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Seneca Lake Memorial Derby Winner!

LakerTaker85
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LakerTaker85

LakerTaker85

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Although my brother mentioned in the Finger Lakes Times article that we have been fishing this derby for the past 8 years, Its been closer to a lifetime. We grew up on Seneca Lake and my family has had a cottage on the east side of the lake, just north of Valois Point (the old caywood boyscout camp) for a century. Every year we fish the derby I tell myself that this is going to be the year...

 

Well this year was that year, the 50th anniversary of the Seneca Lake Memorial Derby was the year that the Sandra D fishing team would land a 15.56 brown trout and take the grand prize.

 

We fished big fish friday and located some decent fish in our usual area, and tight to shore. I think we boated 12-13 fish that day with our biggest being a 8# lake trout. Most fish hit small silver and blue spoons off the riggers in 20-40 FOW. We had a few small rainbows, browns, and LL hit sticks off the boards. After weigh ins friday night we knew that our best chance at a money fish would be the early morning. We hit the water early saturday morning, about 5 am, and set up close to shore with our normal set up. Sticks of the boards and shallow riggers with small spoons. We picked up a good amount of fish that kept us busy until about 9 am. After avoiding the trees and other floating debris we decided to head back to the cottage and grab some saw bellies that we bought the day before. We have only stilled fished with live bait one other time and I will say I would much rather be trolling, but with all the floating debris it just wasn't working. We set anchor in about 50 FOW, over a nice pod of bait and some good marks. After an hour or so we pulled anchor and moved. We found another good screen in 45 FOW just north of Valois Point. We had three rods on bottom with slip sinkers. My brother John, and my buddy Corey Reddit (Black Dog Adventures Fishing Charters) decided to take a mid day nap but I have never been one to sleep :) . I decided that one more rod couldn't hurt and I grabbed my spinning rod that I had set up for jigging. The fenwick medium-fast action was paired with a Penn Battle, and spooled with 10# power pro braid, a 6# flouro leader and a small octopus style hook. I picked an eager saw belly and tossed him behind the boat and let out about 100 ft of line. I stuck the rod in a holder and sat back. A short time later, the line started peeling off the reel. I said quietly to John "John, we got a fish on". John sprung to his feet and I handed the rod to him (a birthday gift you could say, since John turned 25 on the next day). At first we had no idea that the fish was anywhere close to a winning fish, but after the fish showed itself just out of net reach we all knew that this was potentially a derby winning fish. It was 25 minute battle, with each second praying that the tiny hook didn't pull or the 6# leader break off. We knew the fish was getting tired and I took the rod to let John get the net ready (he's the professional net man). I had the beatiful brown on the surface of the water, again just out of reach. The fish then dashed under the boat and around the lower unit of the motor. I was holding my breath as the fish was pulling drag and heading for the opposite side of the boat. I was fearing the worst as the line was rubbing against the lower unit. At this point Corey yelled that the fish had surfaced on the opposite side of the boat and was belly up. John swung the net around and slid it under the brown. We flopped the beast on the deck of the Sandra D and knew that this fish could be the one! We were like a couple of school kids jumping around and high fiving. :rofl:

 

We threw the fish in a cooler and raced back to shore. The trip to the Watkins Glen weigh station was full of our expert weight gues-timates. I'll admit Corey's weight prediction was closest, 16 pounds. By the way we never carry a scale... don't ask why haha. 

 

We pulled up to the tent and I told Mike (Iron Duke), who was working at the time, that we had a monster. We put the fish on the scale which read, 15.56 pounds!!! :rofl: I couldn't believe that we finally had a chance at the lunker.

 

The next two days we continued to fish knowing that we sat on top. Unfortunelty monday I had to work and let me tell you the count down till 12:00 was brutal. At 12:30 I called Mike (Iron Duke) and said "Mike give me some good news". Mike told me that the boards were all up to date and that we were still on top!! We won the derby! I couldn't believe it! The fish was a beautiful female brown trout that was 30" long, with a 20" gerth. Inside the fish was 16 saw belly's.

I want to thank everyone who shares our passion of fishing and that makes these unforgetable competitions possible. For us fishing is not just a hobby, its a way of life that brings friends, family, and even strangers together, and that we cherish.

 

---The Sandra D Fishing Team

 

 

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Sk8man

Sk8man

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Congratulations on a great fish, wonderful account of catching it, and for being forthright with the details.  It was an incredible derby with some of the largest fish I've seen in more than 40 years of fishing it. Your fish beat my buddy's laker by mere ounces and that also is the really unpredictable and exciting thing about the derby....you never know what is going to happen. I've been beat out by 1 one hundredth of a pound for first in the brown division in the past and other "close calls"....so I can't imagine the level of anticipation and excitement you were feeling before the end of things :)  Your story is another example of the fact that it doesn't necessarily take the fanciest new equipment to catch winning fish and it isn't just the "luck" factor involved either...it is when luck, timing, and skill (e.g.. adapting to changing conditions) come together that it usually happens. Again Congrats on a great derby win!

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apb

apb

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Awesome work, you guys have obviously done the homework and carried through on the mission!!!

Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

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Frogger

Frogger

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Damn nice. Great story, thanks for sharing that. So cool. Like we said hope a LOU gang wins it, not only did you do that, but ended with a fish of a lifetime out of Seneca! Congrats!

Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

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Iron Duke

Iron Duke

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First off let me say congrats to a great bunch of guys who have been fishing this lake since they were born!! We all have the dream of bringing home the trophy but these guys are out there every chance they get figuring out where they are and what they want and thats what it takes to get it done and it all payed off... I can tell you from first hand experience when John walked around the corner of the tent (while I was working the weigh in) he was in shock and shaking like crazy I knew the tournament was over right then and there.... To see this fish in person it made you instantly sick as a competitor but thats what makes us all come back and to continue to fish on because you never really do know what you may bring up from the depths next....Again a huge Congrats to Tom ,John and Corey on a amazing fish and a weekend of memories that will last a lifetime....

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Mike

Sent from my GT-P5113 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Edited by Iron Duke
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