County flush with fun over weekend

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ST. AGATHA – What a weekend in Aroostook County.

If you believed there was nothing to do on the weekend just past, you were not looking very hard because activities abounded from one end of The County to the other.

In St. Agatha it was the third annual Long Lake Ice Fishing Derby, at Madawaska it was the International Snowmobile Festival, Fort Kent had its annual Mardi Gras Festival, and Houlton had its Moosestompers Weekend.

Most of the activities were outside. Even a 1-foot snowfall did little to stem the enthusiasm around the county.

Ice fishing derby

At St. Agatha, residents and tourists quickly shoveled, blew or plowed their snow away heading for one of the five lakes involved in the ice fishing derby.

More than 400 people registered for the two days of fishing on Long, Cross, St. Froid, Square and Eagle lakes. Large fish and large numbers of fish were caught before the final tally Sunday night. Some $5,000 in cash was given out to 12 lucky fishermen.

Chris Leek of Bucksport walked off with the $1,000 prize for the largest landlocked salmon. It was one of those football salmon that can only be caught in Long Lake, which is nestled between Madawaska, St. Agatha, and two Unorganized Territories.

Leek’s fish weighed in at 7 pounds, 11 ounces. It edged out teenager Nick Bourgoin of Frenchville who had brought one in weighing 6 pounds, 13 ounces less than half an hour before on Sunday afternoon. Bourgoin was awarded $500 for his effort.

Leek, a surgical assistant in the operating room at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, was one happy sportsman.

“I love fishing and hunting,” he said Sunday while relaxing with a beer at Sinclair’s Long Lake Sporting Club. “That’s what I do.

“I didn’t think it was that big when I was bringing it in,” he said. “It’s awesome.”

He caught the fish, the largest ever brought in over the three years of the tournament, off the end of Pelletier Island in Long Lake. He’s fished the lake often, but this was his first year in the winter tournament.

Devan Cyr of St. David was one happy 13-year-old when he brought in his salmon shortly after 1 p.m. Sunday. At the time his 5 pound, 4 ounce salmon was the biggest.

“I thought I had a big one when I had it on the line,” the youngster said. “It took me over five minutes to bring him in.”

Cyr walked off with $250 for his third-place fish, the largest salmon he’s ever caught. He said he’s caught a bigger fish – a 25 pound muskie.

The top three salmon caught on the weekend were native fish, not stocked.

The largest number of fish registered on the weekend was by Scott Stevens of Wallagrass who caught 211 perch at Cross Lake. He won the $50 “booby prize.”

Other winners, in the brook trout category, were Allen Gagnon of Van Buren with a 3-pound, 14-ounce fish, Jeff Michaud of St. Agatha with a 2-pound, 2-ounce trout, and Alex Corey of Madawaska with a 1-pound, 15.8-ounce brookie. All were caught at Long Lake.

Glenn Roode of Wallagrass came through with the biggest togue, 5 pounds, 8.2 ounces. Bruno Doucette of Madawaska was second with a 5-pound, 4.8-ounce fish, and Jake Hebert of St. David caught one that was 5 pounds, 3.4 ounces.

The largest cusk of the weekend was caught by Cody Daigle of Wallagrass.

A special youth prize, a $200 savings bond, was for the largest salmon caught by a youth 12 and under. That was won by Robert Lausier, 4, of Madawaska. His fish was 4 pounds, 5.4 ounces.

While the overall number of contestants was down – 404 compared to 450 last year – the number of youngsters registered doubled from last year. This year 86 youngsters registered compared to 43 last year.

Snowmobile festival

Scott Beaulieu, president of the International Snowmobile Festival, said their activities went well, too. Their turnout was a bit lower than usual, but he said that was because of everything going on – a 1-foot snowfall Friday night and people wary of new border regulations.

“We had plenty of snow and good trails,” Beaulieu said. “People were happy with the weekend, and activities went really well.

“We didn’t get the numbers of snowmobilers from downstate and southern New Brunswick because there is snow everywhere this year,” he said. “Our activities [from Friday night to Sunday afternoon] went off great.”

This was the 12th year for the International Snowmobile Festival at Madawaska and Edmundston, New Brunswick.