Fishing for a good cause:
Islands Ice Fishing Derby returns this weekend
By MICHAEL FRETT
Islander Staff Writer
HIGHGATE SPRINGS – A popular ice fishing derby supporting Lake Champlain’s walleye is returning to the islands this weekend with hundreds expected to take to the ice.
Between this coming Saturday and Sunday, several hundred anglers will likely participate in the 42nd annual Islands Ice Fishing Derby, an annual fishing contest tracing Lake Champlain’s inland sea and the islands’ shores from Alburgh to Colchester.
According to the event’s organizers, the derby, which typically brings between 400 and 600 anglers to the ice, will be a chance to take in the outdoors while supporting Lake Champlain’s returning walleye population through the event’s support of the Lake Champlain Walleye Association.
“This started as a grassroots effort to help restore the walleye population,” Gilbert Gagner, the owner of Highgate Springs’ Martin’s General Store and the derby’s president, told The Islander. “Winter is cold and you can either fish or go skiing… and everybody’s in support of supporting a good cause.”
The Lake Champlain Walleye Association, the organization supported by the Islands Ice Fishing Derby, is a nonprofit involved in raising and releasing walleye within the Lake Champlain watershed and among several inland lakes in Vermont.
According to the organization’s president, Bob Samson, the group maintains several ponds on behalf of the state at existing fish hatcheries in Grand Isle and Newark, all at least partially supported through funding donated through the Islands Ice Fishing Derby.
“It’s helped us develop our fishery and pay for things we need to improve that fishery,” Samson told The Islander when reached by phone last week. “It’s a big deal.”
Walleye are among the largest members of a family of fish related to perch. Prized as gamefish and for its flavor, walleye’s presence in Lake Champlain thinned throughout much of the 1900s as, according to Samson, the fish became subject to severe overfishing.
“It was fishing pressure,” Samson said. “It wasn’t disease and it wasn’t predation.”
Organizations like the Lake Champlain Walleye Association have become instrumental in the fish’s successful revival in Lake Champlain. Hundreds of thousands of walleye fingerlings are released every year from hatcheries supported by the organization, according to Samson.
All of it, he said, came with support from the anglers taking to the ice every year for the annual Islands Ice Fishing Derby.
“We would not have what we have today,” Samson said. “We would not have walleyes.”
Gagner, the derby’s president, said the fish’s return has been noticed by anglers, as well. Over the years, he said he has heard from anglers directly that they were catching more walleye, an “elusive fish” with “an aura about it” celebrated by the fishers on Lake Champlain.
“I see the direct results,” Gagner said. “Anglers are catching more walleye.”
As for the derby itself, Gagner said he hopes people come out and enjoy their time on the ice this coming weekend. With good weather expected, he said he is anticipating a high turnout even with Sunday competition from the Super Bowl.
It is a chance, Gagner said, to support the local fisheries while enjoying the best parts of ice fishing.
“Not knowing what you’re going to catch… and the camaraderie of everyone in the shanty,” he said.
Tickets and information regarding this weekend’s ice fishing derby can be found online at https://www.islandsderby.com/.
Tune into the derby awards ceremony live on Facebook, Sunday, Feb. 13 at 5:30 p.m. www.facebook.com/islandsderby
Islands Ice Fishing Derby returns this weekend
By MICHAEL FRETT
Islander Staff Writer
HIGHGATE SPRINGS – A popular ice fishing derby supporting Lake Champlain’s walleye is returning to the islands this weekend with hundreds expected to take to the ice.
Between this coming Saturday and Sunday, several hundred anglers will likely participate in the 42nd annual Islands Ice Fishing Derby, an annual fishing contest tracing Lake Champlain’s inland sea and the islands’ shores from Alburgh to Colchester.
According to the event’s organizers, the derby, which typically brings between 400 and 600 anglers to the ice, will be a chance to take in the outdoors while supporting Lake Champlain’s returning walleye population through the event’s support of the Lake Champlain Walleye Association.
“This started as a grassroots effort to help restore the walleye population,” Gilbert Gagner, the owner of Highgate Springs’ Martin’s General Store and the derby’s president, told The Islander. “Winter is cold and you can either fish or go skiing… and everybody’s in support of supporting a good cause.”
The Lake Champlain Walleye Association, the organization supported by the Islands Ice Fishing Derby, is a nonprofit involved in raising and releasing walleye within the Lake Champlain watershed and among several inland lakes in Vermont.
According to the organization’s president, Bob Samson, the group maintains several ponds on behalf of the state at existing fish hatcheries in Grand Isle and Newark, all at least partially supported through funding donated through the Islands Ice Fishing Derby.
“It’s helped us develop our fishery and pay for things we need to improve that fishery,” Samson told The Islander when reached by phone last week. “It’s a big deal.”
Walleye are among the largest members of a family of fish related to perch. Prized as gamefish and for its flavor, walleye’s presence in Lake Champlain thinned throughout much of the 1900s as, according to Samson, the fish became subject to severe overfishing.
“It was fishing pressure,” Samson said. “It wasn’t disease and it wasn’t predation.”
Organizations like the Lake Champlain Walleye Association have become instrumental in the fish’s successful revival in Lake Champlain. Hundreds of thousands of walleye fingerlings are released every year from hatcheries supported by the organization, according to Samson.
All of it, he said, came with support from the anglers taking to the ice every year for the annual Islands Ice Fishing Derby.
“We would not have what we have today,” Samson said. “We would not have walleyes.”
Gagner, the derby’s president, said the fish’s return has been noticed by anglers, as well. Over the years, he said he has heard from anglers directly that they were catching more walleye, an “elusive fish” with “an aura about it” celebrated by the fishers on Lake Champlain.
“I see the direct results,” Gagner said. “Anglers are catching more walleye.”
As for the derby itself, Gagner said he hopes people come out and enjoy their time on the ice this coming weekend. With good weather expected, he said he is anticipating a high turnout even with Sunday competition from the Super Bowl.
It is a chance, Gagner said, to support the local fisheries while enjoying the best parts of ice fishing.
“Not knowing what you’re going to catch… and the camaraderie of everyone in the shanty,” he said.
Tickets and information regarding this weekend’s ice fishing derby can be found online at https://www.islandsderby.com/.
Tune into the derby awards ceremony live on Facebook, Sunday, Feb. 13 at 5:30 p.m. www.facebook.com/islandsderby
