But, in his defense, it was a big fish, and must have seemed huge to a boy of 4 or 5 or so.<\/p>\n
His dad, Ben Lucero Jr. of Durango, posed with the 2.7-pound rainbow trout not terribly far from the ice from which he pulled it just minutes earlier at Vallecito Lake. The boy stood a few feet away, still a bit leery.<\/p>\n
Dad was among 194 ice anglers who paid $25 apiece Saturday for a chance at a top prize of $1,000 in three divisions in the 2015 Winter Fishing Contest on Vallecito. But it was the kids, who fished for free (unless they wanted to compete for cash), who were the real winners.<\/p>\n
Each child received a fishing startup kit that included an ice-fishing rod-and-reel combination. And while the bulk of the entry fees went toward paying out the $4,500 total purse ($1,000 for first, $500 for second in the three categories), the remaining $350 will likely have an indelible impact on some of those kids.<\/p>\n
Those monies will go toward supporting Vallecito Conservation and Sporting Association causes, which include funding 4-H programs as well as hunting and fishing outings for youths and helping youngsters get their hunter safety certificates, according to Jim Schank, organizer of Saturday\u2019s ice-fishing tournament and president of the VSCA. The hope was that, with the large payout, the tournament would attract a good number of anglers to help the VSCA raise even a few bucks for its causes.<\/p>\n
Fortunately for Schank and the VSCA, a long stretch of unseasonably warm weather didn\u2019t deter anglers for the tournament, which returned after a several-year hiatus. On Friday, Schank said there was \u201czero to 14 inches\u201d of ice on the lake, but that \u201czero\u201d didn\u2019t seem to scare many, if any, away. While there was open water, mostly on the south side of the lake and here and there along the shoreline, most anglers hugged the west shore on the north side of the lake, near the Vallecito Community Event Center \u2013 the tournament headquarters \u2013 where anglers were reporting anywhere from about 5 to 10 inches of good, solid ice.<\/p>\n
Lucero\u2019s fish was the first weighed \u2013 at about 11:30 a.m. \u2013 in the tournament, which ran from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. About an hour-and-a-half later, Jeovani Munoz, also of Durango, came in with fish No. 2 \u2013 also a rainbow trout that looked to be about the same size as Lucero\u2019s. It was just slightly bigger at 2.76 pounds. Munoz said he knows Lucero through work, and laughed when he discovered that he edged out Lucero for the top spot \u2013 at least at the time.<\/p>\n
But neither would place in the trout division \u2013 Jeremy McDonald finished first with a 3.23-pounder, followed by Aaron Velasquez at 3.05 pounds. Sean Simpson was a close third at 3.04 pounds and earned a Beaver Dam tip-up rod, the prize for third place in each division.<\/p>\n
Steve Stackonis caught the largest pike \u2013 a nice 10.74-pounder, followed by Richard Samora, 9.13 pounds, and Sam Eggleston, 4.88 pounds.<\/p>\n
In the heaviest stringer competition, Robert Morris was first at 8.55 pounds (all trout, Schank said), followed by Shannon Waller at 8.08 pounds and Kyle Watson, 7.57 pounds.<\/p>\n
Munoz said he had caught a 36-inch pike \u2013 which would weigh around 13 pounds \u2013 a few weeks earlier, and fished the same place Saturday, in the northeast corner of the lake. When he first hooked his rainbow Saturday \u2013 on a small jig tipped with a mealworm, or waxworm \u2013 he also thought it was a large pike.<\/p>\n
Lucero\u2019s father, Ben Lucero Sr., also pulled a large pike through the ice several weeks ago \u2013 a trophy-sized 42-incher, which would weigh about 21 pounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cMake sure you include Junior (on his name on the weigh-in sheet) \u2013 my dad\u2019s out there and he\u2019ll claim it,\u201d Lucero said, laughing, of his fish, also caught on a small jig tipped with a worm.<\/p>\n
The Luceros may have been the only three-generation family on the lake Saturday, but families, and kids, dotted the lake. At the final weigh-in, young children gathered in the front row to get an up-close view of flipping-and-flopping trout, pike and the like.<\/p>\n
It was, after all, their tournament.<\/p>\n