Marr Park hosts ice fishing clinic

AINSWORTH — A troop of 27 young ice fishers and their parents braved the cold in Marr Park Saturday morning, each equipped with an ice tackle kit and a five-gallon bucket to sit on.

The event was the second ice fishing clinic in as many years organized by Washington County Conservation and the ISU Extension office.

“Last year, I reached out to ISU Extension and Outreach’s Amy Green, and we had talked about working together to collaborate on some programs for the youth,” County Naturalist Megan Jorgensen said. “We thought we would start out with an ice fishing clinic.”

Jorgensen said every registration-only spot in the event was booked within days of its announcement, meeting the department’s goal to get people out of the house despite the cold.

“A lot of our programming here, we focus on primarily our busy season, summer and spring,” she said. “I wanted to do ice fishing to get not just kids, but adults, everybody, outside in the winter time, enjoying nature.”

Some fishers took shelter in tents set up around the pond.

“Each of these ice shacks has heaters inside of them to help kids stay warm,” Jorgensen said. “We’ve got a big one that can support up to eight people, so it’s a nice way for the kids to get out of the cold and experience ice fishing inside a warmer element.”

While a few attendants returned to the heated lodge nearby, weather was mostly a non-issue.

“I think for most of them, since they’re catching fish, they kind of forget a little bit about the cold,” Jorgensen said.

The clinic was a mix of instructional teaching and hands-on experience.

“There (are) about three to five kids per mentor, and they’ll have an opportunity to learn how their equipment works,” Jorgensen said. “Then they actually get to get out there and fish.”

Overall, Jorgensen said the event was a success.

“They are catching tons of fish out here today, so that’s really exciting,” she said. “With kids, it’s really important to take them to a spot where you know they’re going to catch fish, which is not always a guarantee, because they can lose interest pretty quickly. So it’s really exciting that they’re catching them this morning.”

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