BRAINERD — The Brainerd Jaycees have released more details on the changes to the Ice Fishing Extravaganza this weekend because of the lack of quality ice.
Typically on Gull Lake, the event is expanding its footprint to several Brainerd area lakes within the boundaries drawn on a map released by the Jaycees.
Cass County Sheriff Bryan Welk warned of varying ice conditions in southern Cass County, especially around the Gull Lake chain, which was included in the Extravaganza's hybrid map.
"This week, several days of warm temperatures and sun have led to snow melting on the ice surface and running through the ice, creating honeycomb ice conditions on the top layers of ice, weakening its effectiveness," he stated in a Wednesday, Jan. 31, news release.
In many areas, the current ice ranges from 5 to 12 inches and is not thick enough for vehicles, according to the news release.
The Jaycees contest features expanded hours as well, running from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Participants will use an app called FishDonkey to submit their ticket stub and a photo of their catch of the allowed species.
The Jaycees told the Echo Journal newspaper that they’d also like to see a video of the fish’s live release.
The Jaycees plan to put support people at some lake accesses to help contestants who don't know the FishDonkey app or have questions.
According to organizers, the charity event has generated over $1 million in revenue for area businesses and over $150,000 for area charities annually since its start in 1991.