Many activities for non-anglers who also want to enjoy time on the river
Red River Cats and the members of the Lockport Community Development Group are able to welcome anglers and winter enthusiasts down to the river in Lockport again with the official opening of the Lockport Ice Fishing Village taking place last week.
“The ice fishing village is just that. It’s a village that we make up and we make roadways on the Red River in Lockport. We clear them to give easy access for people to come down and take advantage of all the amenities that we put up down there,” said Collin Stone, co-owner of Red River Cats and board member for the Lockport Community Development Group.
The Ice Fishing Village is an annual event in the community. Roads are created and cleared of snow on the ice so that residents can drive down with their vehicles.
“You don’t need four-wheel drive vehicles or anything like that. You can bring your pop-up tents and icefish or you can bring your permanent shack and set them up in one of our cleared bays. [There are also incentives to come by and fish.] What we do is install street signs all the way along our main road along the river. Each one of those streets is a sponsor, so, for instance, A&W is a sponsor and they decided to name their road, Root Beer Road. When you catch a fish, and you take a picture under Root Beer Road, you get entered in to win a whole bunch of prizes that we have. It really is just something fun that we do here in Lockport and offered totally free of charge to the community,” said Stone.
The idea for the village came about on one very snowy year a few seasons ago.
“This was just an opportunity to say ‘Hey, why don’t we do this.’ We can help promote all the amazing things and the great fishing here in Lockport and do it safely,” said Stone.
The safety portion of this event is a high priority for organizers. As of last week, Stone says that ice thickness was measured at 16 to 18 inches. This means that it’s safe for residents to drive onto with their vehicles. The ice thickness measurements are taken several times a week and well before the ice gets too thin to drive on the ice fishing village is closed for the season. This is why the village is opened a little later this year than last because this year we have had a more mild winter and the ice took longer to freeze up.
This year with the understanding that people might want to try something on the ice other than fishing, the Ice Fishing Village has expanded its offerings.
“We’re going to have a Crokicurl, which is like a crokinole game played with curling rocks. We have a skating rink. We have an ice-pickleball rink for people who want to put on a pair of skates and play ice-pickleball right on the ice. We have walking trails. There are snowmobile trails here. It really is going to be a neat village this year,” said Stone.
The Ice Fishing Village is on the Red River going through Lockport. Because of this, people have to get on to the ice safely. The two access points onto the ice are now ready for visitors.
“One is through Red River Cats at 669 River Road. We have our boat launch that takes you right onto the ice. We actually make a roadway all the way down. It really is the best roadway and has the easiest access to get on the ice. But if you go up straight up Henderson Highway heading north, there’s a little floodway road there that continues on and you can also access the ice through that way on the east side as well,” said Stone.
He also reminds people that though the village is free and open to the community they should be prepared to bring their own ice fishing equipment which includes augers, fishing equipment and shacks/seating if you wish to have them.
Red River Cats does rent and sell equipment should your favourite lure be lost to a dastardly fish.
Stone says that so far this year the fishing in the area has been very promising.
“It’s been pretty good. A lot of sauger, some burbot and some pickerel of course, are common fish that we catch here on the Red. Although you can certainly catch the odd sturgeon and there’s bass, of course, and goldeye that we also catch here and northern pike,” he said.
He also wants potential new anglers to know that this is a friendly and welcoming space for them to come and see if fishing is for them.
“You can get into the sport really cost-effectively. A fishing rod and reel might cost you 25 bucks, and it doesn’t cost you a whole lot of money to get into this sport. It really is accessible to the vast majority of people,” he said.
Residents should also know that this is a free place to come and enjoy some time fishing and being outside, however, since there was a call from the community to be able to support this event there has been a Gofundme page set up should residents want to donate. The page is at https://www.gofundme.com/f/lockport-ice-fishing-village-entertainment-live.
Stone thanks all of the sponsors and donors who have made this event possible this year.
