Back in 2008, fisheries professionals and the local chamber of commerce in Greenville joined forces to address a problem that had been brewing on the state’s largest lake.
Too many lake trout, or togue, lived in the lake, and biologists desperately wanted anglers to remove more of the fish during their fishing outings. Thus, the Moosehead Lake Togue Derby with Ricky Craven was born.
That first year, 2,024 fish were removed from the lake — a solid beginning for a management tool that helped turn the lake around.
Over the weekend, anglers again flocked to Moosehead for the 11th edition of the derby. In all, 728 tickets — a record — were sold. And while biologists are no longer encouraging anglers to kill all the small togue they catch, opting instead for a five-fish limit, the derby remains popular.
Now run by the Natural Resource Education Center, the event continues to take advantage of the celebrity of former NASCAR driver and ESPN analyst Ricky Craven, who has a home on the lake. NREC president Tim Obrey said attendees enjoyed a great long weekend of fishing.
“The weather was pretty good by derby standards and travel conditions were great on the big lake for the three-day ice fishing event,” Obrey said in a news release. “It seemed like the best fishing was on Friday and Saturday morning, then it tailed off as the weekend wore on.”
David Larry of Abbot caught his year’s biggest togue, an 8.3-pounder. John Gallant of Augusta caught a 7.0-pound togue, while Jacob Turner finished third with a 6.2-pound laker.
Billy Clifford of Nobleboro won the grand door prize, a choice of three vacation packages for two to either Orlando, Las Vegas or on a Caribbean cruise, or $1,500 cash.
