2012 Fishing Contest Results

Each year our guests enjoy our free fishing contest. Winners get their names posted here at the end of each year. Using length to decide winners, we track the top ten of nine different species. Mike and Deb measure and judge fish that our guests bring in. To qualify a big fish that you want to release, just take some pictures while the fish lays on one of our bright chartreuse yardsticks. All of these fish are shown in our 2012 Photo Gallery.

Crappie. Brandon Jacobsen landed a sweet 13 7/8 inch Crappie on May 12th. During the summer I measured nine more Crappies that were all between 13 1/2 inches and 13 3/4 inches. Really close, but Brandon's fish held on for the win. Three people landed a 13 3/4 inch Crappie. They were Kayla Graber, Steve Blakstad and Calvin Rooke.

Bluegill, Sunfish, Pumpkinseed. Three of our guests share this title for 2012. We measure these really big fish very carefully. Jason Haag, Merrill Wadle and Adam Lemke each enjoyed the thrill of landing a 10 3/4 incher. Fourth place went to Jerry Haag. He landed a 10 3/8 incher. Our Top Ten are all ten inches or more.

Walleye. Ralph Domras, one of our Seasonal Campers, took this category with a nice 29 1/2 inch Walleye that he landed in mid June. All of our top ten were 24 inches or longer. A couple of real big one's never made it to our contest when they were released without being measured. Yours truly landed and released a 27 incher and a 25 incher, both during the first week of October but I'm not in the contest.

Muskie. Our guests landed seven Muskies last summer. The biggest went to Norma Domras. Her husband Ralph took our Walleye Contest! Norma hooked into her 36 inch Muskie very near our docks. Trolling some kind of a lure is a good idea when boating slowly through these Mississippi River Headwaters that connect all these lakes together. Going fast with your boat in these river channels is not only against the law, its a good fishing opportunity lost.

Northern Pike. Seth Grasz was here the first week in October and he took our Pike Championship with a 37 incher. Seth also landed a 31 incher that week. Bob Thiele landed a 33 3/4 incher. Al Dalziel landed a 33 1/2. A few of our regular guests reported hooking then losing a Pike estimated to be 35 to 40 inches.

Largemouth Bass. Lars Larson took this honor with a 20 1/4 incher that he landed in mid May. Second place goes to Randall Wagler at 19 3/4 inches. Kyle Lessmeier was 3rd with a 19 1/2 incher. Rick Martens landed four of our top ten, all between 18 3/4 and 19 1/8 inches.

Perch. Our top ten were all between 11 3/8 inches and 12 inches. The winner was Brandon Pedroza. The 12 incher he landed in mid June held off Thomas Fleming's 11 7/8 incher. Third and 4th went to Shawn Banowetz and Don Brawner, who each landed an 11 3/4 inch Perch.

Rock Bass. Eddie Houi is our 2012 Rock Bass Champion. His 11 7/8 incher was landed in mid June. Second place ended as a tie between to Robin Nehls and Lynn Wagler at 11 5/8 inches. Fourth place went to Jennifer Graber at 11 1/2 inches.

Bullhead. The Bullhead Championship ended in a tie between Trina Stoll and Eric Mohs at 14 1/4 inches. Troy Gondringer was 3rd at 14 1/8 and Megan Mohs was 4th with a 14 incher.

Come to Oak Haven and join the fun.