COCHECTON, NY — “I think they’re having a blast out there,” said Kevin Esselman, a member of a recently established local fishing and hunting club, adding about the 70 youngsters out on the ice, “They’re running, sliding and fishing.”

On February 5, the Smugglers Nob Rod & Gun Club held its first annual youth ice fishing tournament on Mitchell Pond, in memory of Gerald “Jerry” Bruce Sheppard.

According to Harold “Boomer” Russell, about four years ago a group of outdoorsmen took over the property once owned by Sheppard (1956-2006), a lifelong resident of the area, who in years past held ice-fishing contests on the 78-acre lake.

Before his untimely passing at the age of 50, Sheppard was a member of the National Rifle Association, the Forz Orr Mor Hunting Club, the Sullivan County Sportsmen’s Federation, the Sullivan County Longbeards and the Stony Brook Hunting Club.

“A bunch of the guys, we brought our kids out here, back in 2004, ’05 and ’06… and then four years ago, we bought Jerry’s old house and property, and formed the club,” said Russell.

As the threescore and 10 kids, ranging in age from five to 15, fished through holes drilled into the frozen depths below, they reeled in three denizens of the pond including pickerel, perch and crappie.

Scores of parents and relatives accompanied them out into the frigid morning and early afternoon, while Regan Russell, a 17-year-old senior at Sullivan West High School dressed up in an ice-cold white polar bear outfit and joined her mom Karen in selling raffle tickets along the shoreline.

The contest winners were:

Pickerel

First place: Owen Moss; second place: Connor Schrade; third place: Dylan Scardefield and Max Blumenthal.

Perch

First place: James Knapp; second place: Hayden Wasikieviez; third place: Levi Chevalier.

Crappie

First place: James Knapp; second place: Landon Maluski; third place: James Knapp.

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