The 2nd Annual Polar Ice Fishing Tournament (2010)

Thomas Foehner took 1st in the Adult Pike Division with his 12 lb., 8 oz. northern pike. Photo by Chris Kenyon

The Great Outdoors By Chris Kenyon
The Sun and Record

A slight breeze, blue skies and temperatures in the balmy mid-forties makes an ice fishing contest a bit like sitting in the sun on a Costa Rica beach. Ice anglers are a hardy bunch and fishing through the holes in blizzard conditions is the norm, however during the Second Annual Polar Ice Fishing Tournament, the layers of clothes came off.

""It wasn’t tough to take," said one angler who brought some pound-plus fish to the scales at the Sodus Point Bait Shop on Sunday, March 7, the final day off the two day contest. "I certainly can’t tell anybody that I was roughing it."

"A guy just called from the ice and he said he had the winning pike," said Troy Warren, new owner of the Sodus Point Bait Shop. "He’ll have to beat a 9 pound 12 oz fish."

At 4:15 p.m., 45 minutes shy of the tournaments’ deadline, Thomas Foehner brought in a monster pike, and the official scale read 12 pounds 8 ounces.

Foehner, from Williamson, was fishing with his buddy Jerry Markham of Sodus Point when the monster toothy fish hit a golden shiner.

"It was around 3:30 p.m. and we were preparing to call it a day," Foehner said.

"Actually, you were sleeping when the fish hit," his fishing partner laughed.

The pike hit in 14 feet of water near LeRoy Island. "I was using my grandfather’s tip-ups," the winner said. "I saw the fish swim by and thought for sure I’d never get it through the 8 inch hole. And…I was only using 4 pound test.

Markham gaffed the pike and the duo headed to the weigh station, where they waited anxiously until 5 p.m. "I thought for sure someone would bring in a heavier fish," Foehner said.

A stringer of pike came to the scales one half hour before the tournament ended; however, the Williamson angler’s fish took first place, and Foehner and his partner walked away with $500 in cash.

"It’s a good thing we won because all our money was spent on golden shiners. I didn’t even have enough money for gas to drive home," Foehner laughed.

The Second Annual Polar Ice Fishing Tournament was sponsored by the Sodus Point Lodge and Lake Ontario United. Tom Lewis, from the Lodge, said there were 138 anglers signed-up for this year’s tournament.

"They came to fish this tournament from Binghamton and Buffalo," Lewis said. "We even had guys drive up from Pennsylvania to fish Sodus Bay."

The first place pike in the adult division paid $500 with second capturing $150, third $100, fourth, $75 and fifth was $50. The same payout was given to the winners in the adult perch category.

The youth division winners received a $200 savings bond for first place, $100 bond for second, $75 for third, and a $50 savings bond for fourth and fifth places.

Lewis said he was very grateful for donations from local businesses that made the tournament such a success. "I think I’ll take out an ad and thank them," he said.

See the full results and photos on our Promos & Tournaments page.