The feet were over the side of the bed and on the floor at 5am, this was followed by the grunt that seems to help get dead morning weight vertical and headed towards the smell of coffee. Wasn’t hard to get moving knowing the task at hand on this day was going to be “catch just one big finned critter instead of numbers”. 
Stepping outside into a -2 temp after dressin’ up was a relief. There was a sweat shop started while getting the gear out of the house and loaded up for a short trip to West Salem. While starting the ride off with the windows down and suckin’ in the first morning air the excitement took to a higher level….one big fish, that’s all we wanted on this day! Why just one you ask………
It was the Lake Neshonoc fishing derby 
This was a day to put some money back into a local resource, Lake Neshonoc. Most guys my age remember it being called the dead sea. With a lot of work, money and time donated, the Lake Association along with DNR’s help has made fishing the area fun once again.
Driving onto bare ice with the temps below zero had tires in an instant spin. Patches of snow helped straighten out the rig while making way for a place to stake out are claim. Saturday’s ticket sales were from 8 – 10 with weigh in ending at 2pm. Needless to say there was not a problem picking out a spot at 7 
After the Lazer Mag made short work of 12 holes neutron drove on shortly followed by Mike and Dave. Mike had his wheeler in tow making the distance to the beer tent a skip You know….to register are catch 
After enjoying the first hour with just sounds in the distance it wasn’t long and the place started to come alive. Augers of every make, model and year were having go juice poured through there carb’s playing a 2 cycle tune that only a derby can play
For the first hour everyone was givin’ er hopin’ for that one biggin’…..yep well that’s enough…..time to visit 
It wasn’t hard to tell there was a slow, to say the least, bite when looking over the crowd. The time raced past just watching people walkin’ and talkin’. Playing tip boards and keeping the beer wagon running didn’t slow any of the time down either. Congrats Dave on the 40 dollar tip win 
Thanks for spending it on are group 
With the 4 of us not wanting to miss anything we packed up a little before 2am and made way to the tent. The score board sported some nice gills and crappies. It was cool to see someone had some luck catching fish, still don’t know that they were having anymore fun than us though.
Walking into the tent we noticed there were others with the same idea. It was great to see the turn out of people for the event. With a pick your way through the crowd full tent, every body was laid back and just enjoying the sportsmanship that is always present amongst the locals and new comers 
We all contest….it was the best day we have had fishing not catching fish 
Just my opinion here…..
Rumor has it the winner of all 3 crappies cheated. He’s from out of town and some people do not believe them crappies came out of Neshonoc. My thought’s …it is not for me to judge, if it could have been proven he cheated he wouldn’t have won. I’m not to say he didn’t find a bite, and yes, there are crappies a little over a pound in the Lake. Maybe not in big numbers, but they are there 
Almost every derby will stir rumor! I’m not there for that, are group was there to give back, please don’t ruin this report with rumor…..Instead, believe in karma
Get out and support your local lakes, if you take, you might as well give back some
Good luck fishing people
Bonus pictures are…
L-R Mike, neutron, Dave
Walking In
It was a welcome to catch up with cpetey and Friend
Awesome Group
Youth getting a good start
Dave, Mike, Myself
Check out the silver Fox hat. That fox was a beauty fur!
Everyone wants this guy to yell there number.
Emily working the raffle, thank you to all those who made the derby a great time
Looks like a blast nice work guys
Sounds like you guys had a good time and got into some 12 ouncers to boot.
Thanks Bret, Looks like a good time was had by all.
Hey nice report Buddy Bret.
That was a fun day on the ice and a great event. Lake Neshonec rocked 
on this day. 
My wife is now of the belief that it is hard work fishing these Derby’s 
– due to my 
at 7 p.m. in the recliner. 
So where did all the slabs in neshonoc go? I don’t believe they were fished out. The Neshonoc group does a great job preserving that body of water and they even suggest a 10 panfish limit. The last couple years the Crappie bite for a couple hours before and after dusk and dawn has been good, but they tend to be running on the small 8 – 10″ side. 3 years ago and earlier, it was, for lack of better workds, easy to boat handfuls of 10-14″ Black Crappie. And even bigger ones this time of year on tip-ups with small shiners. I always released my fish in Neshonoc, and most people I talked to did the same as they also wanted to preserve one of the close by lakes. So, I wonder, where did they all go???
Locals have told me an out of towner found a good bite one day. The out of towner then told his out of towner buddies about the good bite. Out of towners fished the lake hard and kept limits upon limits. I’m not saying the lake is fished out nor am I saying it is bad to have out of towners fish a local lake. I am just saying what a few locals said while I was ice fishing. I had two good days on the lake and two bad days the four times I have been there this winter. That must of been one lucky angler to catch the three biggest crappies. Congrats to him!
Nice Report Bret, I heard the Brice Prairie Derby this Saturday will have lots of 12oz’ers available to be caught!
Great report Bret.
Good weather, good friends, good beer, 
made for a great time on Neshonic Saturday. I can’t wait until next year!!! 
Great “give back” report Bret.
Congrats to the winners
Fun Report Bret!! Looks like a darn good time with Great friends!! Rumors are just that I agree until proven otherwise. One of those days where fish caught is just a bonus to a worthy cause!!
The Lake is not fished out. There are many year classes of crappies thriving 8-11 inches. The bigger crappies 13-14 inches might not be in large numbers but they still cruise the waters of Lake Neshonoc which is proven every now and then when some lucky guy hits it just right. This has been seen more than once this year already in the local bait shop.
I also believe the bigger fish become conditioned to all the baits they have seen through the years making them a little more tight lipped then say the 11 inch fish.
Lake Neshonoc can be one tough little lake to fish. No weed growth and an average of 4fow doesn’t help. The smaller fish seem to hang around the cribs placed in 10fow water or deeper, while the bigger fish methodically cruise the flats.
The Lake is an early morning and late evening bite for the specks. Gills can be caught through out the day but the action is still best first and last light.
As posted on the Lake, please only keep 10. This is a good rule of thumb on all smaller lakes located in areas with larger populations of people. It would be nice to see it become law in the regulations but this is not the case at this time. It is up to all of us as sportsman to realize the posted board from the lake association is there to protect the resource for all of us and the future fisherman in the making.
Bret,
Sounds like u guys had a heck of a time.
Just one thing to improve your writing (grammar related). You typed “are” a couple times:
“Thanks for spending it on are group” & “You know….to register are catch”
You should be typing “our”.
Thanks,
Keep up the fishing stories though. It gives me something to get through the weekdays with at work… Working for the weekend means working to be able to get out on the ice!!!
Ryan
Thanks for taking the time to read and respond
Welcome to IDO
I’ll vouch for Bret…it was a slow day. But, it looked like everyone had a great time. Except for the guy that was upended on the ice as I was pulling out of the makeshift parking lot. After a quick check he was fine…just a bruised ego.
It was great to meet up with you guys.