A fishing frenzy on Lake Ontario will percolate the waters during the last week of August with derbies and challenges from dawn to dusk.
The fourth Fair Haven Fishing Challenge, sponsored by the Fair Haven Chamber of Commerce and Screwy Louie's, splashes down this weekend when trout and salmon fishermen compete.
“Last year we had 57 boats,” Brian Shambo, owner of Screwy Louie's, said. “I think we're going to be bigger this year.”
Fifteen boats had already registered in the first week of August, and competition has grown steadily from 20 boats the first year to 35 and 40 in subsequent years. Shambo expects at least 60 boats this year.
The tournament was established mainly to bring people into town, he said.
Contestants can select the five biggest fish out of six for a total to weigh in behind the Village Hall in Fair Haven, with an award ceremony following after the 3 p.m. weigh-ins.
Prizes will be awarded to the top three catches. If $3,000 or more is taken in from registration fees, the first prize will garner $1,500, with second and third prizes down from there, and a lunker pool for the biggest fish. Various merchants donated jackets, flies and flash lures as additional prizes.
Proceeds from a 50-50 drawing will pay for hamburgers, hot dogs, and soda.
“Last year the biggest fish was a 29-pound salmon,” Shambo said. His father, Rick Shambo, recalled total weigh-ins as high as 120 pounds in 2007.
The Lake Ontario Counties Fishing Derby, a much bigger operation, continues through Sept. 1. Salmon, brown trout, lake trout, rainbow trout or steelhead trout are eligible catches.
“The event is self-sponsored,” said organizer David Chilson. “There is no major company involved. I took over in 1989 from Dick Schleyer, who started the event in 1976 or '77.”
About 7,000 entrants will participate this fall, Chilson said. Salmon must weigh at least 20 pounds to make the weigh-in and trout must weigh 10 pounds or more.
All 2008 awards ceremonies for the Counties Fishing Derby are held at Sodus Point's new Sodus Point Tackle. First prize is $20,000 in cash with a total of $52,800 in prizes for the fall derby. Twenty weigh-in stations line the lake from the Niagara River up to Henderson Harbor near Watertown.
Last year, 6,352 anglers fished in the LOC Derby and spent an average of $560.11 during the event. Of all Derby participants, 31.1 percent was local and 8.9 percent was visitors.
Tony Buffa, fishing charter operator on Oneida Lake and Oswego for 34 years, said the biggest fish caught in Lake Ontario was probably a sturgeon.
Chinook salmon have been the most frequently caught species in recent years, said Daniel Bishop of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
“The current size of chinook in recent years is smaller than it was in the '80s and '90s because of a decline in alewives,” Bishop said, “despite the fact that we reduced the numbers of chinook stocked from 2.7 million to 1.76 million.”
Bishop also said naturally produced chinook from the Salmon River are present but numbers are unknown. Whatever the population, it's likely to dwindle after the dual derbies in Lake Ontario.
Kathleen Barran
253-5311 ext. 238
kathleen.barran@lee.net
“Last year we had 57 boats,” Brian Shambo, owner of Screwy Louie's, said. “I think we're going to be bigger this year.”
Fifteen boats had already registered in the first week of August, and competition has grown steadily from 20 boats the first year to 35 and 40 in subsequent years. Shambo expects at least 60 boats this year.
The tournament was established mainly to bring people into town, he said.
Contestants can select the five biggest fish out of six for a total to weigh in behind the Village Hall in Fair Haven, with an award ceremony following after the 3 p.m. weigh-ins.
Prizes will be awarded to the top three catches. If $3,000 or more is taken in from registration fees, the first prize will garner $1,500, with second and third prizes down from there, and a lunker pool for the biggest fish. Various merchants donated jackets, flies and flash lures as additional prizes.
Proceeds from a 50-50 drawing will pay for hamburgers, hot dogs, and soda.
“Last year the biggest fish was a 29-pound salmon,” Shambo said. His father, Rick Shambo, recalled total weigh-ins as high as 120 pounds in 2007.
The Lake Ontario Counties Fishing Derby, a much bigger operation, continues through Sept. 1. Salmon, brown trout, lake trout, rainbow trout or steelhead trout are eligible catches.
“The event is self-sponsored,” said organizer David Chilson. “There is no major company involved. I took over in 1989 from Dick Schleyer, who started the event in 1976 or '77.”
About 7,000 entrants will participate this fall, Chilson said. Salmon must weigh at least 20 pounds to make the weigh-in and trout must weigh 10 pounds or more.
All 2008 awards ceremonies for the Counties Fishing Derby are held at Sodus Point's new Sodus Point Tackle. First prize is $20,000 in cash with a total of $52,800 in prizes for the fall derby. Twenty weigh-in stations line the lake from the Niagara River up to Henderson Harbor near Watertown.
Last year, 6,352 anglers fished in the LOC Derby and spent an average of $560.11 during the event. Of all Derby participants, 31.1 percent was local and 8.9 percent was visitors.
Tony Buffa, fishing charter operator on Oneida Lake and Oswego for 34 years, said the biggest fish caught in Lake Ontario was probably a sturgeon.
Chinook salmon have been the most frequently caught species in recent years, said Daniel Bishop of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
“The current size of chinook in recent years is smaller than it was in the '80s and '90s because of a decline in alewives,” Bishop said, “despite the fact that we reduced the numbers of chinook stocked from 2.7 million to 1.76 million.”
Bishop also said naturally produced chinook from the Salmon River are present but numbers are unknown. Whatever the population, it's likely to dwindle after the dual derbies in Lake Ontario.
Kathleen Barran
253-5311 ext. 238
kathleen.barran@lee.net
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