The International Eelpout Festival in Walker began in 1980 as a way to bring tourists to northern Minnesota during the long winter months. Centered on what is considered the state’s ugliest fish, it grew into an annual four-day festival that has attracted national attention and thousands of visitors.
In 1979, Don and Debbie Overcash, owners of Walker Drug, and Ken Bresley of the Tackle Box bait shop came up with the idea of an International Eelpout Festival to encourage winter tourism in Walker, Minnesota. When the idea was rejected by the Chamber of Commerce, each invested $1 and began planning the first festival.
The eelpout (Lota lota), or burbot, is a variety of cod. It is a slimy, eel-like bottom-feeder that dwells in cold northern lakes and rivers. Its reputation for ugliness has prompted news reporters to give it such uncomplimentary names as the “Ish of Fish,” and “Minnesota’s Slimiest Tough Guy”—an unlikely inspiration for a town festival. Unlike most Minnesota fish species, it spawns in the winter and goes dormant in summer, so it is easiest to catch in late winter.
In January 1980, an estimated 800 people turned out on frozen Leech Lake for the first International Eelpout Festival to compete for the trophy awarded for the largest eelpout caught. Organizers offered a consolation prize for the largest walleye (generally considered a prized catch but jokingly referred to as a “rough fish” during the competition) caught during the two-day festival. Teams with names like the Walker ‘Pout Scouts, Cod Camp, and the Norwegian Eelpout Team competed for the Chase on the Lake eelpout trophy. Festival buttons helped to finance the event entitled holders to be entered into a prize drawing. The Walker Pilot-Independent newspaper issued its first International Eelpout Festival souvenir section, filled with tongue-in-cheek articles and eelpout trivia.
The following year, an estimated 2,250 to 2,400 anglers landed a total of 306 eelpout. Festival attendees participated in Eelpout bowling and enjoyed a fireworks display.
In 1983, the festival moved to February. Participants paid an entry fee of four dollars. Anyone beating the state eelpout record of fourteen pounds and one ounce had a chance to win a car, though the record held and the prize went unclaimed.
The event’s popularity increased each year. Beginning in 1984, the festival ran three days and featured new events, such as a five-mile footrace called the Eelpout Peel-Out. To help promote the festival, the organizers held contests for official “International Eelpout” prints and stamps in 1987 and 1988. Minnesota wildlife artists Les C. Kouba and James Meger submitted the winning entries.
By the mid-1990s, the festival boasted grand prizes of a new fish house, a trip to Mexico, and a new, four-wheel, all-terrain vehicle. In 1997, festival officials shipped some of the eelpout caught to the Mall of America for display in the mall’s Underwater World. Events included a Polar Plunge into the icy waters of Leech Lake.
By the 2010s, the festival extended to four days and featured such events as snowmobile races, eelpout curling, eelpout rugby, an eelpout fish fry, and concerts.
Over the years, the festival has reached national audiences through a variety of television programs. Jay Leno of “The Tonight Show” did a feature on the 2011 Eelpout Festival. Animal Planet’s “Off the Hook: Extreme Catches” series featured a program in 2013 titled “Land of 10,000 Iceholes.” In 2018, public television cooking show host Lidia Bastianich filmed a program segment at the festival, sharing the tip that eelpout, for all their ugliness, are tasty fish. These programs highlighted the festival legend that kissing an eelpout brings good luck for the coming year.
Global warming has occasionally put a damper on the ice fishing festival. In 2016 and 2017, the Cass County sheriff banned cars and trucks from driving onto Leech Lake during the hours of the festival due to thin ice, though participants could haul fish houses onto the ice before the event.
An attempt to move the festival to Lake Bemidji in Beltrami County in 2017 failed, and it continued as an annual event on Leech Lake, with attendance reaching an estimated 15,000 people each year. 2019 marked the International Eelpout Festival’s fortieth anniversary, but due to rising costs and safety concerns, the festival was canceled in 2020.
Anderson, Dennis. “The Lure of Eelpout: Ugly Fish Still a Hit at Annual Festival.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, February 22, 1998.
——— . “Today’s Tip.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, January 21, 1998.
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Brunswick, Mark, Pam Louwagie, and Kelly Smith. “Walker: Alrighty, Then: Eelpout Festival Will Stay Put.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, November 12, 2017.
Coles, Colleen A. “Quick Trip: Walker, Minn.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, February 9, 2014.
——— . “Side Roads; Grand Marais Celebrates Birch.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, February 6, 2006.
——— . “Side Roads; Walker Eelpout Fest Serves up Fun on Ice.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, February 8, 2004.
Dokken, Brad. “Eelpout, the ‘Ish of Fish,’ in Apparent Decline.” St. Paul Pioneer Press, March 14, 2012.
