| The 2004
Ice Derby February 7th & 8th, 2004 |
"This time somebody in our group won!" |
| Well, another year has come and gone for the annual ice derby, but this year was by all accounts one of the best we've ever had. The new format had everyone more interested in the competition and there was more excitement this year with each fish that was caught. When it came down to the wire, mear ounces meant the difference between a $50.00 second prize and 365 days worth of braggin' rights as King of the Ice! The $100 first place prize was overshadowed by the "Cup" and the honor of being the official "King of the Ice" for 2004. Congratulations Kevin! |
The Derby
started out in grand fashion with Eric arriving ealry on Thursday to
find a burst pipe in the downstairs bathroom. It ended up being a very
good thing that he arrived early enough to alert us so that we could
organize a team to bring the appropriate tools and equipment to fix the
problem. Thanks to Jeff Dolloway and Jeff Poulos for putting in some
serious overtime and fixing not one or two, but three separate sections
of pipe that had cracked and burst in an unusal freeze up following an
improper fall shut-down and an empty tank of Kerosene in December. The
two worked feverishly and made two trips to town to purchase plumbing
stock and got the job done just before Duncan and I arrived around noon
time on Friday. Jeff Dolloway took a well deserved nap at that point.
Kevin arrived on Thursday night and enjoyed a peaceful slumber as the
Jeff's worked hard to repair the leaks. Eric allegedly held a flashlight
at times and was periodically helpful.  Tim, Jimmy & Paul arrived soon after and there was much rejoicing. Then Chris Znoj arrived . As the gathering of old friends and new commenced the stories of the past and hopes of a promising weekend ahead filled the air as Chris organized an expedition team to scout out an area for our home base on the ice. With three potential spots in mind the crew set out onto the lake and found that one of Chris' premier choices was not yet covered by any other anglers. With a few quick holes drilled and depth measurements taken it was decided that this would be the spot we would use. Plan B & C were discarded. We quickly got to work setting up the tent that Tim donated to the weekend. Ther was some initial fears that the tent may not be sturdy enough to hold up to the harsh winter conditions typical out on the ice. But after the frame was set up, the canvass wrapped around it and the blue tarps zip ties inside to block the wind, our fears were displaced with excitement and enthusiasm. This 12' x 20' enclosure was one of the best shelters we'd seen over the years. It provided shelter from the biting wind and it's size was more than big enough to accommodate our large crew and all of our gear and cooking materials.  With daylight quickly fading a small crew drilled about 30 to 40 holes in the ice and set in the ice hle insulators in preparation for the Saturday's early morning action. Before long we were back at the camp and Pete arrived, and there was much rejoicing.  Finally when all that were to arrive on Friday were at the camp Chris explained the new format and introduced the King of The Ice caps and Cup to the group and there was much rejoicing. After collecting unpaid entry fee's and food costs we set out for town to get some grub. Tim, Jim and Paul went back to their condo... and there was much rejoicing... Saturday Morning: 5:35 am: And they're off like a pack of turtles!!! The rules say you can start fishing 1 hour before sunrise... No matter how hard we try we never seem to make it out in time to start fishing an hour before the sun comes up. Nobody missed the Polish flag this year. USA baby! USA!  The action wasn't slow starting on Saturday. Within 10 minutes of setting the first tip up in shallow water (2 to 3 feet) Chris had a flag, but it was just a bait thief. Jeff Dolloway's adjacent shiner was stolen within antoher 5 minutes. Rainbows can be sneaky. But leave it to Pete to break the ice and land the first laker of the day at 8:00 sharp. Yes he may be one of the last fisherman on the ice, but what Pete lacks in ability to function without 8 hours of rest and a four course breakfast, he makes up for in luck on the ice.  With this nice laker Pete was in first place! But would it last? As chance would have it there is no picture of the next fish that was caught. And who better than to takeover first place than the ever so modest Chris Znoj! Chris' Laker topped petes by four tenths of a pound even though it was an inch shorter. Chris was happy to be in first place. Pete was dissapointed but certainly not discouraged. Next to score was the other Civitenga, Tom. Perhaps it's the Marlboro Man red these guys wear! They just keep catching fish! Another nice one comes through the hole at 10:12 am!  