OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — You don’t need to catch the biggest fish to claim the grand prize this weekend at Battle on Bago.
“Do what you can to catch a fish," said Toss Reuss, Board Member. "It's not hard, you've just got to put the time in. You can't catch a fish if the hook’s not in the water!"
Prizes for the event this weekend include a brand new Ford F-150 truck for the 1,000th place holder and $10,000 for the 150th place holder.
“The Ford truck is the one for 1000th place, so a kid could catch a perch and come in and win that truck," said Reuss. "So we stagger the prizes on purpose to make it fair for everybody.”
In 15 years putting on the big event, the last two were challenging with COVID-19, but volunteers still came together to make it happen, he said.
“We felt it was important," said Reuss. "And it's outside, we have changing air in here every nine minutes. It's outside, it's windy.”
Fox Valley Metrology has done the weighing for Battle on Bago for the past nine years.
“They came from two scales, you know, having a three hour long line to weigh your fish," said Josh Weimer, weigh team member. "Now we have 18 scales. It all goes back to a main server and we can pretty much get you in and out in a matter of minutes.”
All of the money raised from raffle tickets goes to supporting youth programs and environmental conservation.
“It's always really cool seeing the big fish come through, but for me, I love seeing like the kids with their parents come through," said Weimer. "Just watching a little kid be able to put their little perch, or a little walleye, up on the scale and just be so proud of catching something and being a part of it. That's what always puts a smile on my face.”
The warmup this week had board members worried, said Reuss.
“With the warmer weather, obviously the ice expands and contracts in the cold," he said. "We did have some expansion on the lake, it did cause a crack, which you can see."
So far on Friday, fishermen were having luck on the ice.
“We have a really, really good resource here with Lake Winnebago," said Reuss. "There's a lot of great fishing fish are just about to migrate up river. It's good for people to get out. This is a great outdoor event.”
Scales are open until 8 p.m. tonight and tomorrow from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The big tent is set up in Menominee Park.
