Minnesota’s Biggest Ice Fishing Contest Announces Modified Plans For This Year’s Event

Organizers of the Brainerd Jaycees Ice Fishing Extravaganza, known by many as Minnesota's biggest ice fishing contest, have announced that the event will go on, despite a warm winter so far. While the event will still be held on the scheduled date, there are some modifications being made to accommodate for the lesser ice amounts this season.

A Brainerd area meme social media account sparked a conversation a couple of weeks ago after sharing what they called "a joke" that the event was canceled this year. Organizers quickly pointed out that this was not true and that they had not yet formalized plans for the 2024 fishing contest. While the news was fake, it got a lot of anglers wondering what to expect for this season. Now we know what the plan is.

With the 2024 Brainerd Jaycees Ice Fishing Extravaganza now about a week away (February 3, 2024), organizers announced modified plans "In light of our unwavering commitment to the safety and well-being of all participants".

Their modified plans aim to "prioritize the well-being of the public, our community, and the dedicated anglers who make this event truly special". This modified, hybrid format for this year's contest will allow anglers to utilize the fishing contest app Fish Donkey to participate on a number of Brainerd area lakes by submitting a photo of your registration ticket and your catch via the app.

This will, in many ways, reflect how the contest operated in 2021 during the pandemic, though they say there have been some modifications made to that format for this year.

Along with the ability to fish on a number of area lakes rather than just Gull Lake, the hours of the contest itself will be extended and the organizing committee is also working on providing in-person support on main accesses across the area to directly help contestants who may not be familiar with the platform.

You can read the full announcement and get the latest from the Ice Fishing Extravaganza website.