What's Up With the Brainerd Jaycees Ice Fishing Extravaganza?

The weather for ice fishing - one month away from the Brainerd Jaycees Ice Fishing Extravaganza - is frightful. Further north of Brainerd, people have been repeatedly rescued on Upper Red Lake. The weather is finally trending towards (but not yet at) more seasonal temperatures, but is one month enough to get a safe amount of ice on Hole-in-the-Day Bay, the sight of the Extravaganza?

In a word: yes.

I talked to someone who knows what's what with the Extravaganza, and they told me that organizers are looking at the weather forecast for January and believe that there'll be plenty of ice to safely host the event.

Previous years have seen the event postponed or moved because of lackluster winter weather, so it's safe to say that the organizers (Brainerd Jaycees, duh) have a backup plan just in case. Official announcements will be made in the upcoming weeks.

The Brainerd Jaycee's $150,000 Ice Fishing Extravaganza is a BFD. It brings a lot of revenue to the Brainerd Lakes Area, and people are insane enough to ice fish on ice that isn't yet safe to do so (see: Upper Red Lake) and even - such as the case a few years ago - when wind chills hit 50 degrees below zero. You can't convince me to get out of bed on days like that; let alone bundle up, load up fishing gear, drive to the destination, unload fishing gear, haul fishing gear onto a lake, and try to be competitive.

That's a no from me, dawg.