Just in time for Family Day, anglers are being encouraged to get out on the ice with a special COVID-safe ice fishing tournament, spanning nearly a month.
While local ice fishing derbies have been cancelled this year because of the pandemic, the Ontario Ice Fishing Challenge starts tomorrow, encouraging anglers to fish locally and help their community compete to be crowned the "Ice Fishing Capital" of Ontario.
Participants simply need to register through the Angler's Atlas website and the MyCatch app - there's a fee of $20 - with a rules meeting happening on Facebook at 7 o'clock tonight.
Once the challenge launches at 6 o'clock Saturday morning, anglers can go out on the ice and log their catch with the app, with local leaderboards while participating communities compete to be Ice Fishing Capital, based on "collective catch" - anglers will also be up for prizes.
Several communities are participating, with sponsors: Wawa Motor Inn for Wawa, the Chapleau Rotary Club for Chapleau, and the Township of Dubreuilville for Dubreuilville.
The Ontario Ice Fishing Challenge runs from February 13th to March 7th.