The 17th annual Cuyuna Lakes Chamber Ice Fishing Contest will be held Saturday, February 6th, from 12 PM to 3 PM.

This contest is being held on any public lake in Minnesota. After you catch a fish, you enter it into the contest to win cash, gift cards to Cuyuna Lakes’ bars and restaurants, prize packages, and more. There will be more than $4,000 worth of prizes awarded.

To register for the competition, contestants must use the FishDonkey app or register at the Cuyuna Lakes Chamber Office on West Main Street in Crosby. The link to FishDonkey’s website is https://tourney.fishdonkey.com/#/tournament-info/5565/details.

There are four fish species eligible for participants to catch: walleye, northern pike, bass, and crappie. Each participant is encouraged to submit their largest fish of each species. After the tournament concludes at 3:15 PM, 45 eligible fish will be selected at random to win a prize on February 6th.

The size of your fish will not give you a better chance of winning, but the three longest fishes of each species will net the participant a 2021 Cuyuna Lakes Ice Fishing Contest Winner’s Plaque and a 2022 Cuyuna Lakes Ice Fishing Contest ticket.

From now until February 5th, people may also purchase Cuyuna Lakes Ice Fishing Raffle tickets. These tickets will run participants ten dollars, and can be bought around the Cuyuna Lakes area. Places to purchase raffle tickets include’ Cuyuna Lakes Chamber Office, CI Courier, Crosby Ace Hardware, Oars-N-Mine, Cuyuna County Auto, Emily Meats, Mixed Company, Crosby Mid-Minnesota Federal Credit Union, and Deerwood Bank.

The Cuyuna Lakes Chamber reminds contestants that purchasing a raffle ticket does NOT make you eligible for the Fishing Contest. Those tickets must be bought separately.

By — Chris Burns