Hortonville competes at Partridge Lake

By John Faucher

Near-zero wind chills did not deter 13 area high school ice fishing teams from competing in the Wisconsin Interscholastic Fishing Association season kick-off tournament at Partridge Lake in Fremont, Jan. 8.

The Hortonville High School Polar Ice Fishing Team won three out of seven categories in the tournament. Waupaca and Clintonville teams also won two categories outright.

Nineteen Polar Bears competed to win, “Best stringer of three pike,” “Best stringer of 10 perch” and “Biggest bluegill,” categories.

Michael Budzynski’s 10-inch bluegill was a Master Angler qualifying fish and won the tournament’s “Biggest bluegill” category.

Waupaca High School’s team won the “Biggest pike” category with a 30 1/4-inch pike.

Clintonville High School also took one of seven categories offered in the tournament with a first place catch in “Other fish” landing a 25 3/4-inch dogfish.

Hortonville head coach Neil Rhines said he’s proud of his team of 26 kids this year.

“At Partridge, weather conditions weren’t perfect, but the kids showed real grit moving around until they found fish,” said Rhines.

Team to travel for Jan. 22 tournament

The team will travel this Saturday, Jan. 22, to fish in a WIFA sponsored tournament choosing lakes in Marquette, Dodge or Green Lake Counties.

Rhines said at this point in time, team members and coaches know the game plan and body of water they chose for this weekend, but he declined to name the lake they will venture on.

“We’ll always help anyone learn to fish, but we’ll never give up the whole playbook,” he said with a chuckle.

“Fishing techniques, basic know-how, evaluating conditions, safety, and equipment is one thing,” he said. “Now Individual recon and specific spots are another.”

That’s up to the team to figure out.

Rhines said this is the school’s sixth season participating in the sport. Every year is a learning experience.

“A lot of kids were stuck in that, this is not a team thing,” he said.

“You know, it’s tough building a team in what is usually an individualized sport like fishing,” said Rhines.

“It’s personal, yet it’s not.”

There are very few self-made anglers.

Rhines said fishing new bodies of water together helps foster that kind of team spirit and collaboration.

He’s hoping it continues to grow.

In the meantime as a science, anglers will always continue to look for patterns, reports and updates but, “Just don’t ask for the playbook or GPS spots at the morning coffee meeting,” Rhines said.

“That’s the lazy man’s out.”