Team USA ready to compete in 2025 World Ice Fishing Championship

WOOD COUNTY – Becoming an Olympic athlete requires dedication, determination and practice, practice and more practice. Fishing on 9” of ice, in five separate three-hour heats, 18 of the best ice anglers in the United States converged onto the 323 acre, Tamarack Lake, in Lakeview Michigan to compete in the 2025 US National Ice Fishing Championship (USNIFC) with one goal, to make the USA Ice Fishing Team.
The World Ice Fishing Championship (WIFC) is being held in the Grand Rapids, MI area on Tamarack Lake in Lakeview, MI next month Feb. 12-16. During the week of the event there will be three official practice days (Wednesday-Friday) and two competition days (Saturday and Sunday). The championship consists of the best ice anglers from Sweden, Finland, Norway, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Lithuania, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and the United States of America.
Each team will consist of 5 anglers and a reserve with one athlete from each country competing against all countries in one of five competition zones for two days. At the USNIFC anglers from seven different states competed to earn one of the coveted 6 angler spots on Team USA. Weather conditions during the course of the National Championship varied greatly and anglers needed to adapt. The first two heats began on Friday when anglers would see temperatures into the 40s. Wind welcomed the competitors on Saturday as the mercury dropped nearly 25 degrees in 24 hours. By Sunday morning, for the final heat every one of the men were bundled up as windchills dipped into the minus range. The weather would not stop the fighting spirit each angler owned.
“I knew these guys were going to give it everything, no matter what the conditions were.” Said Myron Gilbert, US Ice Fishing Team head Coach. “My job was to make sure I put these men into position to succeed and I knew the best would show up.” Coach Myron has high praise for all 18 anglers in the zones over the weekend.
Once the frost settled, the top six USNIFC finishers all have earlier World Championship experience. Chad Schaub (Sand Lake, MI) is the US favorite with a bronze and silver team medal and an individual bronze in 2013, the last time the WIFC was held in the US. Two other Michigan anglers locked up spots as well, Kieth Kniffen (Easton Rapids, MI) and Zack George

(Hastings, MI). Kniffen had a strong finish last year in Mongolia, narrowly missing a bronze medal. The US team is strengthened by anglers Jeff Kelm (Wisconsin Rapids, WI), Kevin Kowalski (Duluth, MN) and reserve, Nate Winters (Ogdensburg, WI). Rounding out the team is Captain Nick Schertz (Tomahawk, WI), Coach Myron Gilbert (Brooklyn, MI) and Delegate Joe
Martinez (Sandy, Utah).
With the help of KeepNet software the catch, weigh and release “no kill” method developed by members of the USA Ice Fishing Team allowed the anglers to stay under the 25 fish limit yet
score hundreds of fish during the three-hour heats. Anglers were supplied bait for the competition by the official bait sponsor, Knutson’s Live Bait, a local company in Brooklyn MI. USAngling also received aid from the Clam Corp. who supplied the team with outwear as well as shelters that will be used for the weigh-in tents.