With temperatures dropping well below zero over the weekend and projected lows in the teens all week, anglers should have augers ready to drill through thick ice on Saratoga Lake for the 30th Annual Fishing Derby this weekend.
Thirty years ago, C.J. Box, Wyoming writer and creator of the fishing derby, had lived in Saratoga for a couple of years working for the Saratoga Sun and knew January was a slow period for the town.
In what was then his new role as head of the Saratoga Platte Valley Chamber of Commerce, Box said he had access to the checkbook and realized there was not enough money in the Chamber’s account to pay his salary.
Box knew he had to get something going fast. While ice fishing with friend Ralph Bartholomew, the two came up with the idea to put on what would be the first ice fishing derby in Wyoming.
They chose the weekend between the NFL playoffs and the Superbowl, one in which nothing was going on in the Valley.
Thirty years later people are still flocking to Saratoga for the derby. Box doesn’t do much ice fishing these days, but he will be in Saratoga this weekend to see anglers try to pull prize fish from the ice.
“I am very pleased it is so successful,” Box said. “It is a cool thing that it is still going on.”
In past years, especially the first year, the Chamber had to take out an insurance policy in case one of two prize fish were taken. “Bob” and “Steve” as the two fish were called, were worth $35,000 total.
Irene Archibald represented the company the policy was purchased from and in order for the claim to be legitimate she had to witness one of the fish caught and tagged.
“Irene was out on the lake with Ralph and I,” Box said. “We were all bundled and poor Irene was in a dress and high heels. We finally tagged a fish with the bigger of the two prize tags making the policy effective.”
Although neither “Bob” nor “Steve” were caught during the derby, one of the fish was hooked later that summer and the Chamber paid out a $500 bounty.
Creativity was catching in the early derby days and in the mid-80s ping pong balls were marked with merchant prizes and dropped from a plane over the lake on derby day.
“It was very funny to see all the people chasing after the ping pong balls that went everywhere,” Box said. “The Game and Fish, however, didn’t find it funny at all.”
The Chamber is returning to some traditions started at the first derby.
“When they first started the derby they had kings and queens and they were celebrity invitees,” Stacy Crimmins, executive director of the Chamber said. “They invited the Queen of England the first year and in subsequent years they invited movie star celebrities.”
That tradition faded away over the years, but this year the Chamber will be crowning C.J. Box and Ralph Bartholomew as kings and Irene Archibald, who was on the Chamber board when the derby started, as a queen.
This year the Chamber is creating a “hole of fame” to honor individuals that have been to all thirty derbies.
“We’re asking on the registration form how many years they have attended and we’ll make a display with the 30-year attendees listed,” Crimmins said.
This year the Chamber raised an extra $1,700 and will use the money to add a women’s division, an idea the Chamber has been kicking around for a few years.
“Their are a lot of serious women fishers and we thought this would be a fun thing to add for the 30th annual derby,” Crimmins said. “Women will still compete with the men for the top three prizes: $2,000 for the biggest fish caught over the weekend, $1,000 for the second biggest and $500 for the third biggest.”
This year the Chamber added a story-telling session to be held Saturday, 5:30 p.m. at Duke’s Bar and Grill, at which C.J. Box will be master of ceremonies.
Crimmins said the first few derbies had high attendance partly because there weren’t many fishing derbies then.
Attendance has been holding steady at about 600 for the last 10 years, Crimmins said, which is good considering the competition from other derbies.
This year, local Game Warden Biff Burton won’t have to police any ping pong balls, but will be at the lake patrolling during the derby with some help from outside game wardens.
“There is a layer of snow on top of the ice and that can be helpful,” Burton said. “It can darken the water underneath and the fish may be more tolerant because of that.”
On the other hand, Burton said, he talked with someone who said the fish might not want to feed as much in the darker water.
At any rate the best time to fish is right at daylight and at dark, but Burton said in the lake there is feeding activity during midday between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. and overall the fish have been biting this year.
The better the bait, the better the chance to snag a fish and Burton said letting white, black and olive colored small jigs with a meal worm on the end sit without any movement works well.
Canned bait is also working well.
Burton will enforce compliance with fishing regulations and collect data. The Game and Fish look at the size of fish, the numbers caught and the effort used to catch fish - how many fish caught per hour or how many hours it takes to catch a fish.
“We also look at the numbers released versus the number caught and kept,” Burton said. “It’s more a kind of monitoring than actual research.”
Burton said he is pleased that the majority of fishers follow the regulations, but he does find a few violators every year.
The violations are unusual. Someone may not understand two poles per person is the limit and people must be in attendance of those poles - they can’t leave and have other people watch the poles.
“Rarely we have someone who doesn’t know the regulations on bait fish,” Burton said. “You can’t use live bait fish in this drainage above I-80 - but you can use worms, hoppers and shrimp.”
The ban is meant to protect the fishery and prevent the potential for live bait escape that could introduce invasive species or parasites.
The Game and Fish department encourages all anglers to read the 2013 fishing regulations as some have changed.
Anglers will need a new fishing license and conservation stamp for the 2013 season. Resident fishing licenses are $24 this year and conservation stamps are $12.50. Non-residents can buy a daily license for $14 and don’t have to carry a conservation stamp.
The Trading Post, Trophy Room Taxidermy, Hack’s Tackle and Outfitters, The Country Store and Shively’s Hardware all sell fishing licenses.
Derby tickets are $30 ($10 for those 14 and under) and are available all week at Hack’s Tackle and Outfitters, Shively’s, The Country Store, The Trading Post and the Chamber office.
The Chamber will remain open Friday until 8 p.m. and tickets can be purchased Saturday at the lake starting at 6 a.m.
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