Since it started 11 years ago, the Sebago Lake Rotary Derbyfest has grown into the state’s biggest ice fishing derby. Now it’s about to get even bigger — at least in terms of its reputation.

The derby this year offers $100,000 to any fisherman who breaks the 53-year-old state record for togue, or lake trout.

The folks at Cross Insurance, who helped broker the premium for the whopping prize, wouldn’t say what the odds are of catching the big one, but state biologists say it’s a decent bet.

“Of course, we have no way of knowing, but I do think Sebago Lake is certainly a lake that could cough up a state record,” said state fisheries biologist Francis Brautigam. “Lake trout growth rates there are excellent. And every year large lake trout are caught in the lake.”

The state record for lake trout was set in 1958 when a 31-pound, 8-ounce trout was caught by Hollis Grindle of Ellsworth at Beech Hill Pond in Otis.

The derby kicks off Friday with two youth derbies. Those are followed Saturday and Sunday by the all-ages ice fishing derby on Sebago Lake.

A week later, March 5-6, the event goes statewide. That derby on lakes and ponds across Maine will be monitored by more than 20 weigh stations.

But the buzz around the derby on Sebago — at 28,771 acres, Maine’s second-largest lake — is expected to be significant.

The Sebago derby has drawn as many as 6,000 anglers in past years, and its founder and director Tom Noonan expects new fishermen to enter this year because of the big prize. He thinks anglers from beyond New England, maybe even pros, will be enticed.

The enormous cash prize for a new record fish will definitely remain a staple of the event, Noonan said.

“Originally, we wanted $1 million, but it was prohibitively expensive. So we started out with $100,000, and we’ll see how it goes,” Noonan said.

Jeff Vermette, the agent at Cross Insurance who brokered the deal, said insuring a prize for an ice fishing derby was new to his company. While cash prizes are often given in fishing derbies, Vermette had not heard of one so large it needed an insurance policy.

“I’ve heard of this in golf tournaments, but not derbies, not $100,000,” Vermette said. “I’ve never seen anything of that magnitude in fishing.”

In addition to the state-record pot, this year’s Sebago derby will give out $25,000 in prizes, including gift certificates and a snowmobile.

“The insurance company is going to require a polygraph if someone claims the (big) prize,” Noonan said.

It’s anyone’s guess as to whether there is a state-record fish in the lake, but Brautigam said the chances appear pretty good. “I think if you talk to anglers over the years, many have reported break-offs of fish that many believe were considerable in size. So I do think it’s possible that there might be a state record swimming around out there,” Brautigam said. 

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

dfleming@pressherald.com

 

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