The Prescott Ice Fishing Team competed in a “virtual” state tournament on Saturday in lieu of competing at the prearranged location in La Crosse, an event which was canceled in the wake of poor ice conditions due to all the warm weather this winter.

Originally, there were 86 teams from across the state that were planning on competing in La Crosse with an expected attendance of 1,000 people including parents and coaches. Instead, teams were able to fish at a lake of their choosing either Saturday or Sunday this past weekend or on Saturday or Sunday of this coming weekend.

Ice fishing team leader Jason Brazzale, who is on the board at the Wisconsin Interscholastic Fishing Association (WIFA), says this decision was made in an effort to make sure that everybody got a chance to get out and fish, although whether that will help or hurt participation remains to be seen.

“One of the things we did as a board was to open this up for two weekends instead of just one day to give the teams a little more flexibility, especially if they're waiting for good ice now,” Brazzale said. “I certainly hope the teams that waited for next weekend aren’t going to be regretting it because, with the warm ups, it’s going to be above freezing all week long.”

Unfortunately, this is the second year in a row that the WIFA has had to cancel the tournament due to ice conditions.

“We've done this before in the past where we just said it's a virtual state tournament. You fish whatever lake or lakes you want. Still the same rules. Twelve kids max on a team, coaches can't do anything except basically drill holes and haul gear out. The kids have to do everything, set the tip ups, catching the fish, but the coaches then have to photo the fish because we want them done right,” Brazzale said.

Beyond those few rules, tournaments generally have target species that each team is trying to catch along with a bag limit, which basically means that each team will submit pictures of up to five pike, five bass, and five walleye to go along with their 10 best bluegills, 10 best crappies and 10 best perch.

Every competition is also catch and release. All fish are graded on length, which explains the need for photography and the absence of having to get them weighed. These rules are also very conducive to hosting the event virtually, fortunately.

Thus, with the option to choose open to them, Prescott’s team decided to continue as planned and get out this weekend instead of waiting. They settled on the Webster area as their fishing location and headed up a day early to scout the lakes before competing on Saturday.

“The students already got off school that wanted to get off school. The parents cleared their calendars assuming that it was going to be in La Crosse, and I have to be mindful of their schedules because this program is made possible by the volunteers, who have been awesome from day one,” Brazzale said. “Nobody's paid for doing this. It is it is 100% volunteer, so when the parents and their busy schedules have it on the calendar at the beginning of the season that we're going to have the 17th of February be the state tournament, we're going to keep it that way.”

Brazzale says the community support for the club has been incredible, and it goes beyond parents volunteering. They’ve had gear and even ice shacks donated to them over the years, so even though most kids come outfitted with their own equipment, the team is able to make sure that everybody has what they need.

For how prevalent ice fishing teams are becoming across state, the WIFA organization is relatively new, forming just nine years ago in 2015. This was also the first year of the Prescott Ice Fishing Team. Although the actual fishing program began earlier as a bass club offered through the high school starting in 2011, this original club evolved when the WIFA formed.

Still, Brazzale said his goal as a board member for their program lies more in these bass fishing roots in that he would like to see it become more than a weather dependent club that might only get a half dozen outings a winter. He wants to see young anglers from across the state be able to experience the joy of fishing as a hobby for more than just a short time each winter.

“I think going from here, I would like to see our organization make a better effort to do open water events,” Brazzale said “I know it's tough because you need to have boats, and you can fit less people in a boat than you can on the ice. So, yes, you need to have a lot of boats available to take a team out on the water, but I would like to think that the fishing team doesn't have to take a hiatus from say, Feb. 20 until the following November, because that's virtually what some schools have to do. If they’re just an ice fishing team, they’ve got two months, and that can be a six-week season if they’re lucky.”

Even though it’s limited due to seasonal constraints and temperamental weather patterns, Brazzale says the sport continues to grow every winter.

“On the ice fishing side of things, I think what you're going to find is that we really haven't hit that plateau yet,” Brazzale said. “We're constantly getting anywhere between five and 10 new schools each year, and that's been steady over the last, you know, six or seven years. So, we’re going to keep hoping that we see those five to 10 more schools join the ice fishing ranks every year and see where that takes us.”

The Prescott Ice Fishing Team is no longer associated with the PHS athletics department, but if any young anglers wish to join, Brazzale says that they can reach out to Kyle Schmidt at the high school for more information.