber Ice Fishing Tournament. Corey and Casey Eisemann with Chamber Executive Director Cindy Melcher
That place for me this weekend was Mobridge.
That grand city – one of South Dakota’s best – became the nation’s ice fishing capital Saturday. For the ninth consecutive year, anglers made their way onto Lake Oahe for the Mobridge Chamber Ice Fishing Tournament.
This is one of those events that I hope to cover in person someday.
The tourney numbers are staggering. Eight hundred anglers in two-person teams were chasing more than $100,000 in cash and prizes. The 400-team tourney filled up in 10 days and had a waiting list.
The winning brother team of Corey Eisemann of Mobridge and Casey Eisemann of Selby caught six walleyes weighing 17.21 pounds to earn $500 plus prizes.
Officials said temperatures at the start of the tourney were hovering around 12 below with a 36-below wind chill. But that part didn’t matter to most as this is always an event flooded with fun. People already are marking the 2011 tourney date of Jan. 8 on their calendars.
Mine is marked as well. The trouble is, all my Saturdays from January to March are marked with a lot of things.
All the top five teams this year caught the limit of six fish except for the second place team of Brent Reilley and Corey Sandmeier of Selby. They caught four walleyes weighing 12.27 pounds, thanks to a 7.17-pound monster. Third place went to Jeff Gottbrecht of Lincoln, Neb., and Michael Kemnitz of Mobridge with 11.71 pounds followed by Levi Ackerman and Casey Thomas of Gettysburg with 10.5 pounds and Ray Davis and Dan Figuracion of Mobridge with 10.28 pounds.
The tourney has grown wildly in a short time. It started in 2002 with 50 anglers featuring $3,000 in cash and prizes. The fifth annual event in 2006 featured 248 anglers chasing $10,000 in cash and prizes.
The person coming the farthest for the 2010 tourney was from Amsterdam in the The Netherlands. Last year, the winner was from Nebraska.
For a complete list of the Tournament Standings please click here.