Like the hole-covering tip-ups that spring to life with each snared fish, ice derbies seem to be popping up everywhere in southern Maine in recent years.

Derbies have long been popular elsewhere in Maine, where winter activities are more ingrained in the local populace. But what has long been popular in northern and central Maine is now finding a niche here in southern Maine.

In the last decade, dozens of local derbies have cropped up, from the big-time Maine Chevy Derby on Sebago Lake (one of the five biggest in the country) to a host of smaller derbies on lakes and ponds throughout York and Cumberland counties.

“Ice fishing derbies have increased in the last few years,” said Peter Bourke, fisheries supervisor for Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. “There seems to be a great interest in ice fishing again. We had quite a heavy surge back in the 1970s, but then there was a dip. When the economy picked up, people seemed to get into snowmobiling and dropped the ice fishing. But now, maybe as a result of the economy and the relatively low amount of money it takes to get into the sport, there are more families doing it, and these derbies seem to enhance it for people.”

The department is keen on promoting derbies, Bourke said, because it helps to target non-native species that have no business being in some of southern Maine’s lakes.

“(Organizers are) working closely with our biologists to try to create derbies that will perhaps target certain species, in particular where there have been exotics introduced – particularly warm water exotics such as large-mouthed bass, black crappie, pike, muskie – over cold water fisheries we’re trying to sustain. We appreciate the cooperation, and we hope more groups will do the same,” Bourke said.

In the case of the Maine Chevy Derby, which celebrates its 10th edition the weekend of Feb. 20 and 21, organizers from the Sebago Lake Rotary Club have been angling toward taking a bite out of togue and northern pike in hopes of enhancing the salmon population, which was once world-famous in the lake.

“While the derby is just one aspect of fish management, we can emperically quantify the quality of the fishery over the last five years. We weigh all the fish that come in, and we give all that data to IF&W. It’s a good snapshot for them,” said Maine Chevy Derby organizer Tom Noonan.

In addition to providing some sense of what’s beneath the lake for fishery biologists, the rise in local derbies also helps to fund local and national charities, to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The 200-plus volunteers for the Maine Chevy Derby take great pride in raising thousands for charities such as Camp Sunshine, the Maine Children’s Cancer Fund, and the Good Shepherd Food Bank and Rotary International. Last year, Noonan said, the 4,000-plus derby participants provided more than $100,000 for those charities as well as 30 others.

“Plain and simple, that’s why we do this,” Noonan said.

Charity is also the purpose for this weekend’s York County Lakes Region Ice Fishing Tournament. Money raised from the Jan. 31 derby will go toward research funding for Spine Bifida Association. Organizer Scott Davis, of Acton, wanted to find a vehicle for raising money for the disease and thought an ice derby was the perfect outlet.

“My wife and I lost a daughter due to complications from spina bifida. I’m an avid outdoorsman, and it makes me feel unbelievable to be able to do something for it,” said Davis, who is organizing the derby with fellow members of the Springvale Fish and Game Club, the oldest rod and gun club in Maine.

Davis said interest has blossomed over the past few months for Sunday’s inaugural event, which allows anglers to enter any fish they catch on any lake in York County (the weigh station is the Acton Fairgrounds).

“We have a mailer, and there are 40 pages of local businesses listed in it, which we think is truly amazing,” Davis said.

In Gray, another major derby is getting off the ground with a big splash this Saturday. Jan. 30’s Crystal Lake USO Ice Fishing Derby, which is already sold out, promises to be one of southern Maine’s biggest derbies in coming years with the USO, which does much to improve troops’ and their families’ lives, as its main beneficiary.

U.S. Coast Guard officer Todd Bagetis, derby organizer and also a resident of Crystal Lake in Gray, is excited about the prospects of the Crystal Lake derby as it moves forward with major sponsors L.L. Bean, Kittery Trading Post, Cabela’s and Poland Spring.

“The biggest thing here is that this is the first time the big three outfitters have come together,” Bagetis said. “Ultimately, because of how the money is going to benefit the USO, they all came together and put aside their competition.”

Another York County derby, Feb. 14’s FET Inc. 11th Annual Ice Fishing Derby on Little Ossipee Lake in Waterboro, is directly benefiting charity, as well.

Money raised – which organizers this year expect to be between $7,000 and $10,000 – will go toward Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s Hooked on Fishing, Not on Drugs program. Beneficiaries in past years included local food pantries, Cub Scouts, Waterboro Parks and Recreation, and school booster clubs.

“To me, charity is what it’s all about,” organizer Colin Canning said. FET (Fish Extraction Team) Inc.’s derby was one of the first in the rebirth of fishing derbies in the area.

“As time goes by, you see more and more derbies, which is a good thing. But at the point when we started, there were virtually none, and a group of us who always fished out on Little Ossipee Lake said one day that we should start one of our own. We had 10 or 20 people the first year and now we’re up over 1,000 adults and 300 to 350 kids,” said Canning, who works with Eric Tanguay and Scott Bartlett to organize the derby.

Feb. 13 is the day the United Way will benefit from a derby on Long Lake in Naples. Hannaford Supermarkets is sponsoring the second annual Hannaford Bros. and United Way’s Fishing Derby to benefit the United Way.

Running in conjunction with the Naples Winter Carnival, 90 percent of the proceeds will help the United Way with the remainder going to Maine IF&W.

“I think what you find is that, overall, people just assume to give to a cause since they are going to be fishing anyway,” said derby organizer Dean Sawyer, an employee at Hannaford.

Anglers the big winners

Sawyer touches on something that might also explain why southern Maine is becoming a derby haven: Ice fishing can be a lot more exciting if prizes are in the offing. And, by entering a derby, ice anglers can channel their competitive side.

“They are going to fish one way or the other, so they might as well go to a derby. Maybe they’ll win a raffle or land that big fish? Why not?” Sawyer said.

It’s also a cheap way to spend time with family, said Canning, FET Inc.’s Ice Fishing Derby organizer.

“It’s inexpensive for families. They make time to do this, and spend time together out on the ice. To see a single mom get out there with her kids, and to help her with free traps and bait that we provide, that makes all the work leading up to it worth it,” Canning said.

And all these derbies in the area may act to promote ice fishing to the masses, widening the sport’s reach and generating additional interest as the years go by. Similar to a mall area, where stores seem to beget more stores, the success of existing derbies give credence to their worth, both as a fundraising device as well as a recreation outlet, resulting in additional derbies.

“We haven’t seen a decline over the years as newer derbies pop up, and we may not. It may actually drive more people to us,” Noonan said.

The rise in popularity of ice fishing derbies in southern Maine in recent years means charities benefit as well as fishermen, who now have more opportunities to spend their weekends fishing for prizes, not just dinner. Kids are getting into the act too. Above, several young fishermen take part in last year’s Maine Chevy Derby Kids Derby at Range Pond State Park. (File photo)

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