Brother, sister share space, strategy during ice fishing derby

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Comfortably nestled in their camp chairs – she in her Scooby Doo winter cap, he sporting a classically stylish ice fishing hat with ear flaps – the Hammonds arrived a Pickerel Pond ready for a full day of ice fishing action on Saturday.

“You know what? We came up here when it was still dark,” Justin Hammond said, taking time to talk between twitches of a brand new jig pole. “We started our journey when it was still dark.”

More than 100 young anglers headed to Maine’s Youth Fish & Game Association clubhouse on the Stud Mill Road for Saturday’s annual ice fishing derby.

Some were very young, while others approached the age limit for the under-16-only pond. Some had fished before and brought their own gear, while others took advantage of the club’s equipment to try out a new activity.

There, not nearly lost in the crowd, were the Hammonds. And in keeping with ice-fishing custom, the duo was more than happy to sit and chat with any other angler who happened to amble by.

Justin Hammond is 7 years old (though his nonchalance in front of a TV camera and a newspaper reporter seem to contradict that).

His sister, Abbie, is 9. (“Nine and a half, actually. In four months I turn 10.”)

And on Saturday, they sat contentedly in front of a single hole in the ice, with two lines offering potential snacks to the trout below.

“We’re from Steuben,” Abbie Hammond said, settling in for a lengthy conversation. “That’s the first town in Hancock County.”

Two feet away, Justin Hammond sat, freckled cheeks reddening in the cool air, a broad (if toothless) smile pasted on his face.

The Hammonds haven’t discovered a secret method of fishing … not really … not yet.

“We don’t have one,” Justin Hammond said. “Daddy. He’s the power behind this all.”

The Hammonds, it turns out, are playing this one close to the vest, as many accomplished anglers do.

A keen observer may be able to learn a few tips from the twosome, if they’re patient … and if they’re willing to sit a spell.

A few minutes later, the talkative Justin spills the beans, and explains why he and his sister are jigging the same small hole.

“Well, umm, the secret is that my dad, over there, he says that we could really get some action together if we fish together,” Justin Hammond said. “And our secret to fishing in one hole at the same time is that Abbie jigs on this side, and I jig on this side.”

From shore to shore on Pickerel Pond, anglers tried their luck. Some lost their patience early and found other ways to occupy themselves.

A group of boys gathered up some ice scoops which they used as hockey sticks for a hastily arranged game.

On a steep pond-side hill, a group of other frustrated anglers trudged through the trees, then slid down the nearly snowless embankment, with only snow pants and parkas for sleds.

And on the other side of the lake, there sat the Hammonds. Fishing. Jigging. Smiling. And (as is also the custom while ice fishing) telling tall tales.

“I’m not just a fisherman,” Justin Hammond said, preparing to unload a whopper. “I’m also an extreme dinosaur hunter. But I don’t kill them. I dart them.”

“Then he takes them to the dinosaur zoo,” Abbie chimed in.

Justin nodded. “It’s underground,” he said, as if that explained everything.

While some children struggle to sit still, and others can’t seem to get along with anyone (let alone their siblings), the Hammonds were content to sit in their chairs, share an ice hole, and wait for a tug on the end of their lines.

There’s food up at the clubhouse, but the brownies her dad provided were the culinary high point of the day for Abbie Hammond.

Occasionally, one line or another encroached upon another’s territory, but a jig-pole sword fight settled those disputes quickly.

“I remember him when he was just a sweet little baby,” Abbie Hammond said with a smile, after her brother said something that she may have disagreed with.

At around noontime, Dave Georgia, a Maine Game Warden who helped found the MYFGA, looked across a busy Pickerel Pond and said the day had already been a success.

“Turnout has been fantastic,” he said. “As you can tell, the weather’s great. There’s 112 kids that were signed up at last check for the fish contest and about 90 of those are new members.”

And over at the piece of ice where the Hammonds had set up camp, two eager anglers were still waiting for a bite. Like most anglers, they also had plenty of theories for their own slow fishing.

“I think they all died,” Abbie Hammond said.

Her brother agreed, though, in true storyteller fashion, he suspected foul play.

“I think they kept killing each other,” he said. “They had an underwater battle.”

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.