An annual ice fishing derby in Sarnia planned for Family Day weekend has been cancelled.
The annual Bluewater Anglers event aimed at promoting ice fishing on the free fishing weekend in Ontario is going belly up again for the year for lack of ice, said Lou Dallaire with the club that stocks area waterways with fish raised at its Point Edward hatchery.
“It’s the theory that global warming is actually here,” he said.
Just as things were starting to freeze in Sarnia Bay with a recent cold snap, warmer weather sunk any prospect of inviting people to venture out Feb. 18, he said.
“It’s really dangerous to go out on the ice right now.”
Ice derby cancellations for the club have become a trend, he said.
A derby was held in 2015 and attracted about 280 people, then derbies were canceled the next two years because of warm weather.
One held in 2018 attracted a record-300 people. Another two years of warm-weather-related cancellations followed.
In 2021, there was no derby amid COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, and in 2022 club officials hosted a virtual derbywhere ice fishers were invited to send in photos of their catches for prizes instead of attending an actual weigh station.
Warmer weather melted a lot of the ice for that derby too, Dallaire said.
“There was very little good ice around.”
Maybe 20 pictures were submitted, he said.
Club officials have said the ice fishing derby ran well for several years before 2015, but the unpredictable freeze-thaws in more recent years have Dallaire wondering if it’s time to adapt.
That could mean next year calling the derby on the fly whenever, and if, the conditions allow, he said.
“As soon as we get safe enough conditions out there we could put notices out on Facebook and Twitter, drop tickets off at The Outdoorsman and see what we could do as a spur of the moment thing, whenever ice conditions are safe,” Dallaire said .
“That’s something that needs to be discussed with the club.”
Unlike the club’s flagship salmon derby that happens in April and May and raises a lot of the money for hatchery operations, the ice fishing derby is just about providing something fun for the community and to get people interested in ice fishing, Dallaire said.
“It’s a lot of fun, if you happen to have ice.”
When it runs, all but 10 per cent of registration fees go to prizes, and food and draw prizes are provided, he said.
“We probably spend more” on the derby than take in for the hatchery, he said.