The winners in the fish derby are, from left, Collin O’Connor, Mike Dombroskie, Matty Robbins (Perch); Ryan Hoelke, Jim Vienneau, Todd Murphy (lake trout)and Jessie Mousseau, Cody Schauer, Eric Turenne (pike) and Debbie Solowjew of Beachburg who won a chainsaw in the early draw.
COBDEN — There were just over 600 participants in the 6th annual Cobden Civitan Ice Fishing Derby held on Muskrat Lake on Saturday.
Todd Murphy of Cobden caught the largest fish, which was a 35.5-inch lake trout. In the junior derby, Chloe Hubert caught a 27.75-inch pike.
“It was an excellent turnout,” said Kevin Lamorie, Civitan president.
He noted there had been skepticism if the lake would be frozen hard enough for fishing, but it was.
Mr. Lamorie gave a big shout-out to the volunteers and the participants. There were 609 tickets sold and 40 free junior derby participants.
The top three prizes and the many other draw prizes were all donated or sponsored by local businesses, he said.
“There were a couple thousand of dollars worth of prizes,” he noted.
Mr. Lamorie said Kids, Cops and Canadian Tire donated the prizes in the junior derby.
“A big thanks to Kids, Cops and Canadian Tire for that.”
Whitewater Region Reeve Terry Millar was invited to the stage to say a few words on behalf of Renfrew County and the Township of Whitewater Region.
It was incredible the number of people who participated in the derby, he said.
He thanked the organizers, Civitan members and participants for spending the day in Cobden.
“I hope you all had a great day.”
However, Reeve Millar said while there were some pretty big fish caught, there was a bigger catch yet.
“The biggest catch was for the community and catching of community spirit,” he said. “You all did a great job.”
Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke MP Cheryl Gallant said this year’s derby had great weather, compared to last year’s freezing temperatures.
“I hope everyone had fun,” she said.
As for fishing, MP Gallant said, “There is fish out there and fishing is now an official heritage activity in Canada.
“We will work hard to clean up Muskrat Lake so there is more fish and bigger fish for next time around,” she said, getting a large round of applause.
The top three prizes were won by: James Valliant won the boat and motor sponsored by Dick Plummer Marine in Pembroke; Brandon Boyd of Oshawa won the Honda generator donated by Pete’s Sales and Service out of Petawawa/Pembroke and Mike Freemark won the ice auger donated by Gourlay’s Variety of Renfrew.
Rob Gervais of Pembroke won $1,090 in the 50/50 draw.
For a list of the fish winners, please go to the paper’s website, www.whitewaternews.ca.