Still, this one was not enough to change the leader board. This was 1.9 pounds and 18 inches long. In all accounts, a small fish. The next flag to go belonged to Geoff Turner! An HE iced a nice laker! If luck has nothing to do with ice fishing then I'm a chinese Jetpilot!  Not a bad fish, nor a good one either. 2.1 pounds and 20.25 inches. Still it put him on the board! About an hour later Pete gets lucky again and hooks a good one! We were all sure this one would topple Znoj and put Pete back in the lead.  But when Duncan (the official weighmaster) read the weight, a collective sigh of disbelief and dissapointment was heard throughout the lakes region. There was one bark of joy and of course that came from Znoj. At the moment Duncan read Pete's weight and the Diddler realized that Pete came up short once again, he let out a bronx cheer and for all but a moment lost control of his functions. He jumped up in the air and came down in what can only be described as a Hindenburg-like landing... Oh the Humanity!  After having fallen to the ground like a dead tree in the forest, Chris collects himself and dusts off. So let's recap the leader board so far:
The day isn't even over yet! Weekend Angler's Rule #69: When the Civitenga's are around keep a camera close at hand. After lunch we had some entertainment courtesy of Pete Civitenga and his inability resist molesting wild animals. The mink has been making an excellent comeback in the region and we have seen a few in the area over the last few years. This year we spotted a mink trotting from shore out to one of the tip ups rigged not far from shore. When Pete finally saw the little critter he was off in a dash to go try and grab it. A little history is neede here... I don't know where Pete ever got the idea that he could catch a wild animal by hand, but this instinctive chase goes back at least 18 years. I distinctly remember when Pete and I were on the cross country team at Marian High School and we were in the midst of a 4 mile cross country race. This track had us on pavement for a stretch followed by a brief treck through the woods. Pete was on pace for a solid finish with points that could help us beat out a division rival. Unfortunately for the team a grey squirrel crossed the path about 40 feet ahead in front of Pete. Running close behind Pete, I had a front row seat to the action. It was as if the trail we were running took a hard right, but it didn't. Without braking stride Pete disappeared into the woods with a scared squirrel running for it's life. As you can probably guess, Pete had no chance of catching that rodent, so you can imagine the team's dissapointment when Pete finally walked across the finish line about 20 minutes after the race was over. Coach approached Pete who was visibly upset and asked Pete if he was okay and why he was so upset. Pete barked out "I couldn't catch the damn squirrel!". The coach was a little upset that Pete blew the race to mingle with the wildlife and he told Pete that he had a "Shi$%y attitude". Pete simply replied "F#$% Off!". I think that might of been Pete's last foot race. He can still be seen chasing wildlife off the trail every now and then, however now it's from behind the wheel of his Dodge Ram.... As Pete neared the hole where the mink disappeared into we wondered how close he would get before running away. He got to about 10 feet away from the hole and saw nothing. A bit more relaxed now with no critter in site, he moved a little closer. Suddenly when Pete was about 5 feet away from the hole he jumped staight up and took a few steps backward while pointing at the hole. A second later taht little mink caming bopping out of the hole took one look at Pete and made a B-line for shore. That's when Pete broke into yet another futile sprint. He ran ten feet quickly but by then the mink was long gone. Pete made his way back to the rest of us and corrected us to the fact that this was not a mink but a 4 foot long 60 pound wolverine with nasty claws and sharp jagged fangs. We were all in amazement at Pete's bravery and the courage it must have took to confront such a beast. Just then the creature reared it's ugly head again, this time heading for another tip up even closer to us. It made a cackling sound and gestured towards Pete as it danced around the tip up. Now my eyesight is admitedly not what it used to be, but I swear that thing gave pete the middle claw before skipping back to the shore.  