DEERFIELD VALLEY- The 28th annual Harriman Reservoir Ice Fishing Derby sponsored by the Deerfield Valley Sportsmen’s Club Inc., was a great success. Classic elements like bitter cold wind gusts and new issues presented themselves to the seasoned ice derby officials. This 2012 ice fishing derby was no exception to that rule, anyone who has taken on the task of chairing this derby has learned that it takes nerves of steel and shear tenacity to navigate and expect the unexpected. The Harriman Reservoir is a body of water that demands and gets an ice fishing enthusiast’s respect like no other body of water in Vermont. The mere fact that it is a working reservoir and not an inactive body of water lends to all kinds of possibilities. The anglers and ice derby officials are well aware of ice level variations, fault lines, known spring locations and varying ice level depths. Actually, despite the lack of “winter” this season and the fact that most other derbies had to cancel entirely, the lake sported ice levels of 10 to 18 inches despite the open water river feeds. Andy Rice, Jacob Rice, Mike Austin, and Sean Barber took it upon themselves and did an amazing job scouting out the lake locating areas of concern and marking them with flagging tape, stakes, and caution cones. Headquarters received many compliments of appreciation for the efforts of these men.

This annual ice fishing derby is a community event that helps the local economy and business by bringing another group of people into the valley. The Deerfield Valley News staff compiled and distributed 9,000 newspapers. Local business purchased advertising in the paper and more than 40 contributed gifts for the raffle. This was no small feat after the hardship Tropical Storm Irene ravaged this area with. Every ad and donated item was given from the limited finances of the merchants. Warm winter, no snow, pain still being felt by storm, saying thank you feels so inadequate, but we do thank you and appreciate all of you so very much and we respectfully know you all “get it” that this is a communitywide event.

The youth compete for trophies for first, second, and third place positions and this year the youth were also awarded with their very own tip-up and ice fishing derby T- shirt.

Ages 1 to 8 years - first, Izabelle Sirois, 2.94 pound brown, second, Cody Magnet .62 pound brown, third, Lillian Barber .49 perch.

Ages 9 to 14 years - first, Lucas Dlubac 2.2 pound lake, second, Tanner Davis .62 pound brown, third, Willy Queenie .39 perch.

Brad and Erin Lackey presented the Kayla Lackey Award. This award goes to a youth (age 1 to 8) that lands the three heaviest combined weights in the perch category. Izabelle Sirois, of Harland, had a total weight of 1.24 pounds. She also landed a 2.94- and a 1.78- pound brown. It’s a good thing she is only 5-years old and wasn’t able to compete with the adults for the cash prizes, some of the adults wouldn’t have stood a chance.

Mount Snow Power Sports donated two snowmobile jackets for the “Any Contestant” raffle. The winners were Ralph (Skip) Davis and Wayne Poirier.

50-50 Raffle: The Truman Green Scholarship Award for a Twin Valley High School graduating senior raised a total of $516; Bob Vince was the lucky winner of $258.

The Barry Bouker Taxidermy Award is awarded raffle style to any contestant who registered a fish at headquarters. This year’s winner was Greg Wapner. Wapner in turn donated back his prize and it was raffled to any contestant of the derby. John Willard was awarded the prize.

Fast Hand Auger contest was won by Williy Queenie who drilled a 4 ½ inch hole through the ice. His efforts were rewarded with an IPod Shuffle from Brown Computers.

Adult Prize Board Awards: Anglers competed for first, second, and third for cash prizes of $250, $150, and $100.

Brook trout: first, George Provost, of Hinsdale, NH, .91 pound; second, Kathryn Hayden, of Hinsdale, NH; .55 pound. brown trout: first, Barry Bouker, of Whitingham, 2.19 pound; second, Ricky Hayes, of Bennington, 1.31 pound; third, Gregg Wapner, of Brattleboro, 1.21 pound.

Lake trout: first, Paul Dlubac, of Dover, 2.74 pound. Rainbow trout: first, Kevin Provost, of Keene, .26 pound. Perch: first, Charles Putnam, of Halifax, .60 pound, second, Francis Frazier Jr., of Bennington, .50, third, Bill Myers, of Bennington, .49.

$500 Biggest Fish on Saturday: Sponsored by Subaru of Keene, and won by Marcel Lemaire of Dover, with a 3.82 pound lake trout.

$500 Biggest Fish on Sunday: Sponsored by Felton Tree and Landscaping in memory of two amazing men, William Felton and “Mr. Bill” Cox. Tim Mattison, of Arlington, won for landing a 2.23 pound brown trout.

$1,000 Overall Biggest Fish of the 2012 Ice Fishing Derby: Sponsored by Auto Mall and the DVSClub, won by Glenn Tucker, of Jacksonville, for landing a 4.5 pound brown trout.