Eelpout Festival

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Eelpout Festival
Eelpout Festival Logo.jpg
Official Logo of the Eelpout Festival
Genre Festival
DatesFebruary 2022
Location(s) Walker, Minnesota
Years active1979–2019, 2022–
Attendance11,000 (2012)
Website http://www.eelpoutfestival.com/

The International Eelpout Festival is an annual gathering held in the town of Walker, Minnesota. It celebrates the eelpout (or burbot, scientific name Lota lota ), an indigenous bottom dwelling fish that inhabits the region's lakes, in some cases being found as deep as 300m. The fish itself is described as a cross between a catfish and eel, giving it a slender disposition but retaining a tapered midsection with a full complement of pectoral and caudal fins. While Lota lota is known locally as eelpout, eelpout also may refer to a family of marine fishes. Leech Lake is known for its exceptional walleye fishing, making this festival a banner for the often forgotten eelpout. [1] [2]

Contents

History

The first Eelpout Festival was held in January 1980, and it ran annually until 2019. From 1983 onwards, the festival was held in February. [3] Because of pollution, cost and safety concerns, 2020 saw the festival get scrapped. [4] The celebration is held during one of the coldest periods of the year, and temperatures often reach well below zero. [5] In 2016 and 2017, however, the ice was too thin to permit motor vehicles onto the lake. [3]

The events are designed to cater to a wide range of audiences and family activities are plentiful. [1]

Environment

Leech Lake is well known among locals for its abundance of walleye, bass, Northern pike, sunfish and muskellunge. Eelpout are frequently caught only during the winter months. Leech Lake is the third largest lake in Minnesota covering 102,947.83 acres, with 195 miles of shoreline, and a maximum depth of 150 feet. Temperatures in February average a high of 25 degrees Fahrenheit and a low of 5 degrees. [5]

2018 attempted location move

As reported in September 2017 for a variety of reasons, the festival board had explored the possibility of relocating the event to Lake Bemidji, an hour northwest of Walker. According to the Bemidji Pioneer, an application was filed with the Beltrami County board to proceed with moving the event north. Beltrami County officials voiced concern about the potential impact of the event on Lake Bemidji, and the 2018 festival ultimately did not move from Leech Lake. [4]

Related Research Articles

Walleye Species of fish

The walleye, also called the yellow pike or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern United States. It is a North American close relative of the European zander, also known as the pikeperch. The walleye is sometimes called the yellow walleye to distinguish it from the blue walleye, which is a subspecies that was once found in the southern Ontario and Quebec regions, but is now presumed extinct. However, recent genetic analysis of a preserved (frozen) 'blue walleye' sample suggests that the blue and yellow walleye were simply phenotypes within the same species and do not merit separate taxonomic classification.

Cass County, Minnesota County in Minnesota, United States

Cass County is a county in the central part of the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,066. Its county seat is Walker. The county was formed in 1851, and was organized in 1897.

Beltrami County, Minnesota County in Minnesota, United States

Beltrami County is a county in the northern part of the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 46,228. Its county seat is Bemidji. The county's name comes from Italian adventurer Giacomo Beltrami from Bergamo, who explored the area in 1825. The county was created in 1866 and organized in 1896.

Bemidji, Minnesota City in Minnesota, United States

Bemidji is a city and the county seat of Beltrami County, in northern Minnesota, United States. The population was 14,574 at the 2020 census. According to 2021 census estimates, the city is estimated to have a population of 15,279, making it the largest commercial center between Grand Forks, North Dakota and Duluth.

Grand Marais, Minnesota City in Minnesota, United States

Grand Marais is a city in Cook County, Minnesota, United States, on the North Shore of Lake Superior. It had a population of 1,337 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat and sole municipality of Cook County. Before it was settled by French Canadians and before Minnesota's statehood, Grand Marais was inhabited by the Ojibwe.

Walker, Minnesota City in Minnesota, United States

Walker is a city in Cass County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 941 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Cass County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burbot</span> Species of fish

The burbot is the only gadiform (cod-like) freshwater fish. It is also known as bubbot, mariah, loche, cusk, freshwater cod, freshwater ling, freshwater cusk, the lawyer, coney-fish, lingcod, and eelpout. The species is closely related to the marine common ling and the cusk. It is the only member of the genus Lota. For some time of the year, the burbot lives under ice, and it requires frigid temperatures to breed.

