Eleventh annual Gary LaQuay Fishing Challenge Saturday

by Dan McClelland

Another big fishing tournament returns to town Saturday when the friends and family members of the late Gary LaQuay host their June 15th Fishing Challenge on local waters. This year’s event will again benefit the good work of High Peaks Hospice.

The popular June tournament has grown in size each successive year, and anglers from all across the North Country now pen it onto their summer must-attend derbies calendar.

The one-day tournament has a modest $30 entry fee again this year and it boasts 100% cash payouts for the best anglers of the day. There will again be first, second and third prizes for the heaviest large or smallmouth bass and Northern pike.

Entry tickets can be purchased online at tupperlake.com/events, or at Mountain Market & Redemption center on the western entrance to the community or at the weigh station at the Tupper Lake Sportsmen’s Club boat landing below the clubhouse on Simond Pond that morning from 7a.m. to 10a.m.

A scan in an advertisement in this week’s issue will take local anglers to the online registration form.

The event will also host door prizes and 50/50 raffles, which will be given out at 4p.m. that afternoon.

Fish will be weighed in at the landing during the tournament hours of 7a.m. to 3p.m.

Fish caught on local waterways- the Raquette and Simond ponds and the big lake- are all eligible to be entered .

This year’s event is again co-sponsored by Neil and Linda Pickering’s Mountain Market & Redemption and by the Tupper Lake Sportsmen’s Club.

Fish caught can be weighed in any time between 7a.m. and 3p.m. at the boat landing on Simon Pond, below the sportsmen’s club.

The event has proven popular with local and visiting anglers every year, despite the weather.

For example, last year at the tenth annual event, despite a day that saw light rain for most of it, 88 determined anglers took to local waters Saturday to compete.

The event that remembers Gary, an avid fisherman here, is produced by his family members and friends each year. And the big winner each year is High Peaks Hospice. Last year was no exception.

The tenth version of the popular summer derby here raised nearly $2,000 to help the important organization make local residents’ final days as comfortable as possible. Gary’s derby has raised tens of thousands of dollars for the work of hospice this past decade.

As usual too, last year many valuable prizes were won Saturday including a $50 bouquet of flowers and a $10 “bouquet a month” every month from Cabin Fever and Florals. One lucky person won a 40-pound thrust Minn Kota trolling motor donated by Neil and Linda Pickering and the folks at their Mountain Market and Redemption.

Although there were a number of visiting anglers the best of this year’s derby were locals, including Ryan Skiff who won first and second prizes in the bass division. Ryan won first place and $400 with a four pound, 13 ounce entry and another $260 for his second prize four pound, nine ounce bass. Third prize angler behind Ryan was Hudson Baldwin, who like his father, Jared, is a good fisherman. Hudson’s four pound, six ounce bass earned him $130 as the third prize winner.

Ricky Dewyea produced the biggest catch of the day with a 11 pound, six ounce Northern. The first prize in that division won Ricky $400- and the envy of the derby field.

Scott LaLonde took second in the pike contest with his six pound, eight ounce fish. His prize was $260.

In third place in the pike contest was Sonny Kentile, with his four pound, nine ounce catch which earned him a prize of $130.

Some of the other years the popular fishing event has drawn a field of well of 100.

The Gary LaQuay Fishing Challenge has become a major June event here- challenging local and visiting anglers and producing a lot of money each year for a great local cause.