For the past five years, the third weekend in February has clearly been marked on anglers’ calendars
as the date of the Cold Lake Ice Fishing Tournament, a fundraising event for Age Friendly Cold Lake (AFCL).
Smart anglers actually keep an eye on their calendars starting in November—that’s when the 400 tournament spots open for registration. This year’s event was sold out in just six hours.
“We’ve got excited anglers coming into the tournament office,” said AFCL board member Bonnie Folkard on Saturday. “Some people are back for their fifth year in a row, some have said they’ve tried for two
or three years in a row and finally got in.”
The tournament offers overall prizes and daily prizes for biggest fish caught in adult and junior categories, as well as prizes for best three combined. Folkard said the community has come through in a big way to sponsor prizes, support the event, and make the weekend fun for everyone.
Anglers fish for lake trout, and enter their fish by length through a digital app. All fish are returned to the lake alive.
Last year’s winning fish was 88 centimetres long. On Friday morning this year, Cody Kachmarchyk landed a 92.1-centimetre trout (36 ¼ inches), setting a high bar for the rest of the weekend.
(Eighty-eight centimetres won it in 2024; 92 centimetres in 2025. Might it be the same fish?)
Folkard said the tournament is a big fundraising success for AFCL, and a great time for the participants. It’s also, she said, a boon for Cold Lake as a city.
“We keep hearing the ice fishing tournament’s one of the biggest events now in Cold Lake,” she said.
Organizers hear from participants how surprised they are by the city. “We get that every year, year after year. People say, ‘Oh my God, Cold Lake’s amazing, I didn’t realize there were all the shops and restaurants,’” Folkard said.
Many say they intend to come back in the summertime.
“It’s a win-win for the whole community,” Folkard said. “For Age Friendly, for the city of Cold Lake and all the great things that we offer here.”
Out on the ice we met up with Vitalii, who recently moved to Edmonton from Ukraine. He and a friend were drilling their first holes early Saturday afternoon.
The two were eager to test their luck. Vitalii said he hadn’t been ice fishing before coming to Canada, “because in Ukraine we don’t have winters like this.
“I invited my girlfriend to come with me and she said, ‘Oh no, never! It’s like minus-30! Aren’t you scared to go out on a cold lake in wintertime? It could reach minus-40!’” he said.
“I said yeah, but we want to try to stay in a shack overnight and see how it is. And there’s a lot of people out here right now.”
Folkard said there are more and more women participating, and there are some people who don’t register to fish—they’re just here for the camping.
“We had one couple come yesterday. They weren’t registered, but they just had to come to Cold Lake. They were going out to camp for the night at minus-35,” she said.
And why not, she said. “There’s no bugs!”