As the wolverine scampered back to shore Pete thought twice about giving chase again... And now back to the action!!! After a brief lull in the action the Civitenga's got things rolling once again with Tom catching his second laker of the day! Enough weight to match Pete's second place trout but at 19 inches long, it was an inch and a half shorter than Pete's...   Man, this guy still hasn't learned how to hold a fish! It looks like he's holding a baby! It sort of reminds me of his first lake trout soem eight and a half years ago...  A short 10 minutes passed after Tom caught the first fish of the afternoon and Kevin Poulos got on the board with a small laker.  Not a whopper, but Kevin had landed a fish and that monkey was off his back! This fish would end up being the last of the trout caught on Saturday, but it wasn't the last fish caught. Pete as usual jigged up a fat salmon (I swear, when things get slow I think he brings his bait up to 10 feet under the ice and starts jigging mid depths for salmon). The final fish of the day went to derby newcomer Paul Capone. Though fishing with tip ups donated by Jimmy Panos that were better suited for Pike fishing in murky water, a fish actually bit a bait dangling from one of those steel leader, 4/0 bait hook rigged devices. Unfortunately it was not a trout but a cusk. Also known as a ling cod and a burbot. This ugly bottom feeder is by far the best eating fish in the lake and this was probably the first year in many that we haven't purposely fished for them.  Too
bad for Paul nobody got a cusk pool going. There was some talk about an
optional pool prior to the derby, but when it came down to derby weekend
no one wanted to set cusk lines. Anyway, Paul took a great deal of pride
in his catch and for good reason. His cusk would be the only fish
brought through the ice by Tim, Jimmy and Paul. Jimmy, please,
next time listen to me and get rid of the steel leaders and 4/0 hooks!So, at the end of day one Chris Znoj was able to relax as his lead was safe, at least for now...
Honerable mention: Paul Capone: Cusk - a good couple of pounds... Saturday night we all went out for dinner to the Wolfe's Tavern, where the Civitenga's celebrated their dominance on the ice with some tasty wings.  It's just not right... Scenes from dinner Sunday Morning: 5:45 am: When I woke to the sound of howling winds around 5:15 on Sunday morning, I had a bad feeling about out borrowed shelter out on the ice. Of course at this point I could do nothing about it but wait to see if it was still standing... I had high hopes that it stood up to the winds that tormented the lake that night. Upon arriving at the scene I realized that my hopes meant nothing to anyone.  We did our best to prop up enough poles and tie off corners of the tent to various vehicles to provide some shelter from the wind and a place to cook breakfast...  To be blunt, Sunday was pretty f'n damn cold and windy. And the collapsed shelter did little to break the wind. In fact Znoj broke more wind on Sunday than that collapsed tent. Also, the crew that braved the cold on Sunday was signifcantly smaller than the crew on Saturday. Four angler's quit all together without even stepping onto the ice on Sunday. Tim, Jimmy, Paul and Eric all bailed early. The rest of us remained and for all but one of us that was a good thing. The blue skies and wind that graced us on Sunday initially brought a general pessimistic outlook for the fishing conditions. As we know too well, those clear, windy, high pressure days are almost always very poor fishing days. However, in the face of adversity opportunity knocked and Kevin answered.  The first fish of the day was yet another laker. It happened to hit Kevin's tip up while I was in charge of watching it. It only weighed 1.15 pounds. Unfortunately it managed to tangle itself in a nearby tip up line without us realizing it and before long that tip up flag was triggered and Jeff Dolloway was the recipient of a horrible prank. While we all thought at first that the fish we without adoubt "on" as they hit two smelts so close together in such a short period of time, but I realized quickly after jeff began tending to his tip up that his fish was the tangled mess that I had pulled up through the ice. I took advantage of this for a good minute or so, I have to admit it was very mean, but I certainly couldn't resist yanking on the line and watching Jeff freak out and then let go of the line to watch his heart break as he thought the monster got away only to pick it up again and give him another heart attack. Finally he realized what was going on and although his hands were frozen solid and he had a major let down, he was a good sport about it and admitted he would have