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| ‘Palooza catches big numbers |
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| Wednesday, 20 February 2008 | |
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Glen Strandberg Staff Writer The official tallies are yet to come in, but last Saturday’s Fishapalooza Ice Fishing Contest brought in an estimated 7500 participants to First Lake of Forest Lake, who were competing for more than $175,000 in prizes. The big award for the largest fish went to Arnold (Arnie) Rudenick of Columbus, who pulled in a 5.610 lb. northern, which brought him a 2008 Ford F150 4x4 Truck. When the contest closed at 3 p.m. on Feb. 16, Rudenick was announced as the winner by Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. “My wife wouldn’t believe it on the phone until Michele Bachmann talked to her,” Rudenick said on Monday morning at Forest Lake Ford, while waiting for his red truck to be cleaned. The warm temperature was certainly a benefit for the event, as the contest landed on a rare day where the highs were in the 30s. “It was fun. People love to have it back,” Fishapalooza co-founder Jim Woods said of the return of an ice fishing contest to Forest Lake. “Thank God the weather held out.” Rudenick credited his new jig, a Swedish Pimple, for bringing him good luck and big fish. He already had a two and a half pound fish registered when he landed the winning northern. “I had 40 minutes to go in the contest and I just thought, Boy, someone’s probably going to catch one just a few ounces bigger,” he said. “When I put it in the bucket after I caught it, I thought it weighed maybe four pounds, so I thought it was close. But I got up there and he said, ‘No, that’s five-point-six.’” Even four pounds would have put him in the running for first, as second place went to Brian Thill, who caught a 4.320 pound northern. His award was an Ice Castle Commander Fish House. Taking “last,” or 104th place was Marcus Ammerman, but his .875 pound northern was a decent consolation prize. He and Rudenick were fishing no more than 15 feet from each other, and while Rudenick won the Ford F150, Ammerman’s small fish brought him the 2008 Skeeter WX1790T Walleye Boat Package, valued at $29,000. “Gosh, darn it!” Rudenick said in amazement. “So we both got the best prizes and we were standing right next to each other.” Rudenick was impressed with how smoothly the contest ran, and Woods said he and co-founder Dan Luger are still committed to hosting it again in 2009. They just need to finalize the date. As for Rudenick, he drove off in a vehicle that was almost destined to find him, all thanks to a Swedish Pimple. “I was looking at one two weeks ago,” he said about shopping at Forest Lake Ford. “I never had a new truck in my life. I always had a used one.” Related events Handling a crowd of 7500 estimated visitors did not pose any serious problems on Saturday, according to Forest Lake police reports. There were two incidents involving intoxicated contestants. One, a 40-year-old North St. Paul woman, was placed in the care of her husband. The second, a 55-year-old St. Paul Park man wound up in jail on DWI charges after he refused police requests to wait for a ride. At the close of the contest, police stopped the man after receiving reports of an intoxicated man who had fallen several times while pulling his fishing gear sled to his vehicle in the northwest area of the city. Police contacted the man and called his wife. He was asked to not leave. But the man refused police requests. After loading his gear in his vehicle, he drove off. He was stopped moments later and charged with DWI, police said. In another fishing contest related event, two contestants from Cedar and Harris reported the theft of fishing gear from their vehicle. The men were at VFW Post 4210, 556 SW 12th St., attending the awards program when their gear was stolen. Post 4210 sponsored Saturday’s fishing contest. Social Bookmarking ...       |
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