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Brainerd Jaycees Announce exceptional
19th Annual Extravaganza
Brainerd, MN–Close to 9,000 anglers were on Gull Lake’s Hole in the Day Bay north of Brainerd today. 900 fish were registered in the 19th Annual Ice Fishing Extravaganza hosted by the Brainerd Jaycees. The winning fish was a 5.98 pound walleye caught by Zachary Bailey of Nisswa, MN. “Once I pulled it out of the water, I really thought this could be the one that would win the whole thing,” said Bailey. It turns out he was right. The walleye is the fish species that has won first place the most times in the history of the contest. This one was caught in 45 feet of water and Bailey took home a 2009 Ford 4×4 Pick-up. In 100th place, winning a Suzuki KingQaud 750 ATV, was 11-year-old Steven Sumstad from Coon Rapids, MN. He caught a 0.64 pound walleye in his first appearance at the annual event. In last place (150th) was Tony Brevig of Wabasso, MN. He landed on the prize board with a 0.50 pound perch.
A new feature of the Extravaganza was an underwater camera – a MarCum 820 – in the release hole of the weigh-in tent. This event is one of the only hard water live release contests in Minnesota. “The technology of the event continues to grow and expand and this year there was a point where nearly 42,000 people were on http://www.icefishing.org monitoring the underwater camera,” said Jeff Hegg, Event Chairman.
The Brainerd Jaycees estimate over 10,000 volunteer-hours went into planning this year’s event. Hegg believes the Extravaganza is successful because of the dedication of the Brainerd Jaycees and the support of the entire Brainerd-area and ice fishing communities. “We are fortunate to have many wonderful sponsors like Aqua-Vu, Mills Ford, Strikemaster, Mr. Heater and C&L Distributing that support us each and every year. Plus there are over 400 volunteers from all throughout the community that helped today.”
Another unique aspect of the Extravaganza is that all of the proceeds are donated to area charities. Confidence Learning Center – a facility providing year-round outdoor experiences for people with developmental disabilities – is the primary beneficiary receiving 70% of the proceeds. “In the history of the event the Jaycees have donated over $1-million dollars to Confidence Learning Center. That equates to over 20,000 camper days which is just awesome,” said Jeff Olson, Executive Director, Confidence Learning Center. The Brainerd Jaycees have raised over $2-million dollars since the first event in 1991 and they expect to raise nearly $200,000 this year alone.
Next year’s event is scheduled for Saturday, January 23, 2010. For more information please visit http://www.icefishing.org.
Results HERE
