Okoboji Hardwater Open Results

Good Morning Gang!!!

Well, what another great and exciting tournament we had up at Emerson’s Bay, Okoboji Lake this past weekend. The tournament was held Jan 8th and 9th and we had a great turn out with a great number of new anglers and many return anglers. Thanks goes out to all the participants and crew for a fantastic two days out on the ice.

Saturday we had a day of pre-fishing where all the guys and gals can come out and do some sorting for areas that might be the most productive to fish for the tournament. We held an on ice lunch for everyone about noon and offered some good ole fashioned hotdogs, chili and warm drinks. Saturday’s weather was great, sunny skies and no wind. The drive up on Friday was bit hairy, the wind was blowing out of the northwest and at times it was a complete white out. I spoke to quite a few of the guys up there and some had been out on the lake Friday and to sum it up in a word…misearable.

Sunday morning it was cool and cloudy, and no wind. Everyone started lining up around 6:30 or so, bucket and equipment checks quickly proceeded. Around 7:30 I dropped my arms and the guys went flying out to the lake and started punching holes in the ice for the tournament start. If you’ve never seen the launch at a tournament, you should come out some time and watch…holy smokes…LOL… ATV and snowmobiles wide open.. Well after all the snow settled, I cleaned my glasses off and made my way to my truck to sound 8:00AM start horn.

With the blast off at 8AM everyone scrambled to get into their ice huts, drop their baits in the water and fire up heaters to keep warm. That was also kinda comical to watch. We made our rounds about half way through the tournament and found a variety of success. Some good and some not so good. Everyone was pretty busy fishing so we didn’t spend much time talking as to distract for the task at hand.

2PM rolled around and it was time for weigh-in’s. The volunteer crew did a great job of getting everyone in and out of the weigh-in tent and to the release pit. Wasn’t long before the last fish was brought in to the scales and the totals were tallied up.

Congratulations goes out to Mike Wanser who took top honors this year with a total weight of 4.86 pounds. Congrats also goes out to our second place finisher Matt Sieh, and third place finisher Mike Riley. Berkley Big Fish award went to John Wittkamp with a bluegill coming in at 0.76 ounces. Doug Bussian won the Berkley "I should have had more Berkley" prize pack. All in all it was a great tournament. For more details on the outcome and the total results, visit our website results blog… Okoboji Hardwater Open Results Blog

We’ve got another great opportunity for you all to take home a piece of Recycled Fish Hardwater Open Ice in a few weeks with the Big Creek Hardwater Open. Theirs plenty of room in the tournament and all teams are more than welcome to join. More information here… Big Creek Hardwater Open

Thanks again to all that participated and the crew that helped…Congrats to all the winners! Tight Lines All..

Mike Wanser – First Place



Matt Sieh – Second Place



Mike Riley – Third Place



John Wittkamp – Berkley Big Fish winner



Okoboji Hardwater Open Winners