Finnegan Lake Walleye Club hosting fishing derby

The Finnegan Lake Walleye Club will hold its annual fishing derby Feb. 25 at Zippel Park in Gillett.

The club will be registering fish from area lakes at derby headquarters in Zippel Park.

There will be prizes given for the largest northern, walleye, bass, crappie, perch and bluegill.

Registration ends at 3 p.m., and prizes will be awarded at 3:30 p.m.

In addition, general raffle tickets are being sold by club members and are available at many businesses in and around Gillett and the Oconto County area.

Major prizes include $1,500 for first place, $1,000 as the second-place prize, $500 for third place and $250 for fourth and fifth place.

"There will be a wealth of other prizes given away, so make sure you get a ticket to this worthwhile event," said club member Bill Cole.

You need not be present to win the general raffle prizes.

Drawing for these prizes will take place at 4 p.m.

Bucket raffles with many nice prize packages will be available in the heated beer stand throughout the day.

Impulse raffles and live auctions will begin at 12:30 p.m.

Burgers, bratwurst and your favorite beverages will be served at Zippel Park.

To get to derby headquarters at Zippel Park, follow State Highway 22 into Gillett. The park is located one block north of Main Street in the center of the city. The derby headquarters will be set up in the heated beer stand with plenty of parking available close by.

The Finnegan Lake Walleye Club is a nonprofit organization. Past projects have included cleanup of the lake shoreline, improvement of the parking area to include picnic tables and grills, and construction of fish cribs.

The club also has installed a handicapped accessible dock and a state-of-the-art boat landing area.

Every year the club sponsors scholarships at Gillett, Suring and Oconto Falls high schools and a youth fishing day in June that was attended last year by over 80 young people.

In the last few years, much of the club's efforts were directed at restoring the fish population in Finnegan Lake that suffered a severe winter kill in the winter of 2008-09.

All fishing derby proceeds are used to support these and other similar projects.

For more information, contact Bill Cole at (920) 855-6302 or (920) 373-5032.