ST AGATHA, Maine — After lots of wind and snow, the 17th annual Long Lake Ice Fishing Derby came to a close Sunday as the last few anglers registered their fish to be considered for prizes.
Those fishing in the 17th annual Long Lake Ice Fishing Derby were competing through Sunday for awards worth more than $45,000, with $21,000 in cash prizes. Other prizes included a 2022 Ski-Doo, a new Sportshack Ice Shack, and an ultimate fishing package. The results were posted to the Derby’s Facebook page, though the prize winners will be named at a ceremony Monday night.
The Long Lake Ice Fishing Derby is one of the major events of the winter season and draws participants from all over Maine and New England. Last year saw a record number of anglers at 1,805 participants. There were more than 1,500 registrants in 2022.
Derby waters were Long Lake, St. Froid Lake, Eagle Lake, Beau Lake, Carr Pond, Cross Lake, Square Lake, Glazier Lake, Portage Lake and the St. John River. Fish included togue, salmon, muskie, brook trout, cusk and perch.
In the youth group of 13 and under, the first place salmon went to Wyatt Cote weighing in at 5 pounds, 8 ounces, and 25.6 inches long. Second place salmon went to Lauren Corriveau with a 4 pound, 1.6 ounce salmon at 23 inches long and Sophia Toussaint took third, knocking her own sister, Ava, out of the running with her 21.75 inch long, 3 pounds and 11.6 ounces fish. All three salmon winners caught their fish on Long Lake.
Brook trout in the youth group saw Camden Caron in first place with his fish weighing in at 1 pound, 13 ounces, and sitting at 16.5 inches long. In second place came Liam Pelletier with his trout from Square Lake weighing 1 pound, 7 ounces and 16.6 inches long followed by Abigail Thibeault who caught her fish on Eagle Lake which weighed 1 pound, 6.7 ounces and was 14.5 inches long.
The largest togue caught by youth fisherman Ezra Guimond weighed in at 4 pounds and 9.6 ounces with a length of 23.5 inches. In second place was Ronald Crawford with his togue weighing 3 pounds and 2 ounces at 20 inches even. Both Guimond and Crawford caught their fish on Eagle Lake.
The cusk category, which was open to fishermen of any age, saw Wesley Paige in first place with his fishing weighing 11 pounds and 5.8 ounces with a length of 33.5 inches, Eric Bourgoin in second place with a fish weighing 9 pounds and 9.3 ounces and sitting at 30.5 inches long, and Benjamin Chadwick in third place with his fish weighing 8 pounds, 10.5 ounces, and a length of 32.25 inches. Paige caught his fish out of Eagle Lake where both Bourgoin and Chadwick caught theirs out of Square Lake.
Perch had two categories: most perch caught and biggest perch caught. Emmie Caron had the most perch caught with a total count of 450 fish. Next was Caleb Caron with 148 perch, then Dylan Bouchard with 87 perch. Scott Picard had the biggest perch weighing 1 pound 5.2 ounces at 13.75 inches long. Lance Robinson had the second-largest perch weighing 1 pound, 3.9 ounces at 13.25 inches long and was followed up by 2-year-old Harper Fortin for the third-largest perch caught in the derby. Fortin’s fish weighed 1 pound, .7 ounces and was 12.67 inches long.
The most fish were taken out of Long Lake while the largest perch were mixed between Square, Eagle and Cross Lakes.
For salmon caught in the adult group, Travis Corriveau came in first place with his fish weighing 6 pounds and 8.4 ounces and sitting at a length of 25.5 inches, followed by Peter Doyon in second, his fish weighing 6 pounds, 3.2 ounces and 24.6 inches long. Caleb Jendreau came in third with his fish weighing 6 pounds and 1 ounce at 21.87 inches long. All winning salmon were caught on Long Lake.
Winning brook trout had a 3 pound and .5 ounce fish at 20.75 inches long in first place caught by Joseph Petteruti on Long Lake. Also caught on Long Lake was second place fish caught by DJ Tukey weighing 2 pounds, 12.9 ounces at 18.37 inches long. Kenney Mayo caught his third place trout on Eagle Lake and it weighed 2 pounds, 6.5 ounces and was 18 inches long.
Cam Graf caught his first place togue on Eagle Lake and it weighed 7 pounds and 13.3 ounces at 27.06 inches long. Second and third place winners, Nick Frost and Elliot Sleeper, both caught their fish on Eagle Lake as well. Frost’s fish weighed 6 pounds and 11.3 ounces at 25 inches long. Sleeper’s fish weighed 5 pounds and 1.2 ounces at 23.5 inches long.
In the final category of fish to be caught in the derby was muskie. The first place muskie was caught by Colby Brown weighing in at a whopping 25 pounds and 10 ounces. Brown’s fish was 42.75 inches long.
Just behind Brown, Corey Daigle’s fish came in at 25 pounds and 3 ounces with a length of 43.5 inches, taking second place for muskie. Kevin Deschaine held third place with his muskie weighing 23 pounds and 10.2 ounces and a length of 44.25 inches. Brown caught his muskie out of Beau Lake, while Daigle and Deschaine both caught their fish out of the St. John River.
The Long Lake Ice Fishing Derby will come to a close with a 6 p.m. ceremony on Jan. 31 to announce prize winners that will be streamed live on the derby’s Facebook page as well as through the streaming service known as St. John Valley Live.