Sebago Lake Derby

A lot of preparation went into this weekend. Dan Jr, Dan Sr and Dana did some pre-derby fishing on several different parts of the lake to determine where the best area was. Although we didn't get it exactly right, we still had a lot of fun. Just so I can get the disappointment out of the way early, I'll tell you all that I can't locate the video of Danny Clifford pulling the bag out of the lake. I don't know what happened to it, but what can I say? I have a 3 year old!

Dana would have been on the lake 3 days early if he could have. Dan Jr, Felipe and Dana were on the lake and setting up around 2:30 am, and Dan Sr wasn't far behind. Dave Sr, Dave Jr, Porter and Danny Clifford showed up a little while later. For some reason, we all decided it was ok to drive our vehicles onto the ice. They served as a nice wind block/workstation/warming hut/urination station.

Dana's streak of luck continued on this day, and he caught the only fish, a 2+ pound togue. Well, technically Danny Clifford caught something, but none of us is sure (or will admit to knowing) what it was. He was jigging, and announced that he had a fish on. We all crowded around the hole, and waited for him to pull the fish up. After lots of anticipation, he pulled up a bag of something that resembled pebbles and fish. Definitely the funniest moment of the tournament. I had it all on video, but don't know what happened to it. I'm sure Danny's glad I can't find it!

Dana went on a campaign to enlist as many people as he could to stay overnight on the ice to fish for cusk. Both Lorfanos agreed to give it a shot. There were a couple of cusk caught, but all three of them nearly froze to death, and got very little sleep. They tried to sitck it out in the portable ice shack we had with a small heater, but quickly retreated to Dave Jr's truck, and burned a quarter tank of gas trying to stay warm. They were all asleep at one point, and all of a sudden, some random drunk guy opened the door and scared the crap out of them! He asked if they were ok, and then took off in his truck, destroying one of Dave Jr's traps in the process!

The rest of us went home to get a good night's sleep and returned early the next morning. Dana caught another togue, about the same size. Otherwise, not a lot to report. The winning fish for the tournament weighed 18 pounds, so we were a long way off. I think most of us have given up on jigging. Here are some pictures and videos:

Fish #1

Fish #2

FW Webb Tournament, Hancock Pond

Dave Sr, Dave Jr and Dan Jr fished the FW Webb tournament on Hancock Pond in Sebago, but with no success. Dana was there as well, but only to cook food, and wasn't able to join us for fishing. Dan Jr had a couple of late flags, but didn't pull a fish out. Here are a couple of pictures of the fish we didn't catch:

Long Lake Week #... I don't know

Here's a video from one of our days on Long Lake. Dave Sr, who hasn't had a lot of luck catching fish this year catches a nice 25 inch pickerel. It's not a salmon Dave.

Catching up... Horne Pond

It's been a while since my last post, so I'll cut to the chase, and try to highlight some of the more memorable moments from each week that I can remember. We've been fishing just about every weekend, so for the millions who read this blog, I apologize for the delay.

I'll start with our first tournament of the year. Horne Pond in Limington. Dan Sr, Dan Jr and Petros fished this pond the day before the tournament to scout things out a bit, and heard from several people that it was smart to get there very early to ensure a good spot. Dana arrived at the pond at around 3:45, followed by Dan Jr at 4:00 and Dave Jr (after circling the pond on foot) at 4:15. Dan Sr and Felips showed up a little while after ... As you can imagine, it was pitch black, so drilling holes and locating anything was pretty difficult. We only had one flashlight between 5 of us, so let's just say tempers flared a little!

Dana caught the first and only fish of the day, a 1.3 pound brown trout in the early morning. Actually, it was the only flag of the day too. It ended up getting him 5th place overall in the tournament. His prize was $200 and a trophy. But that wasn't the most significant event of the day. None of us is sure how Dana got a trap in the ice that day, since his gallon of "orange juice" was gone by around 10:00! He spent a few hours having a pretty hard time getting a full sentence out, but was back to normal by the early afternoon.

Since our ice shack resides on Long Lake, we decided to use Dan Sr's Easy Up tent as shelter . Not a great idea on this day. The wind was blowing really hard, and it took all of us to keep it continuously anchored to the ice. Here are some pictures and a video to prove that all of this really happened:

Weighing the 5th place winner

The crew

Dana's moment of glory

Brothers in law showing some love

Week 2

Not nearly as big of a turnout on this day as opening day, but we still had fun. We walked onto the lake around 6:30, and it was one of the coldest starts to a fishing day that I can remember, at -18 degrees! By the time we made it out to our spot, all of our eyebrows and facial hair was frozen, and we were ready to warm up in the shack! Fishing was very slow. Dave caught a 13 1/2 inch salmon early on, and the rest of the day we only pulled a couple of very small perch out of the water. We did, however continue to cook good food and drink a few beers as usual. Here are a couple of pictures and a video:


One of David's big catches of the day.

Don't get too excited... it was another pickerel.

Opening Day

Well, sort of. Opening day for ice fishing in Maine is January 1, but we didn't make it out until the 3rd. Dave and David had hauled the ice shack out onto Long Lake a day earlier. We had a fairly large crowd as usual. Dave, David Jr., Dana, Dan, Dan Jr., Felipe and his dad Orlando all ventured out on one of the windiest ice fishing days any of us could remember. With a total of 30 traps in the ice, the fish never had a chance! We caught a variety of fish, including yellow and white perch, brown trout, pickerel and salmon.

For those of you who haven't been ice fishing with us before, I'll fill you in on some of the non-fishing details. We typically bring several rounds of snacks and beverages with us, including coffee, "soda", donuts, chips, hot dogs, and the occasional deer steak. Believe it or not, ice fishing takes a lot out of you, so it's completely necessary to continuously have snacks available.


Felipe and Orlando are from Colombia, and both needed to be broken into the idea of sitting on a frozen lake waiting for fish to bite. Felipe's got a year of experience under his belt, but this was Orlando's first day, and he was prepared for it, from his Eskimo style jacket to ice creepers for his boots.

Inevitably, it seems like something strange always happens to make us all remember each day of ice fishing forever. Last year, the most significant thing to happen was Felipe's first snowmobile ride, which resulted in a busted lip, and a great lesson for an onlooking little boy! On this day there were a couple of things worth mentioning. In an effort to make Felipe believe he had caught his first fish, Dana tied one of Dave's ice spoons (the newest and best one he had) to the end of one of Felipe's traps, causing his flag to go off. Felipe rushed to his trap, and proceeded to pull "the big one" out of the ice. After a few seconds of pulling, he announced that he had lost the "fish" and Dave's new ice spoon was history!

Dave's bad luck continued later in the day while rushing out to watch as Dana pulled one of two giant pickerel from the ice. Dave forgot that his ice creepers had snapped off of his boots earlier in the day and slipped, falling on his back, and breaking a couple of ribs in the process!

Here are a couple of videos of Dana catching a 23 inch pickerel, and the first salmon of the season, as you'll CLEARLY hear Dave point out.