If Maxwell Smart from the comedy television series “Get Smart” was describing this year’s Spring Lake Ontario Counties Trout and Salmon Derby held May 2-11, he would be claiming “Brian Klice won it by this much!” as his thumb and finger showed off a small margin.
Klice, from Cuba, N.Y., was asked by Capt. Craig Hajecki and Justin Botting to go derby fishing aboard the Yankee Troller, a 36-foot Tiara that they use for chartering on Lake Ontario. On May 9, they were derby fishing out of Wilson. At the same time, they were doing some reconnaissance for the Big Boys Tournament on May 10 out of Wilson. One of the reasons they asked Klice to come with them is because he seems to carry a lucky horseshoe whenever he goes hunting or fishing.
It was 10:30 a.m. and they were trolling three miles from the New York/Canada border over 350 feet of water. The trio was running a deep rigger with a white spin doctor and a homemade light green fly that Botting made when a king salmon hit. Klice was on the rod and almost immediately another rod fired, and Botting was on it like a cat.
“It was like bedlam on the back of the boat trying to fight two king salmon at the same time,” said an excited Klice at the awards ceremony on May 11 at Riley’s Bar and Grill in North Rose. Ten minutes later, Klice had the first fish in, and it tipped the scales around 24-1/2 pounds. They hoped that the fish would hold up because the current leader was 24 pounds, 7 ounces. Then again, it was lucky Brian!
When they threw it on the scale at the Wilson Boatyard, the scale nudged just over the 24-pound, 8-ounce mark, giving them the new lead in the derby. It held up until it ended on Mother’s Day and the group collected a check for $15,500! Oh yeah, did we mention it was Brian’s first derby ever?
The fish that was one ounce back at 24 pounds, 7 ounces was caught by Diane Nieves of Lake Milton, Ohio. She caught it on the second day of the derby while fishing with her husband John Gaston of Lake Milton, OH and Charles Bunea of Green, Ohio.
“We were fishing out of Wilson on the Niagara Bar in 50 feet of water,” said Nieves. “We were trolling aboard the Reel Prince, a 22-foot Grady White. Using a diver on a No. 3 setting about 95 clicks back, the fish hit a green and white Northern King spoon at 6:05 a.m.”
Fifteen minutes later, Nieves had her first salmon while fishing in her first fishing derby.
There was plenty of luck to go around. She won $2,500 for her first-place salmon.
Second place salmon was reeled in by Matt Dunn of Newfane while fishing aboard his 27-foot Tiara named “Streaker.” He was fishing with Doug Parker, Sr. of Lockport and Marty Polovick of Lockport on the Niagara Bar on May 4.
“We were in 120 feet of water, and we had a diver back 150 on a No. 1 setting,” recounted Dunn. “The lure was a USA Moonshine Carbon-14 spoon. It took me 15 minutes to bring the fish into the boat.”
Dunn and Polovick are no strangers to the winner’s circle, and they fished together for a couple grand prize catches, including a tie for the grand prize in 2014. However, the first fish weighed in is the tie breaker and they were second place overall. They also won the Grand Prize in 2016 for the spring derby.
The trio earned $2,500 for their salmon — $1,000 for second place, $500 for big fish of the day, and $1,000 for the biggest fish caught by a Lake Ontario Trout and Salmon Association member.
In the very competitive Lake Trout Division, James English of Mexico, N.Y. set the pace with a 22-pound, 12-ounce fork-tail he caught opening weekend of the derby with friends Richard “Scott” Trump of Pulaski and Charles Trump of Sackets Harbor. They were fishing out of Charlie’s 25-foot Chaparral Spirit named “Ramblin’ Rose.”
“We were fishing out of Henderson Harbor in 150 feet of water on the bottom using Scotty riggers with a watermelon spin-n-glow and cowbells,” said English. “The fish hit at 7 a.m. and it took me 25 minutes to bring it in. We had to keep kicking the boat’s engine in and out of gear to get the fish to the boat. The fish is a personal best for me.”
The laker earned a check for $1,450.
That same opening weekend, Charlie Trump reeled in a 17-pound, 8-ounce laker to place 10th and Richard Trump weighed in a 17-pound, 5-ounce laker to place 11th. They must have had a good spot.
The second-place lake trout went to Michael Germond of Micanopy, Florida with a 19-pound, 8-ounce fish he caught in Henderson Harbor aboard the Salmon Hunter the final weekend of the derby.
Fourth place was Anthony Fritz of Webster with an 18-pound, 11-ounce laker he caught fishing with his father Eric and his grandfather Bob Fritz of Macedon. What’s important about Anthony’s catch is that he was the Youth Award winner at 11 years old. His siblings Nina and Lyla are previous Youth Award winners.
“We were fishing out of Irondequoit Bay in 160 feet of water, and it was a little rough out there,” said Anthony. “We were fishing out of our 24-foot Osprey boat named ‘Fly and Fish’ using a blue and white spin-n-glow behind blue and silver Hammerhead cowbells on the bottom with the downrigger.” It took him 10 minutes to bring it in and it was a personal best lake trout for him.
After catching the fish, Grandpa Bob insisted that they go right in to weigh it. Anthony is glad they did because the catch bettered fifth place by just one ounce. “The fish was still alive when we put it on the scale at the Port of Rochester.”
The Brown Trout Division was a different story. For the 10-day derby, only two legal fish were weighed in. First place was a 12-pound, 1-ounce brown trout hauled in by Ed Dobrowolski of Milford, New Jersey. He was fishing with Jay Thatcher of Milford aboard the Lip Ripper — a 30-foot Penn Yan skippered by Capt. Kenny Krott of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He charters his boat out of Oswego.
They were running a Golden Bass Smithwick Rogue stickbait 180 feet back behind an Otter board over 18-20 feet of water when the brown trout hit at 7 a.m. It took Ed 15 minutes to bring his personal best brown to the boat to pick up his first derby win. They were fishing off Tommy’s Point.
Second place in the Brown Trout category was a 10-pound, 7-ounce fish reeled in by Gordon Walker of Ulster, Pennsylvania. He was fishing with Duane Shoemaker of Wysox, Pa. and Dale Griffith of Towanda, Pa. aboard a 21-foot Penn Yan named “Reel Nutzzz.”
“We were fishing about a half-mile west of Sodus in 6 feet of water, focusing on the mud line along the shore,” said Walker. “We had a black Moonshine spoon 125 feet back behind the boat. It was rougher than heck out there and I didn’t think the fish was that big … until it was at the back of the boat! Then everyone got excited.”
The next LOC event will be the Summer Derby, set for June 28 through July 27. A total of $42,750 in cash will be up for grabs. For a complete Spring Derby leaderboard, check out www.loc.org.
