2020 Women Ice Angler Project (WIAP) Update
Category: article
Jan 17th, 2020 by Keith Worrall
Modified Jan 17th, 2020 at 11:25 AM
2020 Women Ice Angler Project (WIAP) Update
Sponsorships Grow for Lake Minnetonka On-Ice Camp Out
(Crystal Bay, Minn.) Jan. 17, 2020 — Lake Minnetonka is poised to break new records for the Women Ice Angler Project (WIAP) regarding number of sponsors AND depth of media following the #womenonice. Additionally, more than 25 women have signed up to join the public ice fishing event on Saturday, Feb. 1.
“We are excited for all the interest in camping out while ice fishing and Lake Minnetonka should be a great spot with a decent night bite,” Barb Carey said with a “fingers crossed” gesture. “These cold temps are really solidifying good ice and we hope the bite stays strong.”
Returning sponsors this year include: Vexilar, Clam, Jiffy, Raymarine, Women Anglers of Minnesota (WAM), Fish On Kids Books, Woman Angler & Adventurer, WI Women Fish, Outdoors First Media, and Aqua Vu.
New sponsors this year include: GCI Outdoors, Briggs and Stratton, Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s, Fireside Industries, St. Croix Rods, Fish Monkey, Recycled Fish, Frabill, Life is Short Movement, Muck Boots, Vexan Fishing, Yetti Outdoors and Pursuit Energy Drink. Local partners tied to this location include Todd Stauffer at setthehookguide.com, the Narrows Saloon of Navarre and Jimmy’s Lounge at the Lake Room also of Navarre.
Led by professional angler Barb Carey, the event will be held Jan. 29 – Feb. 2, 2020, and will focus attention on women who ice fish. This year, Avid Outdoorsman Media Group’s Outdoors.com and 50Campfires.com will be on hand for curating their own video series and pushing it out to their 50 million audience who enjoy outdoor adventures.
The “tents” will be the new Clam X-600 hub shacks with an impressive 90 grams of insulation per square meter, enough to keep the anglers warm no matter what Mother Nature dishes out. With 94 square feet of fishable space, there’s room for anglers to fish even with two-tiered Disc-O-Beds nearby. Clam’s Rattle Reels will serve as a wake-up call for those late-night bites.
Lake Minnetonka is a bustling, suburban lake outside of Minnesota’s largest city, Minneapolis. “We’ll target panfish during the day and hopefully get some nice big walleyes to show up for the night bite,” Carey said. Quite a few media outlets or outdoor writers and video content providers will be onsite to garner female-adventuring stories, including: Outdoors First (IceFishingFirst.com), Midwest Outdoors, 50Campfires.com, Outdoors.com, Roy Heilman (freelance writer covering for Outdoor News-MN), Steve Hoffman (freelance writer covering for In-Fisherman) as well as several media producers on the WIAP team including Dena Vick, Hannah Stonehouse Hudson and K.J. Houtman. If additional content providers would like to attend, or receive the media content generated by WIAP, contact Barb Carey.
“We’ll build skill-building stations for the Saturday public event so anglers at all levels should walk away with not just a day of fishing, but additional knowledge and technique,” added Carey. The stations will cover putting up and securing hub-style shelters, jigging techniques, how-to (and comparison) on electronics, underwater cameras as well as using augers to drill their own holes. Warm, hard shacks have been reserved with Todd Stauffer, a local fishing guide who diligently checks ice conditions on the lake and will make sure everyone is well served. Registration for the interior hard shacks seats is $135 ($185 includes their own St. Croix rod and Daiwa reel). Only a few spots remain. Prefer to bring your own gear (including your own pop up shelter) and a $15 registration fee will provide lunch on the ice.
Those fishing the VIP event on Saturday will join team WIAP at Jimmy’s Lounge in Navarre for a meet-and-greet on Friday night. After a full day of fishing on Saturday, the gals plan to relax to live music at The Narrows with a popular two-gal cover band called “Starlette’s Web.”
The 2020 WIAP team includes: Barb Carey, Shelly Holland, Hannah Stonehouse Hudson, Rikki Pardun, Bonnie Timm, Shantel Wittstruck, and Kristine (K.J.) Houtman. New to the team are Dena Vick and Brittany Hoffman. Avid Outdoorsman Media Group’s 50Campfires.com’s “Kayak Jana” will trade her paddle in for an ice auger to join the adventure. Additional team bio details at www.womenonice.com. Regular updates and videos can be found on the #womenonice Facebook page as well.