Mariaville Lake Youth Fishing Derby a huge success — Ramblin' Outdoors

Around 125 fish, which were mainly pickerel, came topside onto the ice. Interestingly enough, not one bass and only a couple of perch and crappie were caught the entire day.

The event was sponsored by the Wiggly Worm, the Mariaville Lakeside Store, Schenectady County Conservation Council, New York Conservation Officers Association, Adirondack Conservation Council and Fred’s Sanitation Services.

Twenty regular open-water rods, six jigging rods and six small tackle boxes were given away to the kids in addition to cash prizes of $30, $20 and $15 for first-, second- and third-place fish, respectively.

The winners are as follows:

Keegan Simpkins of the Town of Florida took first-place honors with a big 24 3/4-inch pickerel. Angelo Signore of Saratoga claimed the second place prizes with another big pickerel coming in right at the two foot mark. There was a tie for third place at 23 1/2 inches between Julia Siness of Broadalbin and Max Baker of Cobleskill. Only one perch first-place prize went to Wes Montgomery of Rotterdam with 11.5 inches. He caught the only two perch.

Benny Male of Rotterdam (7.25 inches) and Mikey Breglia of Glen (7 inches) cleaned up the crappie category.

Overall, it was a fabulous day of fun and learning new skills. Let's see if we can break the 200 kid mark next year!

TWO WEEKEND-LONG ICE TOURNAMENTS GET UNDERWAY THIS WEEKEND

The 27th annual Fuel-N-Food Three-Day Ice Fishing Tournament will kick off Friday at 4 p.m. and run through Sunday afternoon. Prizes will be awarded at Fuel-N-Food beginning around 4 p.m. on Sunday.

While ice conditions are plenty safe, the amount of slush on top of the ice will present mobility challenges for all anglers. Wheeled vehicles of any type were off limits earlier in the week, and I would only suspect conditions to be worse now. Even tracked wheelers and snowmobiles were struggling to move about anywhere off the main established snowmobile trails. Temperatures are forecasted to take a significant dive Saturday evening and into Sunday, but that may be too late to really lock it up for easy travel. We shall see. Only time will tell.

The other big weekend-long tournament is the Schroon Lake Fish and Game Club tournament. This derby begins Saturday morning at daybreak and runs through Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m.

LAKE CHAMPLAIN ‘STATE OF THE LAKE’ FISHERIES MEETING TO BE HELD

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation will join its partners in the Lake Champlain Fish and Wildlife Management Cooperative, a working group of fisheries professionals from the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to host a “State of the Lake Fisheries” meeting on Saturday, March 15. The public meeting is open for anglers and other individuals interested in the fisheries of Lake Champlain.

The DEC encourages interested anglers and outdoor enthusiasts to attend. Registration is not required.

The in-person meeting will be held March 15, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the

Robert Miller Community & Recreation Center (Community Room), 130 Gosse Court, Burlington, Vermont.

This meeting is an opportunity for agency staff and others to provide updates on the status and trends of the fisheries in Lake Champlain and to hear directly from anglers. Information will be provided on restoration, research, assessment, and other accomplishments in the past year, as well as work planned for the coming year, with time provided for questions from attendees. Species to be discussed include Lake Trout, landlocked Atlantic Salmon, Sea Lamprey, and Walleye.

Recorded presentations will be available approximately one month following the meeting on the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department YouTube Channel.