Sturgeon Derby Recap

It was cold, wet and windy at the derby... and that was before the real weather kicked in!    Mild rain kicked in early in the morning, and turned to torrential downpours for a short time with considerable wind mixed in.   I spent most of the tournament shivering and having to flex my fingers to get feeling back into them.

That being said, there were 4 of use foolish enough to brave the elements and stick out the entire day in kayak.   I managed to land 3 small sturgeon, Peter in his new kayak which he won at the padder's derby landed 2, John (Ipop) landed one, and Matt (still basking in the glow from his 50-incher last week) was shut out.

Overall there were 95 people in the tournament and over 100 sturgeon landed.   However, from what I hear, about 50 of them were landed by people in just 3 boats all huddled in one specific spot far from where I normally fish on the Kennebacasis.    Apparently the sturgeon all decided to move out of my traditional fishing grounds for the day.

One person captured both first ($1000) and second ($400) place and walked away with a nice payday.   Many people ended the day with no fish, and everyone was cold and wet!  

At least we had the door prizes to look forward to right!    Wrong!   There were door prizes, but in all honesty, it was embarassing.   There wasn't a single item I would have wanted to pick to bring home.   It looked like a clearance bin from Walmart, a mish-mash of general 'stuff'.     Rather than stick around and potentially pick from the 20 or so 50 cent yard-sale items that were up for door prizes, I opted to head straight back home to get dry and fed!

Given the way the day went, and the way it ended, I think next year I'll wait till the last minute to buy my ticket to this event.  If the weather calls for anything other than clear and sunny, I'll probably skip it.    It's a shame really, as from what others who's attended this event in years past say, it used to be a 'big deal' with a lot more competitors, and a far more extensive set of quality prizes at the end of the day.