Garrison Ducks Unlimited is No. 1

Garrison – This weekend’s Mille Lacs major event is the Seventh Annual Ducks Unlimited Ice Fishing Contest and anglers will compete for more than $75,000 worth of prizes.

The largest fish wins a Chevrolet 4 X 4 pickup.  The 75^th fish wins a wheeled fish house.  A lucky raffle winner gets a Arctic Cat ATV.  More than 3,500 people are expected to crowd this town, population 217, on one of its biggest business weekends of the year.

We talked with Tournament Director Greg Erickson to provide you with some information past and present.  Erickson said the local Ducks Unlimited Chapter is the No. 1 fund raising chapter in Minnesota, having raised more than $80,000 at last year’s event.  That event featured almost 2,500 participants. He said they hoped to surpass that number on Saturday.

“There’s a good 28 to 30 inches of ice and the snow isn’t even melted off yet, so we’re sitting good,”  said Erickson, who works for Garrison Sports.  “The fish houses will be full up here and the motels are filling up.”

Registration for the event was $30 if signed up before Feb. 13 and $40 now.  You can register on the ice Saturday for the noon to 3 pm event.  Erickson said there will be roads leading out to Garrison Bay from Blue Goose Inn and Garrison Sports.  The headquarters for the event is on the ice in a huge tent and food and beverage are available.

A majority of the local money spent by the Garrison DU Chapter goes for local wild rice, Erickson said.  He said many of the event’s volunteers are from DU chapters from around the state. “I get to work with lots of great people.

If you are trying to follow your fishing entrant from afar, click on the link above as the tournament is supposed to be automated, meaning there are real-time updates. Make It Mille Lacs will also be beaming shots from the events for periodic postings to its Facebook account Saturday.