Comets go long on the Chain

WAUPACA – The Waupaca High School Ice Fishing Team defended their hometown hardwater during an ice fishing tournament they hosted on the Chain O’ Lakes on Saturday, Jan. 17.
It was nicknamed a “Battle of Inches” as instead of measuring fish by weight, they were tallied for length.
Waupaca came in first with 518.25 inches, Amherst took second with 495.50 and New London took third place with 410 inches.
Winning by length of fish proved for interesting strategies. The most elongated species of fish on the Chain (not counting the sometimes-seen sturgeon) are northern pike. Other species where the inches can add up are walleyes and brown trout, two species that are present in these waters but uncommon to catch.
Therefore many tip-ups were deployed to target these species in order to maximize inches. The teams also subdivided into jigging squads targeting smaller but more plentiful bass and panfish to help boost their numbers in smaller increments.

The tournament was organized by Brian Hoelzel, the Waupaca ice team coach and Greg Franzen, the ice fishing coach from Kaukauna.
No teams were allowed to go onto the Chain O’ Lakes before 7 a.m. and any boat landings or private property could be used to access the ice.
The Comets staged their early morning dash onto the ice at a cottage on Sunset Lake. They had ATVs warmed up and gear organized and loaded. As the clock hit seven, they blasted off to their predetermined hotspot that was scouted earlier in the week.
The ice anglers worked as a well-ordered team: one angler drilling holes, another behind him scooping ice slush, another behind him setting tip-ups and another behind him hooking shiners for bait and dropping the line down the hole.
The rules: catch and record the longest of three bass, 15 bluegills or sunfish, 10 crappies and 10 gamefish (northern pike, walleye and trout). There were individual winners for each category and the mixed-bag total of all fish wins the tournament as a team.
It was a catch-and-release tournament and all fish were measured on a bump board and photographed showing the tail, mouth and the exact measurement. The photos were then uploaded to an app that showed fish being registered in real time which added to the pressure to catch a big fish. Fish were constantly being uploaded throughout the morning and the sum of inches grew longer and longer.
The Waupaca team had 11 anglers on the ice. By comparison, Amherst had about double the number of anglers, a huge advantage. Double the anglers = double the lines in the water = double the opportunity to catch more fish.
The tournament ended at 1 p.m. and by noon, the bite fizzled out as even the normally voracious bluegills were harder and harder to catch. By then, the Comets were well ahead in inches and the only way second-ranked Amherst could catch up was if a big northern pike smashed one of their tip-ups in the remaining minutes. That luck did not happen.
Kaukauna, Hortonville, Appleton East, Iola-Scandinavia and Wild Rose high school teams also participated.
The biggest fish caught was a 32-inch northern pike (Amherst), a 27-inch walleye (Waupaca), a 13.5-inch crappie (New London), a 17.5-inch bass (New London), and a 9.75-inch bluegill (Waupaca).
The awards ceremony was held at Peterson Marine and winning teams and individual anglers received laser-engraved plaques with a carved image of a slashing walleye and the Waupaca Comet logo. Afterwards, the Waupaca team headed to the Wheelhouse to warm up and have some well-earned pizza.
The Comets will compete in the 2026 Wisconsin Interscholastic Fishing Association state championship on February 20 and 21 that will be held on the Wisconsin River from Stevens Point to Wausau. That stretch of ice includes Lake Wausau, Half Moon Lake, Lake DuBay, Big Eau Pleine and the Stevens Point Flowage.