Looking for fun? Enter the Hancock County Open Water Derby this weekend

Warm weather has finally arrived, and the water in our lakes and ponds is also rising. In many places, fishing is nearing its peak, and it’s the perfect time to plan a day on the water.

The folks at G&M Family Market in Holden are giving anglers the perfect excuse to get out the fishing gear and launch their boats this weekend: They’ll be staging the Hancock Open Water Derby on Saturday, June 17 and Sunday, June 18.

Adult tickets are $15 apiece, while kids age 15 and under can fish for free. The admission fee includes entry into the derby, door prizes, and a free Amato’s pizza and soda feed at 4 p.m. Sunday. You can buy tickets at G&M Family Market, 1024 Main Road in Holden.

The largest togue and landlocked salmon caught will earn the lucky angler $400 in cash. Second place in each category pays $200, while the person who catches the biggest white perch takes home a family fishing gear package. A children-only category will earn one angler a lifetime state of Maine fishing license. And the early birds will get the worm: The angler who enters the first fish from each category on each day will get to spin the wheel of prizes.

Weigh-ins will be run by Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife fisheries biologists, and will be held from at the Dedham School each day from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m.

And if you want to support a great cause — the Penobscot County Conservation Association — be sure to enter the raffle on an aluminum V-hull boat, complete with a 9.9 horsepower Mercury outboard motor.

 

John Holyoke

About John Holyoke

John Holyoke has been enjoying himself in Maine's great outdoors since he was a kid. Today, he's the Outdoors editor for the BDN, a job that allows him to meet up with Maine outdoors enthusiasts in their natural habitat. The stories he gathers provide fodder for his columns, and this blog.