A couple buddies and I are tossing around the idea of heading up for the eelpout festival in February. Just wondering if the IDO community has any pro-tips for a couple rookies that have never attended. Any recommendations on ice house rentals or hotels?
Bob hit the nail on the head, great time and fishing is not what it is about for most. I have had a lot of fun there over the years. The Chase is the best place to stay if you are not bringing a house. I know trash is a hot button topic on the festival so I would try to clean up after yourself as to not upset the locals. Have fun and be safe!
Ice cleats and helmet required. All else optional.
Think of it as Sturgis for ice fishermen.
I heard rumblings that they were talking about moving it to Bemidji. Is that true?
The organizers had intended to move it up to Bemidji this year and even applied for a permit. They backed out and decided to keep it in Walker shortly before the Bemidji city council was drafting a resolution to oppose the move. Here is part of the drafted resolution….
“The resolution also cited public safety concerns: The Eelpout Festival is “known to create multiple public safety and health issues regarding and relating to the excessive consumption of alcohol, trash/litter, parking concerns, drunk driving, public indecencies and a strain on local law enforcement and public works capacity,” the resolution reads.”
The International Eelpout Festival has been around for 38 years and routinely brings in thousands of people and thousands of dollars to Walker. Spanning four days, the fishing tournament and community event is widely known for its party atmosphere and colorful camps on the ice and has drawn national and even international media coverage.
Took my wife last year in our house and had a blast. Spend time looking at the website for events and decide what you want to do, what you want to eat, what you want to experience, because it is spread out enough that it isn’t obvious when stuff is happening. We would have missed things without a printout of the events. It is harder to find what is going on in the private tents – best bet is to find them when you arrive and plan which you want to visit at night. They don’t “sell” beer in these tents, but you can give them cash for alcohol… The official tents/bars take cards, but bring cash.
Obviously, dress super warm with layers. We had backpacks for extra stuff, and we kept a few beers handy too. Bags were never searched going in places.
Boots and cleats are non-negotiable. We found up to 5″ of water inside both the official and unofficial tents. Have a plan of what to do if you find yourself completely soaked from a simple fall.
Don’t break the law – cops are everywhere 24/7. Don’t load more than 2 on an ATV, have a current registration, make sure your house is licensed, etc – if anything is out of order you WILL get a ticket. Don’t be dumb and get a DWI on the ice on an ATV because you didn’t want to walk 5min. Literally the only thing close to a “far” walk is heading to the other big tent by the other access where they have a few events (including bikini show if you’re into that sort of thing) – it is a measly 1/2 a mile walk.
Don’t be a gigantic douchebag and litter – at all. Nothing. No cans, no butts, etc. This is what is ruining the event.
If you do have a house you might as well park it close to the main tents at chase – you won’t catch fish anywhere near there anyway, and it is within walking distance to the private tents and most of the other official events.
We brought all our meals and plenty of booze – I assume you could get food in town and there is carnival type food around.
I’ve gone twice, both times stayed in rental sleeper shacks. We showed up a day early both times and caught little 7-8″ walleyes non stop after dark. Once the fest started we didn’t get a single bite… If you stay on the lake, drop a pin of your shack location. A few times walking back to the shack at 3am in below zero temps i got pretty nervous i wasn’t going to find it. Last time i went we used Roericks rentals, Kept us warm and toasty… Also, keep an eye on your buddies, one time a friend of ours got drunk wandered off, apparently slipped in one of the many pools of water on the ice. We found him in his car asleep, his wet clothes were frozen solid.
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