Fergus Falls Ice Fishing Derby

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 Hundreds of anglers took to Pebble Lake in Fergus Falls to support a local service group.
They braved the cold for the 36th Annual Sertoma Ice Fishing Derby.

The sounds of Gilligan’s Island could be heard around Pebble Lake thanks to Brett Duenow and his fellow anglers.
 One of the categories at the 36th Annual Sertoma Ice Fishing Derby is camp setup and his group has won for the last few years.

“Just a break from winter, trying to keep our sanity I guess is the best way you could describe it,” said Duenow of Fergus Falls.

Other categories include catching certain fish.
Glen Westra has fished most of his life.
He’s been to this fishing derby a few times and likes that it’s very family friendly.

“We always have fun, it’s a pretty low stress atmosphere, the prizes aren’t big enough to have people really getting out of hand on it,” said Westra of Fergus Falls.

The derby is not only bringing experienced anglers out onto Pebble Lake but people who’ve never even been on ice before.

“You got the ice, I’ve never driven on ice before so that was a little scary you know new experience and he’s never been ice fishing so we figured we’d take him,” said Sean Sullivan of Fergus Falls.

The proceeds of the derby will go to the Fergus Falls Sertoma group which helps people in the community.

“It’s just fun we have a great time, we have a bunch of group members that pitch in and people just love to fish and it’s an annual thing for a lot of people,” said Fergus Falls Sertoma Chairman Mike Beyer.

It’s one of the reasons people like Duenow come every year.

“It supports a good cause, Sertoma is a fantastic organization anything we can do to help them out is fantastic,” said Duenow.

Fishing was free for the public and holes were predrilled.