CHANNING, Mich. (WJMN) – This weekend, Women on Ice will host its annual ice fishing event at Sawyer Lake in Channing. Started in 2015 as the Women Ice Angler Project, the weekend serves as a teaching event for women both new and experienced in the world of ice fishing. President and Founder Barb Carey says she began the event seven years ago as a media event to showcase women’s passion for ice fishing.

“I was kind of going through some ice fishing catalogs and didn’t see any pictures of women in the entire catalog,” Carey said. “And as a person who plans fishing events for women, I knew how many women were passionate about ice fishing and they really liked it, but they weren’t depicted at all in any of the media coverage when people talked about ice fishing. So I created this media event to kind of bring more awareness out there and get images and videos to showcase how many women ice fish.”

The event this weekend will take place over three days, starting with a seminar Friday evening that Carey says will cover things like jigging techniques, working with electronics, using mapping to help find fish, and using tip-ups and tip-downs. Saturday will begin the on-ice activities, featuring a class for beginners where participants will start using the skills they learn Friday night. Sunday will feature the event’s first-ever class for more advanced anglers.

While tickets are listed as sold out for Saturday and Sunday, women interested in participating are still encouraged to fill out the Contact Us form on the Wisconsin Women Fish website to join a waitlist for tickets that may open up between now and the event this weekend. Even if you are not able to attend this weekend’s events, Carey says to keep an eye on the Women on Ice Facebook Page as a resource to learn about events in the future.

Between now and the event kickoff Friday, Carey says the Women on Ice will be posting video tips and pictures on learning about ice fishing. They encourage women to post their own photos and videos as well, and hope to continue growing a community of women who love to ice fish.

“I know many of us know an old-timer that didn’t want to tell you anything about fishing and everything was a big secret. We don’t believe that,” Carey said. “We believe in sharing all of our information, and one of our taglines is ‘we’re better together and if she can do it, I can do it’ and that’s one of the most important reasons why people should see other women in these catalogs and on media coverage. Because they’re gonna see a woman that kind of looks like them and they’re gonna say ‘Hey, if she can do it, I can do it’, and that might be the push they need to get involved in the sport.”