Fishing Derby Winners

Austin and Rick Urban are in this picture. Rick is on the right.

* Biggest Bass - Rick Urban 5.35 pounds. I think from Moodus Reservoir
* Biggest Perch - Austin Urban - 1.11 pounds. Possibly Bashan Lake
* Biggest Pickerel - James Campbell 3.435 pounds - Moodus Reservoir

Left to right: Soup Campbell [whose pickerel catch weighed 3.055 pounds] and James with James's catch

The day was a good one for fishing, warm weather with a solid ice shelf that ranged between 12 and 17 inches thick, depending. Lake Hayward was covered with fishing enthusiasts, some trying to put their lines in between other people's augured holes. But the competition fish seemed to be best found in Bashan Lake and Moodus Reservoir.
     A sudden, brief, thunder and lightening storm around 1100 hours had everybody spooked. Reports from weather stations later in the day noted that this phenom didn't happen anywhere else in the state. Were we in danger? Well, a woman riding her four-wheeler on Moodus Reservoir reported that she saw lightening strike real close to her. Lucky for everybody the storm lasted only a few minutes.
     There were about 170 entrants, and when weigh-in time arrived, parking at the club almost became a spot all it's own. Luckily Bill and Will were able to cram a lot of 8 foot bed pick-ups into the upper parking lot and along Old East Haddam-Colchester Turnpike. Even when vehicles got double parked it seemed to be no problem.
     After the weigh-in, there was plenty of venison stew, corn chowder, fresh fried perch and a passel of other tasty morsels for all.