Mild weather in store for Ice Fishing Extravaganza

The ice is nice, and so too should be the weather for the 2022 Brainerd Jaycees Ice Fishing Extravaganza.

Anglers descending Saturday, Jan. 29, upon Gull Lake’s Hole-in-the-Day Bay for the annual fishing contest should expect partly sunny skies with a high temperature of about 26 degrees and winds 5-10 mph with gusts up to 15 mph possible, according to the National Weather Service in Duluth’s forecast for the Brainerd lakes area.

Aside from a potential shift in wind direction from south to west-northwest, there doesn’t appear to be much notable in store as far as the weather is concerned for Saturday, said Josh Sandstrom, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Duluth.

“Just in general terms, it’s kind of looking at quiet weather that day,” Sandstrom said. “It’ll be a good Minnesota day, you could say, for January.”

Not just a good day, but an above-average day, at least as far as temperature is concerned. The historical normal high for Jan. 29 in Brainerd is 20 degrees. So far in 2022, the average daily high in January has been 13.5 degrees.

It also is expected to be the warmest Jan. 29 in the past several years. In 2020, which is the last year of record available from the National Weather Service, the high temperature was 17 degrees. In 2019, it was 6 degrees. In 2018, 17 degrees. From 2015-17, the high temps were 32 degrees, 28 degrees and 23 degrees, respectively.

“So yeah, Saturday will be somewhat of a mild day” compared to recent weather history, Sandstrom said.

The tournament is scheduled noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, with tickets available for purchase at all Fleet Farm locations until Saturday for $50. Participants and guests can enter the tournament area through a check station after 8 a.m.

Tickets may be purchased online at icefishing.org/shop or at any Fleet Farm location prior to Saturday. For more information about the ice fishing contest visit icefishing.org .

First occurring in 1991, the event has been postponed three times and moved to a different lake once. Hailed as the world’s largest charitable ice fishing tournament, event organizers have donated over $4 million to Brainerd‐area charities, most notably Confidence Learning Center, in its 30‐year history. The volunteer‐run event is organized by the Brainerd Jaycees, who have over 90 members contributing more than 75,000 hours and $200,000 to the community annually.