Local high school ice fishing teams break the ice for first Mat-Su Valley championship competition

Local high school ice fishing teams celebrated the end of their season with a championship tournament on Finger Lake on Sat. March 1.

The 36 anglers that rounded out the top three teams from Wasilla, Colony, Mat-Su Central, Career and Tech, Houston and Palmer competed for individual team placement and the “Golden Auger,” a traveling trophy to go to the winning team’s school for the year. Teams fished for the longest combined inches of their six longest fish, to include landlocked salmon, rainbow trout and arctic char.

The competitive high school ice fishing scene in the Valley grew this past year from a single Wasilla High School team, to multiple schools across the Mat-Su. Colton Conner is the head coach for Wasilla and the first to start the program in the Valley.

“The season was awesome,” Conner said. “There were some really good days of fishing for all the teams and it’s a good group of coaches. We all talk about fishing days and the kids have had a great time.”

The championship team to receive the Golden Auger this year is Mat-Su Central, with a combined team score of 164 inches. Team score consisted of the combined inches from the top two teams from each school on tournament day. The Mat-Su Central team beat the Runner-Up team from Colony, who scored 163 inches, by a single inch.

“It’s pretty awesome,” Mat-Su Central Head Coach Alyssa Conner said. “I know that our team has put in a lot of time and hours to try and win this, so it’s cool to see that their hard work has paid off.”

Alyssa said she enjoyed getting to know the kids throughout the season. She said she watched them come together as a team, something that she attributes to their success.

“As a homeschool, a lot of these kids are pretty independent,” Alyssa said. “It’s nice to see them coming together, working together and sharing all of their knowledge and just wanting the best for each other.”

The Mat-Su Central High School championship team included members Colter Gose, Collin Garvin, Scarlett Hansen, Gavin Hudson, Isaac Korn and Ezekial Shapoval. Alyssa said the team wore their team hoodies proudly and worked hard to be the best they could be all season.

“It was super exciting to see the crew that we had,” Ayssa said. “We were a smaller team, but we had kids that loved to fish, every second of every day.”

Alyssa said she looks forward to next year and defending their championship title.

“I’m proud of the team and I am super excited for next year, to see how it grows and to get even more kids involved in this,” Alyssa said.

Sophomores Collin Garvin and Colter Gose from Mat-Su Central won first place for individual team score with 97 inches of fish on championship day. The two had a great season, putting up a score of 125 inches on their first day. Having such great success early in the season gave them the confidence they needed to get to the championship.

“It was really good,” Garvin said. “It was hit and miss some days, and we just pulled it together in the end.”

The fishing was hard at the end of the season, but the two prevailed and not only won first place, but helped their team win the championship.

“It was definitely hard fishing,” Gose said. “Everybody’s trying to catch fish, fish are getting hit pretty hard. It’s definitely getting tough.”

The two attributed their success to pre-fishing lakes, studying bathymetric charts and just spending time fishing and understanding their gear. Finding experts for each of the lakes and reaching out to them asking for advice played a large role in their success.

“The community is definitely a big help too,” Garvin added. “It really helps a lot.”

Gose said his favorite part of the season was waiting for coach Alyssa Conner to release the results after each tournament day.

“I’d just be super impatient looking at my phone every 30 seconds, waiting,” Gose said.

Garvin said it was great to work with other teams from Mat-Su Central and other schools. Anglers shared information and gear, trying to create an opportunity for all to succeed.

“Everybody just pitched in and got it done,” Garvin said.

Gose encourages more people to try ice fishing and is excited to see the program continue to grow. He and Garvin will be coming back next year, looking to grow on their success from this year and working hard to stay ahead of their competition.

“There’s room to grow,” Gose said. “Room to grow it out in the community, room to grow ourselves.”

Colton Conner said he is excited to see how much the program has grown and how each school has taken the competition so seriously. He said the most important aspect of the competition is \ getting more youth involved with ice fishing and interacting with others at their schools.

“Having these other schools involved really has created a mini fishing community within the high schools,” Conner said. “Now kids are talking about fishing that may have never known each other before. It’s been super awesome.”

Colton placed an emphasis on how much support the program receives from the community. He said that he and all of the coaches and anglers involved were very appreciative of the support they have received. Donations from companies like Weaver Bros Tackle Company, who donated a year of pro staff enrollment for the top individual winners, Three Rivers Fly and Tackle who donated ice fishing gear and apparel, Sustina Rods who donated custom ice rods, and Hard Water Warriors who donated a heater, ice scoops and an ice shack for some of the winning teams, is what makes the tournaments possible.

“Thanks to all our community members and business owners, they’ve been huge. This wouldn’t have happened without our local sponsors,” Colton said.

Colton said he hopes to see the ice fishing competition grow throughout the state and include schools from the Kenai Peninsula and Anchorage. He looks forward to connecting with more coaches and more anglers next winter.

“I never thought it would get like this,” Colton said. “I just had this idea, being a competitive angler in the past, and my wife as well. We just talked about this idea, ‘let’s start an ice team,’ and now it’s just huge. I’m super happy. I’m so excited for the kids and the coaches and the schools. Hopefully it gets bigger.”