Youth anglers finish SATT season on Lake Pepin

Over the weekend, Lake Pepin and the surrounding waters of the Mississippi River (Pool 4) got a new group of anglers to pay a visit for a bass tournament that has never taken place here before. Approximately 200 high school fishermen (boys and girls) and their adult captains participated in the Student Angler Tournament Trail (SATT) fishing tournament, with great success.
Two local Lake City teams consisting of high school students Sam Fitterer, Evan Huettl, John Klouser, and Chase Rodewald and captained by Damian Fitterer and Josh Rodewald participated in the tournament, taking 26th and 33rd out of the field of 86 boats.  Josh Rodewald was instrumental in bringing the tournament to Lake City and for connecting SATT with the Lake City Sportsman’s Club to serve as a home base for this new Mississippi River event.
A rules meeting for participants was held at the Lake City Sportsman’s Club on Saturday evening in preparation for the Sunday tournament. As part of the registration meeting, many participants brought food donations for the Lake City Food Shelf. This has been a fun challenge at many of the tournament spots throughout the season, with students earning tickets for pounds of food or dollars donated and prizes drawn at the end of the evening.  Participants at this tournament donated approximately $350 and over 300 pounds of food.
The participants fished from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, tracked their catches with a scale and an app on their phones, and released their catches back to the water. Awards were presented at the Lake City Sportsman’s Club late Sunday afternoon.  
A team from Wayzata took first place in the tournament, with their seven official fish (large and small mouth bass only, per the rules) bringing in a total weight of 22 pounds 5 ounces.  The first place team received a $2,000 scholarship prize, donated by the Frontenac Sportsman  Club.
The largest bass of the tournament weighed in at 4 pounds 12 ounces and was caught by a team from Maple Grove, who earned a $1,000 prize donated by Walleye Searchers of Minnesota.
Sunday’s tournament was the last regular season stop on the “trail,” which included several other events across the state, but none on the Mississippi River. This event in particular not only offered up thousands of dollars in scholarship money to the winners, but also brought a new experience to people from all over the state. Many of the participants had never fished the Mississippi River before. The overall experience was very positive, with great weather and successful fishing in many spots on the river.
Over 25 Lake City Sportsman’s Club volunteers helped with setup, boat parking, and having food available for over 300 participants and family members who visited Lake City for the event.    
A special thank you to Jimmy Bell, ​vice president and COO for SATT, and Josh Rodewald for bringing the tournament to Lake City.  Thank you to Steve Fleis and Roger Eggenberger for the use of their “people movers” and to the Lake City Sportsman’s Club members for the use of their tractors and side-by-sides to shuffle participants from the boat and trailer parking lot to the club.  Also, thank you to Mayor Mark Nichols for allowing the Lake City Sportsman’s Club to use his lot for overflow parking, and the Lake City Police Department for their help with controlling parking.  And, thank you to the Lake City Chamber for allowing the use of their space for the command center for the tournament.  Our combined efforts helped make a great impression on many of the participants and families visiting our community for the first time.  We look forward to their return visits.