Only three Lake trout
were caught that weekend, all coming at the end of Tom's fishing rod.
Tom formed some kind of sick and twisted bond with the lake
trout that weekend.Ahh the annual ice fishing derby is here at last. Every year in February The Meredith Rotary club in Meredith New Hampshire puts together a state wide ice fishing tournament. The tournament is open to almost every body of water in the state. There are a number of prizes for several different categories. The grand prize, however, is for the heaviest "tagged" rainbow trout. The Grand Prize used to be for the heaviest Lake Trout, that was fun, it used to take skill to catch the winning fish, now it takes nothinf but luck. Also, in years past the winning fish was impressive. People would look up at the "board" and say "Wow! Look at the size of that thing!" Unfortunately with the way the derby is set up now, a 10 pound laker falls somewhere around 4th place while three skinny little tagged rainbows take 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. Oh well, in over ten years we have never brought a fish to the boards anyway (other than a five pound cusk, that we were to late to enter anyway). Regardless, that derby weekend is one our favorite fishing trips of the year. We don't always catch a ton of fish, but some of the funniest memories of the year come from this weekend.
February 1996 saw Tom Civitengas luck streak continue.
Only three Lake trout
were caught that weekend, all coming at the end of Tom's fishing rod.
Tom formed some kind of sick and twisted bond with the lake
trout that weekend.
Chris Znoj and Tom Civ, outside the shanty on Wolfeboro Bay with a typical laker.
