The Crystal Lake Ice Fishing Derby is only two years old. And it’s already got the biggest kids’ derby in Maine, where more than 50 youth derbies are held each winter.

While many youth derbies offer free use of traps, free bait, instruction and prizes, the Crystal Lake derby may have the others beat. It will be the first youth derby that has the fishing holes tended to and skimmed during the 12 hours before the derby on Jan. 29.

A corps of night sentries will drill holes to stock fish the night before, then keep the holes from freezing over so that in the morning. Then the kids will be ready to fish and the fish will be ready to be caught, thanks to no noisy disruptions from clattering ice augers.

Volunteers from the U.S. Army and Maine National Guard will stand watch and skim the holes from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m.

“We’ve never done it that way before,” said Emily Jones, who directs youth derbies for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

“What I’m hoping is by doing it that way it increases the amount of success that day. We did another large one on Range Pond last year. We drilled holes all that morning, and all that disturbance on the surface of the ice reduced the amount of fish that were caught.”

Capt. Josh Jacques, Maine’s recruiting company commander for the U.S. Army, will direct the night watch.

“I thought when I first found out, if it benefits the kids, it’s a great thing for us to do,” Jacques said.

Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has been putting on kids’ derbies with support from the Hooked on Fishing Not on Drugs program for 16 years.

There are 750 youths registered for the Crystal Lake derby, which has a cap of 1,000 for kids.

Jones said even at 750, it’s the largest kids’ derby ever, surpassing last year’s youth derby at Range Pond State Park that drew 500 youths.

The Crystal Lake derby will be capped at 2,000 or 2,500 total, said derby director and founder Todd Bagetis.

With $20,000 in total prizes, registration is expected to fill up quickly.

But the effort for the kids’ portion goes to the heart of this derby created to help Maine service men and women.

“Our goal is to have the biggest Maine charity event to support the cause, the largest military charity and event to support kids. That’s what it’s all about,” Bagetis said.

Everything about the derby — from helicopter rides and a live band playing on the ice to the low entry fee — is geared toward creating a community, he said.

The event is loaded with free stuff, like sled-dog rides, hockey lessons from former Boston Bruins star Ray Bourque, free snowshoe lessons from L.L. Bean Discovery School guides, and traps to the first 100 youths who arrive.

And the entry fee is just $10 for adults, $5 for kids.

“Pretty much, the kids show up and dress in warm clothes and we’ll take it from there,” Bagetis said.

“Everything is either free or extremely cheap.”

Staff Writer Deirdre Fleming can be contacted at 791-6452 or at:

dfleming@pressherald.com

 

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