RAYMOND – Twelve inches of ice separated Jeff Webber from 68 feet of water and, more important, from the lake trout he was trying to catch Sunday in Jordan Bay on Sebago Lake.
For the past five years, the Raymond man has fished the same spot during the Windham Rotary Derby Fest ice fishing derby. He has yet to catch a fish, despite buying 140 bait fish for the two-day event.
“I could go across the lake and catch more fish, but this is my home away from home,” he said of his favorite spot.
However, Webber and several friends from Raymond and Windham did win a large trophy in the 2005 Derby Fest’s Ice Shack Contest with their “Love Shack,” which they built Friday.
“It’s made out of recycled 2-by-4’s and shrink-wrap from boatyards. This year, we added a kitchen, complete with running water, an in-house cook and an indoor bathroom – a Port-a-Potty – for the ladies who come out here. It’s also got solar heat, but the floor’s a bit wet,” Webber said.
On Saturday, he said, they served hamburgers and soda to more than 150 people at the Love Shack.
Several other ice fishing anglers were luckier than Webber.
As of 4 p.m. Sunday at the Raymond Beach weigh station, anglers registered 197 togue, or lake trout, for the day. Tallies for two other weigh stations around the lake had yet to be called in.
One of the stations, Jordan Store on Route 302 along the lake’s western shore, recorded the largest fish Saturday. It set a Derby Fest record.
Steven Emerson of Addison caught the 22.3-pound, 39-inch togue that sported a marked fin, which meant it was a fish stocked in 1974 by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Lying frozen in a sled at the Raymond Beach station, that fish and two other lunkers attracted plenty of gawkers.
Unlike Sunday’s blustery cold, blue-sky day, Saturday was sunny and warm. It was the event’s big day, said Rotary spokesman Tom Noonan.
“We had between 4,000 and 6,000 people out on the lake and another 5,000 here,” he said on Jordan Bay at Raymond Beach. “We raised $100,000 last year, but we probably did better this year,” Noonan said.
From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., several aircraft and an aerobatic wing walker dazzled the crowd during an air show.
“We had everything from helicopters to parachute jumpers yesterday,” Noonan said.
“The place was mobbed,” said poker-run snowmobiler Karl Ladue of Windham. “I’ve never seen so many people enjoying themselves on a lake before.”
This year’s Derby Fest began Friday with professional and amateur drivers competing for a $2,000 purse during the Hardwater Auto Racing Challenge, Maine’s first nighttime ice-racing event. It was held at Point Sebago Resort on a one-third-mile oval track.
“It was the first time we had it, and it was a sellout,” Noonan said.
Another success was the annual Polar Ice Dip, which attracted 175 people who jumped into the icy waters to raise money for the Maine Children’s Cancer Program, Camp Sunshine, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, and the Families of Maine Servicemen Fund.
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