NEGAUNEE, Mich. (WJMN) – The 2022 Heikki Lunta Winter Festival, set to run January 28-29, will feature a new event for those interested in catching a few fish out on the ice. The South Shore Fishing Association will host its 3rd annual Teal Lake Ice Fishing Derby on January 29 from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Teal Lake in Negaunee. The derby will include individual and team events for interested participants.
Registration for the event will run throughout next week at multiple locations in Harvey, Ishpeming, and Negaunee. Registration fees apply for anyone over the age of 12, while children 12 and under will be free. The fee for the individual fishing event is $10, with an additional $20 cost per person taking part in the team event. The derby will include door prize raffles for registered adults, as well as prizes for fish caught. Children will also be given a raffle ticket for prize raffles of their own.
The following locations will be open for registration throughout next week leading up to Saturday:
- Jonny’s Outdoors – Harvey
- Stampede Sport N Feed – Ishpeming
- Wilderness Sports, Inc – Ishpeming
- Marquette Powersports – Negaunee
- Tino’s Bar and Pizza – Negaunee
South Shore Fishing Association also plans to hold a registration event on the evening of Friday, January 28 at Tino’s Bar and Pizza. Registration will also be open until 10 a.m. the morning of the event at the Pump House at the southeast corner of Teal Lake. Participants going to any of the above businesses to register are asked to bring increments of $10 to pay for registration to ease the process for the fishing association’s business partners.
Following the conclusion of registration at 10 a.m., the raffles for all door prizes will be drawn and posted on the South Shore Fishing Association’s Facebook page. Information on standings for registered fish will also be posted on the Facebook page throughout the day’s events. Tiebreakers for fish measurements will be based on which fish was registered first. Participants are also asked to keep their fish semi-thawed to make the measurement process easier.
For South Shore Fishing Association, the event is all about having fun and helping to be able to continue to hold more events down the line.
“You know we try to throw all the money back into the event we make through prizes and whatnot,” said Joe Hansen, Vice President of South Shore Fishing Association. “Any money that we raise from this event actually goes towards South Shore Fishing Association, and we use that to fund events for like we do a kid’s fishing day on Father’s Day in June that’s out at Lakenenland. We do a veterans fishing day, women and kids fishing day. We do some river cleanups. Any money that we raise goes right back into that stuff.”
For any additional information on the derby leading up to the festival, keep an eye on the South Shore Fishing Association website and Facebook page.