Green Bay (Lake Michigan) Arm of Lake Michigan in Wisconsin and Michigan

Green Bay is an arm of Lake Michigan, located along the south coast of Michigan's Upper Peninsula and the east coast of Wisconsin. It is separated from the rest of the lake by the Door Peninsula in Wisconsin, the Garden Peninsula in Michigan, and the chain of islands between them, all formed by the Niagara Escarpment. Green Bay is some 120 miles (193 km) long, with a width ranging from about 10 to 20 miles ; it is 1,626 square miles (4,210 km2) in area.

Viviparous eelpout Species of fish

The viviparous eelpout, also known as the, viviparous blenny and European eelpout is an eelpout in the family Zoarcidae. It is notable for giving birth to live larvae. It is a common soup ingredient in Mediterranean countries. The bones are of greenish colour, due to a harmless pigment. Their skin is slimy and the color is variable.

Cass Lake (Minnesota) Body of water

Cass Lake is a lake in north central Minnesota in the United States. It is approximately 10 mi (16 km) long and 7 mi (11 km) wide, located in Cass and Beltrami counties, within the Chippewa National Forest and the Leech Lake Indian Reservation, adjacent to its namesake city of Cass Lake. It is the 11th largest lake in Minnesota, and the 8th largest lake lying entirely within the borders of the state.

Lake Bemidji Body of water

Lake Bemidji is a small glacially-formed lake, approximately 11 square miles in area, in northern Minnesota in the United States. Located less than 50 miles (80 km) downstream from the source of the Mississippi River, it both receives and is drained by the Mississippi.

Red Lake Indian Reservation Home to the federally recognized Red Lake Band of Ojibwe

The Red Lake Indian Reservation covers 1,260.3 sq mi in parts of nine counties in northwestern Minnesota, United States. It is made up of numerous holdings but the largest section is an area about Red Lake, in north-central Minnesota, the largest lake in the state. This section lies primarily in the counties of Beltrami and Clearwater. Land in seven other counties is also part of the reservation. The reservation population was 5,506 in the 2020 census.

Leech Lake Body of water

Leech Lake is a lake located in north central Minnesota, United States. It is southeast of Bemidji, located mainly within the Leech Lake Indian Reservation, and completely within the Chippewa National Forest. It is used as a reservoir. The lake is the third largest in Minnesota, covering 102,947.83 acres (416.6151 km2) with 195 miles (314 km) of shoreline and has a maximum depth of 156 feet (48 m).

Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe

The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, also known as the Leech Lake Band of Chippewa Indians or the Leech Lake Band of Minnesota Chippewa Tribe is an Ojibwe band located in Minnesota and one of six making up the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. The band had 9,426 enrolled tribal members as of March 2014. The band's land base is the Leech Lake Indian Reservation, which includes eleven communities aggregated into three districts, as defined in the tribal constitution,

KLLZ-FM Radio station in Walker, Minnesota

KLLZ-FM is a radio station broadcasting from Bemidji, Minnesota, and airs a classic rock format. It has a wide coverage area across northern Minnesota, and enjoys a huge listening audience. KLLZ is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc. The Bemidji studios are located at 502 Beltrami Avenue, downtown Bemidji. The original transmitter site was along Highway 71, near Lake George. At the same time as the Hubbard sale, a new transmitter and antenna were installed at the existing KBHP transmitter site.

<i>Coregonus artedi</i> Species of fish

Coregonus artedi, commonly known as the cisco, is a North American species of freshwater whitefish in the family Salmonidae. The number of species and definition of species limits in North American ciscoes is a matter of debate. Accordingly, Coregonus artedi may refer either in a narrow sense to one of the several types of cisco found e.g. in the Great Lakes, or in a broad sense to the complex of all ciscoes in continental North American lakes, Coregonus artedi sensu lato.

Leech Lake Tribal College (LLTC) is a public tribal land-grant community college in Cass Lake, Minnesota. It was established in 1990 and designated a land-grant college in 1994. The college includes approximately 70 faculty, staff, administrators, and 250 students. Most students come from the Leech Lake and Red Lake Reservations, and approximately 8% of the student population is non-Indian.

National Register of Historic Places listings in Beltrami County, Minnesota

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Bemidji Blue Ox Marathon

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References

  1. 1 2 "International Eelpout Festival™ - FEBRUARY 18-21, 2016 - Walker, Mn". Eel Pout Festival.
  2. "International Eelpout Festival : Explore Minnesota".
  3. 1 2 Cameron, Linda A. (14 February 2022). "For forty years, Walker, Minnesota's International Eelpout Festival celebrated the state's ugliest fish". MinnPost. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  4. 1 2 Donovan, Larissa (2 January 2020). "Eelpout Festival 2020 Canceled". Bemidji Now. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  5. 1 2 "Ashburn, VA Monthly Weather Forecast". weather.com. Retrieved 2022-08-27.