CHESTERVILLE — The third annual Cape Cod Hill Elementary School Fishing Derby on Saturday at Crowell Pond was anything but usual, especially after school officials disassociated the school with the derby at the last minute, organizer DeAnna Meeks said on the pond.

Fears that unseasonable warmth and rain and open water around the shoreline had created unsafe conditions generated the sudden pullout by the New Sharon school within 48 hours of the event, Meeks said.

“This year, the school chose to disassociate with it because of possible liability,” Meeks said. “Because it was advertised as being put on by the school’s (Parent-Teacher Organization), I had to call all the sponsors and let them know of the change.”

She said she had a Maine warden check ice conditions a few times before the event, just to be safe.

“The principal said she is very afraid of being on the ice, and this year she said, ‘I won’t get close to that,’” Meeks said. “And then we had people drive by and see open water around the edge and say, ‘No,’” but there is 2 feet of ice — 3 feet thick in some places — so, no worries.”

The fear, however, kept angler numbers down substantially. Only 45 to 50 had registered for the 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. derby.

“This is an extremely slow year,” she said. “Last year we raised $1,200, and the first year, we did $1,400, but this year I won’t even get close to that; maybe $500 or $600.”

Normally, the money would go toward the school, but not this year.

“I decided to have all the money go to ball teams in New Sharon and Chesterville, so kids in the area can benefit from it, such as Mount Blue Youth Football and the Cal Ripken League baseball teams,” Meeks said.

Even though adults and children traditionally compete against each other during the derby, the children usually win. In the derby’s debut, a 5-year-old won, Meeks said.

As for fish being caught by early afternoon on Saturday, the total was rather small by past standards.

“The two perch that were caught haven’t even been heavy enough to weigh on the scale, so we are going by length, and right now the winning fish is less than 8 inches,” she said. “They’ve caught six (brook trout) and one brown trout, which isn’t supposed to be in here, and two smallmouth bass.”

The brown trout was unusual because the pond was only stocked with 500 to 800 brook trout, she said, so she believes it entered the pond through a tributary. The pond also contains perch, pickerel and bass, but locals consider perch and pickerel to be trash fish.

The angler catching the biggest trout would take home a crisp $100 bill and a camouflage afghan, while top finishers in the three other fish classes — bass, perch and pickerel — would get large trophies and donated prizes.

The largest trout caught by 1 p.m. was 14 inches long and weighed 1 pound and 1 ounce.

“That’s the winning trout, so far, with three hours to go,” Meeks said.

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