Ice Fishing Tournament economic driver

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1873

by Mark McKimmy

Jeff King gives ice fishing tips to Aspyn Frazier at Saturday’s fishing tournament. Photo by Kim Cameron
Jeff King
gives ice
fishing tips
to Aspyn
Frazier at
Saturday’s
fishing
tournament. Photo by Kim Cameron

On February 18, the 20th Annual Wolford Ice Fishing Tournament hosted 515 registered fishermen and 29 children who fished for free.

The Kremmling Chamber hosts the event as an economic driver for Kremmling, and all of the hotels reported full occupancy for the weekend of the event.

Vick Caylor, Manager of the Allington stated, “As usual we were full for the entire tournament,” and his comments were echoed by Ali Javaid, general manager for Super 8, and Maryann Van Lue, Eastin Hotel co-owner.

“It was great for business,” commented Van Lue Kenny Bentler the owner of the Rocky Mountain Bar and Grill, agreed, “The tourney is always a positive event for us.” Shelly McManus, Executive Director for the Kremmling Chamber said, “There were so many contestants that all of our local lodging was filled and contestants were booking rooms in Granby, Hot Sulphur and Summit . We had contestants from Wyoming, Iowa, Denver, and from all across the state of Colorado.”

Jeff Miller, co-owner of Muddy Creek Cabins, reports that a group of friends from Denver have already made reservations at the Cabins again for next year’s event. McManus estimates that each contestant locally spends on average, $100 per person on registration, lodging, gas, food, liquor, and other items, so it’s a boom for the Kremmling economy. If those numbers are accurate, the Wolford Ice Fishing Contest can generate over $50,000 for Kremmling’s local economy.

Chamber Director McManus also noted other positives about the annual tournament. “We did online registration for the first time this year and had 182 people register ahead of time. This cut down on the registration lines at the Chamber the night before the event, and the morning of the event. People were able to get on the ice quickly.” With the success of the tournament, there’s been talk of extending the tournament to two days next year.

“This event is our biggest fundraiser of the year. For the 20th Annual we beefed up our raffle prizes. In the past, we have raffled the 8 inch Ion Electric Ice Auger which has a MSRP of $549.99. This year we had the 8 inch Ion Electric Ice Auger, a Vexilar fish finder with an MSRP of $359.00, and two Clam pop-up shelters valued at $329.99 and $369.99, so the total value of the raffle prizes was $1,600 this year,” Director McManus commented.

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Wolford Ice Fishing Tournament results

Top 10 Adults
1-Chris Scharrer, 32 Rainbow; 2-Brandon Reisbeck, 31.5 Rainbow; 3-Wes Bishop, 28.75 Rainbow; 4-Kirk Hildreth, 28.5 Rainbow; 5- Ford Williams, 28 Rainbow; 6-Yer Yang, 27.5 Brown; 7-Mike Aragon, 27.25 Rainbow; 8-Justin Moss, 26.25 Rainbow; 9-Lance Kreutzer, 25.5 Brown; 10-Jim Hirsh, 25.5 Brown

Top 10 Kids
1-Branden Wilkens, 27.5 Brown; 2-Beckham Johnson, 24.5 Rainbow; 3-Haley Wagner, 22.5 Rainbow; 4-Aubrey White, 22.25 Rainbow; 5-Riley Frye, 22 Rainbow; 6-Alexander Encines, 22 Rainbow; 7-Jeff Wagner, 21.75 Rainbow; 8-Gia Frankovich, 21.5 Rainbow; 9-Lily Rashes, 20.75 Rainbow; 10 Ruby Johnson, 20.75 Rainbow Tagged Fish Winners $250 Troy Gaines, Ed Kladny

Kids Hourly
7-8 Beckham Johnson, 20.75 Rainbow; 8-9 Branden Wilkens, 27.5 Brown; 9-10 Beckham Johnson, 20 Rainbow; 10-11 Riley Frye, 22 Rainbow; 11-12 Alexander Encines, 22 Rainbow; 12-1 Beckham Johnson, 24.5 Rainbow; 1-2 Haley Wagner, 22.5 Rainbow; 2-3 Austin Maleki, 19.75 Rainbow

Adults Hourly

7-8 Brian Boyd, 23.25 Rainbow; 8-9 Justin Moss, 26.5 Rainbow; 9-10 Mike Aragon, 27.25 Rainbow; 10-11 Ford Williams, 25.25 Rainbow; 11-12 Kirk Hildreth, 28.5 Rainbow; 12-1 Elizabeth Brown, 22 Rainbow; 1-2 Chance Berry, 25 Rainbow; 2-3 Chris Scharrer 32 Rainbow