Greg Gerou, Red River Area Sportsmen’s Club
Feb 26, 2024 – Wahpeton Daily News
With favorable weather leading up to Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024, Heitkamp Construction, together with the Red River Area Sportsmen’s Club, organized the annual Neil Heitkamp Youth Ice Fishing Derby.
The derby was held on the property owned by Heitkamp Construction at 18205 Red River Road. It was open to any young “fisherperson” 18 years of age and younger. Both boys and girls were welcome.
Prior to the event, both Heitkamp Construction and the Sportsmen’s Club were checking ice conditions, wanting to insure everyone would be safe as they had fun catching fish and enjoying the day.
Using Heitkamp’s Pond for the derby has been a tradition for many years. The derby has a growing reputation and it brought members of the North Dakota Wildlife Federation to assist with the event. NDWF President Kerry Whipp and NDWF Executive Director John Bradley were put to work clearing holes, helping with registration and handout the hot dogs. Kerry also took a lot of pictures.
Registration started at 12 p.m., and as the young anglers registered, they were given a door prize of an Ugly Stick ice fishing rod and reel. Age groups were 0-6 boys and girls, 7-11 boys and girls and 12-18 boys and girls, with approximately 160 in attendance along with parents and grandparents. During the entire derby, the Heitkamp Construction Crew served hot chocolate, hot dogs and cookies for everyone enjoyment.
The derby’s fishing started at 1 p.m., and this year’s event brought in more than 100 fish to be registered before the derby ended at 3 p.m. The event was catch and release, so as soon as the fish were brought in and measured, they were released back into the pond.
Trophies were given for the best crappie, perch, sunfish and walleye. Each category had first, second and third place winners, with each receiving a trophy and gift cards. First place in the categories were:
- Crappie — Rylan Gunnerson with a 15-½ inch fish
- Perch – Mila Hought with a 10-¾ inch fish
- Sunfish – Nora Nelson with an 8-¼ inch fish
- Walleye – Westyn Helfenstein with a 16-½ in fish.
The 16-1/2 inch walleye named Lyle, caught by three-year-old Helfenstein, was the largest fish of the day. To Westyn’s great surprise, she also won an ice fishing container filled with $200 in tackle presented by Gary Page, owner of Heitkamp Construction.
There was also a prize given out for the smallest fish measured, which was a 4-½ inch perch caught by Luke Isom. Luke received a handmade ice fishing rod and a large ice fishing rod storage container.
At the end of the event, names were drawn for a grand prize in each of the registration age groups, which included portable ice fishing shanties, underwater cameras and gift cards. The days prizes also included five hand-built ice fishing rods donated by Lonnie Wurst of Richland Custom Rods out of Barney, North Dakota.
A huge thank you goes to Gary Page, the owner of Heitkamp Construction, for allowing the derby to be held on their private pond. A special thank you goes to Butch Stollenwerk, Jon Hegge and the Heitkamp Construction crew for collecting the door prizes and their many friends that came out to help with the event.
The Red River Area Sportsmen’s Club was a working partner, turning out a number of volunteers, providing bait and loaner ice fishing rods. Cindie Van Tassel was the club’s coordinator, working with Heitkamp Construction to insure everything ran smoothly during the event. The Wahpeton Parks and Rec Department supplied tables, chairs, made the trophies and the provided safety cones for the parking areas.
Thank you to the Wahpeton and Breckenridge, Minnesota, communities and many generous businesses that provided prizes for the anglers. This year, the Heitkamp Derby even got some television air time on Valley News Live’s “North Dakota Nice” when Amanda Kosior talked about the derby and all its activities.
The kids had a great time, which made this year’s Neil Heitkamp Youth Ice Fishing Derby such a big success.