“Eelpout Festival 2011 Tonight Show.” YouTube video, 5:50. Posted by “Joe Duea,” November 30, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dPCRwGa8JE
Harlow, Tim. “Vehicle Ban Puts Pout in Eelpout Festival: Sheriffs Call Draws Objection from Organizers, Who Say the Ice is Safe.” Minneapolis StarTribune, February 14, 2017.
International Eelpout Festival. https://www.eelpoutfestival.com
Levy, Paul. ”Pit Spit, Eelpout, Ole and Lena – Who said Minnesotans Don’t Have Fun?” Minneapolis Star Tribune, February 3, 1991.
Loeb, Robert. “Eelpout Festival Goes Well; Plans for Next Year Being Made.” Pilot-Independent (Walker, Minnesota), January 17, 1980.
Picture Magazine.Minneapolis Tribune, February 22, 1981.
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Norfleet, Nicole and Neal St. Anthony. “Tourism: Cryptocurrency; Commercial Property.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, December 30, 2018.
Orrick, Dave. “Little-known Eelpout Tasty and Hungry in Late Winter.” St. Paul Pioneer Press, February 14, 2015.
Public Broadcasting Service. An Eelpout Festival in Walker, Minnesota. http://www.pbs.org/food/features/eelpout-festival-walker-minnesota
Reinan, Johnson. “You Better Not Pout: Minnesota’s International Eelpout Festival Canceled.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, January 2, 2020.
http://www.startribune.com/you-better-not-pout-minnesota-s-international-eelpout-festival-canceled/566667931
Schara, Ron. “A Lotta Lota Iota Snared as Anglers Took the Bait.” Minneapolis Tribune, January 14, 1980.
——— . “Angler Sees Touch of Good Taste in Minnesota’s Slimiest Tough Guy.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, January 16, 1983.
——— . “Eelpout, Believe it or Not – Are Pretty Tasty.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, December 22, 1993.
Schranck, Bob. “Eelpout Team Scents Victory at Festival.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, February 8, 1983.
Laws of Minnesota for 2019, 2019 First Special Session, Chapter 4, article 3, section 44. See also Sec. 45, subdivision 43.
Smith, Don. “2nd Eelpout Festival Proves Bigger and Better Than Ever.” Pilot-Independent, January 22, 1981.
——— . “Leech Lake Eelpout Festival Tallies Second-Biggest Haul.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, February 23, 1997.
——— . “Ugliest Catch: Ice Anglers and Revelers Celebrate an Unattractive but Tasty Fish at Walkers Eelpout Festival.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, February 21, 2014.
In 1979, Ken Bresley and Don Overcash suggest an International Eelpout ice fishing festival as a way to bring tourists to Walker during the winter months.
An Eelpout Festival is planned for Leech Lake near Walker, Minnesota, by Walker natives Ken Bresley and Don Overcash, as a way to bring tourists to Walker during the winter months.
The first International Eelpout Festival is held on Leech Lake on January 12–13. An estimated 800 people turn out, many to try their luck at catching the largest eelpout.
An “Eelpout Peel-Out” five-mile footrace is added to the three-day festival events schedule. An anticipated twenty teams of anglers compete for $1,000 in prizes, and a drawing for two grand prizes is held for those with festival buttons.
Wildlife artist Les C. Kouba creates the 1987–1988 International Eelpout stamp.
The 1988–1989 International Eelpout stamp is released, created by artist James Megar.
$10,000 in prizes, including a new four-wheel ATV. Buttons for the festival, held February 14–16, sell for $8 each. Anglers catch a reported 801 eelpout with a total weight of 5,286 pounds—the second-highest total weight in the festival’s history
The festival features the added attractions of Hairiest Back, Best Chicken Legs, Best Beer Belly, and Best Long-John Fashion competitions.
The twenty-fifth Annual Eelpout Festival is held February 13–15. It features ice-drilling and ice-house competitions, a 5K race, dogsled rides, and the annual polar plunge.
An “Eelpout 500” auto race is on the schedule of festival events, to be held on Garfield Lake in LaPorte, Minnesota. Other events include a 5K run, polar plunge, and snowmobile races.
“The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno sends Australian roving reporter Rove McManus to the annual Eelpout Festival. He highlights the legend that kissing an eelpout will bring good luck for the coming year.
Festival events include “’Pout Games,” a tribute to the winter Olympics, featuring a pout relay, pout luge, eelpout rugby, eelpout curling and the “polar plunge.”
The Cass County Sheriff issues a statement prohibiting cars and trucks from driving onto the frozen lake during the festival due to thin ice, though participants can drive onto the lake before and after the restricted time frame to move fish houses.
Beltrami County commissioners consider an application from the Eelpout Festival organizers to move the festival to Lake Bemidji in October. The application is denied.
The fortieth annual International Eelpout Festival is held from February 21 to 24.
On March 1, the state legislature reclassifies the eelpout as a game fish (it had previous been considered a rough fish). The change sets catch limits and requires that all eelpout caught be either consumed or released.