It was a sunny, unseasonably warm day when anglers took to the ice Saturday for the 25^th annual Brainerd Jaycees Ice Fishing Extravaganza. The horn to start the event sounded sharply at noon, and exactly two minutes later Zach Shepard came sprinting in a race to register the first fish; a moment he said he has been training for. And although Shepard’s catch came early, patience was the key for the winner of the event. Steven Darrell Baumgartner’s winning 6 pound Northern Pike was registered with a mere 15 minutes to go in the contest.

This couldn’t have been truer for Corey Wickstrom and his group. While the biting was scarce, they made it a point to have a good time… even if it was by accident. Overall, over 11,000 fisherman dropped lines through the ice, catching a record 1,240 fish in the three-hour event. The Jaycees say they hope they can keep building on this year’s success.