'Such a great place": families try out ice fishing at FortWhyte Alive

No fishing licences were required, participants could just show up, drill their hole and drop their line. (Source: Zach Kitchen, CTV News)

Winnipeg families took to the ice at FortWhyte Alive Saturday to try their hand at ice fishing.

The nature centre's annual Ice Fishing Festival was an all-day event introducing people to the popular winter sport.

The free event was put on by the Manitoba Wildlife Federation.

Event coordinator Chris Benson said more than 800 people braved the frigid temperatures.

"Manitobans are a hearty bunch. We grow up in a climate that is very cold, so even on a day that's a little more chilly out, we're hearty enough to come out and enjoy the day," he said.

No fishing licences were required, participants could just show up, drill their hole and drop their line.

Benson said ice fishing is a fun activity for the whole family to do together. "It's an activity that moms and dads can take their kids out. We have a really strong ice fishing community here in the province."

For Phil Cavey, it was a chance to try something he'd always wanted to do. "Ice fishing has been on the radar for a long time," he said. "I'm very happy to have my family out with me today trying it for the first time."

Cavey said it was a great way to spend a Saturday. "Fort Whyte Alive is such a great place, we wanted to do some outdoor activities today anyway, so when we went to the website we found that today was ice fishing day, so that was just perfect," he said.

Cavey's son Jersey was having fun, despite not catching anything yet. "I want to catch a tiger fish!" he said.

Benson said people can catch all kids of different fish this time of year. "There's a number of species, there's walleye, northern pike, perch, there's carp. There's a real diversity here of the different species."

He said this spring's chilly weather will likely allow people to continue ice fishing right up until the end of the season in a few weeks.

Benson said the success of this year's event means the MWF will do it again. "We're definitely going to be here next year, introducing a bunch of new people to ice fishing."