done the same thing. Fortunately, the Gods smiled on Jeff, perhaps feeling sorry for him after the above episode and offered him a token lake trout. It was a laker and certainly not a Lunker. This fish would be the smallest of the derby weighing in at 1.12 pounds. No need to measure length. All this time on Sunday morning not much was heard from Chris Znoj, in fact he remained inside his heated truck almost all morning. When he did venture out it was usually to snag a donut, refil his coffee or gloat about his almost certain victory. When asked why he hadn't set any tip ups yet at 11:00 in the morning, the Diddler simply looked up at the sun, sighed and repeated "I'm pretty comfortable with my lead". He made reference to the sparse fish that had been caught so far that morning and the noticeably smaller average size. Chris' head grew even bigger if that was at all possible. Fortunately someone had a camera at the ready to catch Chris in the midst of his misguided pride.  No further comment necessary. With the derby now in it's waning ours, Chris remained confident, though some could tell he was beginning to lose his cool. He was visibly uncomfortable with the number of flags and fish that had been caught on this bright and windy day. In bone chilling winds it was perplexing to see Chris sweating as the derby grew nearer and nearer to a close. With under an hour to go a faint yell was heard under the muffling sound of the arctic winds that consistantly blew hard from the North West. Although it was barely heard over the howling winds, there was no mistaking what the yell was... "Flag!" A quick look in the direction of the voice and we all saw a lone bright red flag standing at attention like Pete's wand in the morning. It was Kevin's flag that was up once again. Everyone sprinted to the tip up and waited as if in suspended animation as Kevin battled another sub-tundranian foe. As Kevin began forcasting that this was a "good fish" Znoj tried to maintain a calm and confident poise, but as the battle grew closer and closer to the hole there was no mistaking the ominous sound eminating from inside Diddler's snow pants. He was losing control of his bowels. Unfortunately in all of this excitement, no one was thinking about taking video or photographs, however Duncan stood at the ready with the scale calibrated and zeroed in waiting to measure this possible challenger. Finally the fish was iced. It was a laker... a good one. This fish was certainly longer that Chris' current leader, however lenght was only used to establis a tie breaker and we saw more than a couple short fish weigh more than longer ones this weekend. Quickly Kevin unhooked the trout and slipped it into the weigh bag and a silence fell across the ice as Duncan prepared to read off the official weight... "Two point eight!" Duncan announced with a smile. Kevin leaped in the air and rejoiced pointing at Znoj and ridiculing him. Znoj stood pale faced and trembling. He was speechless and dumbfounded. His knees began to buckle as he stood stunned. He farted and collapsed onto the ice. After witnessing this turnaround of events one would have thought Chris would have packed it in and went home. Instead, after a 5 minute sulk, he collected himself and got out his tip ups and his auger. With about a half hour remaining he decided he was not going down without a fight. Chris began to fish. But it was all for not and he caught nothing but bottom the rest of the day. Finally right when we decided to call it a day and start reeling in our lines Fitts got a flag. It would be the only fish he iced all weekend. After a breif battle I put a laker on the board and rid myself of my own monkey and while doing so almost took Znoj out of second place. My Laker weighed 2.6 pounds (the same as Znoj's) but wad only 18.5 inches long. A mere half inch from tying Chris. Oh well. The final standings:
Back at the house Chris sat on his ass and kept repeating "I'm happy for Kevin... Really" while the rest of us worked feverishly cleaning and closing up the camp. Once most of the details were wrapped up we had a huge ceremony with fireworks, special guest appearances and a Janet Jackson performance and finally the King of the Ice Cup and hat were awarded to Kevin. 
 When asked for comment Kevin stated: "Win or lose, I'm just glad I can say I climed that mountain! And (pointing at Znoj - still lying back on the couch) I knocked the big man DOWN!" Yes you did Kevin and when he fell we almost all went through the ice! Thanks everyone for a great weekend and I look forward to seeing all of you back next year to compete for the cup!  |
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