February 2025 Gazette – Kudos To Vern For Saving The Day
Islanders may sacrifice whatever to Uller to bring ice to the island area, but without one other important ingredient, ice fishing would be a total bust. That ingredient is live “Minnows.” Without them, the hardy hardwater fishermen would have to depend on bait that wouldn’t bring in the best catches of the day.
When ice guide Aaron Schroeder, aka Vern, and the other fishermen were finding a severe shortage of minnows in the lake to catch for bait, something had to be done quickly, as the ferry was soon halting service due to an “ice-making” forecast that long gone islander George Stoecker would have called “Mighty fine, mighty fine!”
Aaron started phoning around (and around) before hooking up with A-N-J Bait & Tackle to bring 80 gallons of minnows to the island. Eighty gallons is over 100,000 minnows. The last-minute bulk minnow delivery to the island was on Thursday, January 2nd, the last day of ferry service ‘til next spring.
The large tank truck arrived on the first ferry and headed down to the Village launch ramp by the Jet dock. Eagerly waiting for the minnows were all the island fishermen with their 5-gallon buckets ready to have them filled with an estimated 6,000 minnows. Amazingly, things went like clockwork, as A-N-J’s empty tank truck headed back to the mainland on the very next ferry leaving the ice fishermen happy as clams.
Julene Market from Miller Boat Line reportedly dubbed it the “Great Minnow Haul.”