Page 9 Tupper Lake Free Press Wednesday March 5, 2014
Derby entrant numbers modest,
fish take light, but prizes were huge!
Tupper Lake’s second
version of the New York
State Ice Pro-Am Derby
on Tupper Lake in midFebruary attracted 110
registrants and among them
18 pro teams of two.
Derby
organizers
were hoping for a much
larger field of contestants.
-And while the fishing
haul was much lighter
than expected, the event
produced some huge prize
packages totaling more
than $25,000.
“On Day One we saw
quite a few fish, but Sunday,
wow, what a difference!”
Organizer Tim Thomas
told the derby entrants
as he began the awards
ceremony in the archery
quarters of the Tupper Lake
Rod and Gun Club Sunday,
February 16 at the close of
the event.
Many of the anglers
were skunked the second
day.
Saturday, February 15
was sunny and relatively
warm. The next day was
cloudy with day-time highs
only in the teens.
Mr. Thomas said he
didn’t know what caused
the fish not to be biting
Sunday- whether it was the
change in weather, the moon
change or the plethora of
smelt for feeding by larger
fish evident that day.
The derby organizer
thanked the Rod and Gun
Club’s Dave McMahon for
his help with this year’s
event as well as the broad
support offered him by
the Tupper Lake Chamber
of Commerce and the
local village and town
governments and the local
police. He said too that
without the support of his
dozen or so sponsors- the
largest of two were Plano
and Frabill- the series of
three derbies would not
have been possible.
He also thanked
friends and family members
who made the trips from
Rochester and other points
west to help him with the
tournament. He said for
some the normally three
and one-half hour trip
became seven due to a
snow storm Friday.
“Our event is at the
cutting edge” in the sport of
ice fishing…it’s the largest
ice series in the world,” he
told the 100 of so anglers
in the heated archery range
that afternoon.
“We didn’t get the
huge turnout we were
looking for,” but those who
entered will be winning a
lot of prizes- thanks to our
sponsors.
In all about 40 fish
were entered, most of them
caught the first day.
Mike Kohan’s five pound fish won him prizes
totalling $250 and a second place trophy.
Rod Boushie won first prize in the pan fish
category.
fisherman Justin Woods
earned a special award for
perseverance and love of
the sport.
Tupper Lake’s Matt Boudreau, at right, won first
prize in the lunker pool. Wayne Stripp won second prize in the lunker pool and together they
won third place and $400 in prizes in the Pro-am
division.
Because not all the $2,700 prize package, Matt
prize slots in the four fish Boudreau and his partner
categories were filled, the Wayne Stripp garnered
prize packages associated prizes worth $400 for third
with each unfilled spot place in the Tupper Lake
were given to anglers in event with 18.35 points.
The winner of the proa random drawing at the
am class were Dan Jackson
close of the ceremony.
and Katherine Gumtow of
Mike Trombley of Auburn, N.Y., who shared
Tupper Lake went home $1,900 in merchandize
$235 richer that afternoon prizes including two new
as the winner of the archery ice suits.
club’s 50-50 drawing.
-And while he didn’t
Tim announced the
lunker pool in the event have any fish to enter this
totaled $700- which was time, avid Tupper Lake
split evenly between small
and large species.
The large species
class included lake trout,
walleyed pike and Northern
pike. Third place in that
division went to James
Walrath with a 8.21-pound
walleye. Second prize was
won by Wayne Stripp for
his fish which weighted
8.23 pounds. The prize
winner in the lunker pool
was Tupper Lake’s Matt
Boudreau with an 8.35
pound beauty.
There were a number
of other local winners.
In the pan fish
category, Rod Boushie won
a first-prize trophy and a
prize package of fishing
gear worth $550 for a
perch which weighed 0.67
pounds.
In the Great Northern
Pike category, Tupper Lake
cleaned up.
Mike Trombley won
third place and a $95 prize
package for his 3.53-pound
Northern.
Mike Kohan’s five
pound fish won him a prize
package valued at $235 and
a second prize trophy.
Tupper Lake’s Jarod
Tyo took the first prize
trophy for biggest Northern
which tipped the scales at
7.51 lbs. His prize package
totaled $430.
In the pro-am division
where angler pairs of two
compete for a three-event
triple crown trophy and a
About 1a.m. that
Saturday Justin walked
from town to the rod and
gun club headquarters
of the event and then
back into town to get bait
fish. When he couldn’t
find any there, he walked
back out to Moody to the
bait store at the Red Top
Motel, and then back to the
headquarters, Tim Thomas
told the other fishermen .
“It was amazing for
us to learn what he went
through to attend our
event,” he told the fishing
crowd.
He said Justin
reminded him of he and
his brother who routinely
walked many miles to fish
or to attend competitions in
their area.
With the permission
of the other contestants, he
awarded Justin the $440
in prizes that would have
went to the winner of the
lake trout class, had it been
filled.
Hudson and Jared Baldwin were just two of the
many prize winners.
2014