Local anglers are hitting the frozen water in February for the virtual Ontario Ice Fishing Challenge.
Sioux Lookout, Ignace, Sioux Narrows and Atikokan are taking part in the month long catch, photo and release tournament.
“Any angler from their participating community who catches fish, their catches will count as points towards the town’s total,” explains Sean Simmons, President and Founder of MyCatch Mobile App and Angler’s Atlas. “We have 30 communities across the North participating against each other to see who will be crowned the 2022 Ice Fishing Capital of Ontario.”
Simmons says all anglers have to do is sign up and download the app.
“It works even when out of range so when you catch a fish put it on a measuring device, either on a board or with a tape measurer beside it, take a picture on the app and then the app takes that information up to the server’s live leaderboard.”
When the pandemic hit and tournaments were being cancelled, Simmons says that’s when the idea to host virtual-app based tournaments sparked.
“It’s just an awesome way for people to get out, although it will certainly work well once COVID passes too, it’s a way to have fun, engage in a tournament, healthy competition while also contributing data back to fisheries research and science.”
Some of the categories up for grabs include the community title of 2022 Ice Fishing Capital of Ontario, longest northern, walleye, pike and other species and most diverse fish species caught.
Simmons adds, “I love the community spirit, every community sort of has their own flavour and approach to recruiting local anglers to help them win the title and win prizes. So, good luck to all competitors!”
You can sign up here as an independent angler or with your participating community.
The Angler’s Atlas is an online resource that started 20 years ago as a way for anglers to download maps, add map markers, share fish photos and confirm species.
MyCatch app by Angler’s Atlas is a way to log fishing trips and participate in virtual app-based tournaments, while contributing to fisheries research.
While the app does collect data, Simmons stresses it’s their promise that secret fishing spots stay secret.