The 37th Annual Big Lake Fishing Derby is back with a weekend of fun June 4 and 5.
“We usually get up to 200 registrations,” said organizer Marianne Woods, adding the proceeds will go toward upgrading the Big Lake community hall exterior which has not been re-stained in a quite a few years.
There will be lots of prizes, including $1,000 going to the adult who catches the biggest rainbow trout. Second prize is $500 and third prize is $250.
Woods said there will be a category for children 12 and under as well with the opportunity to win $200 for first prize, $100 for second and $50 for third.
“We had a lot of teenagers that wanted to register for the adult categpru because they wanted to go for the $1,000 so now we’ve lowered the age for children so all these teenagers can go for the adult prizes.”
There is also one $100 prize for the biggest kokanee.
Registration is available on the Big Lake Annual Fishing Derby Facebook page or on site Saturday, June 4 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday, June 5 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“We will have a concession stand and beer gardens and a silent auction. Any donations we received in 2020 because we ended up cancelling it we are using for this derby and a lots more because we got even more generous donations. We also have 50/50 draws every day.”
If it had not been for the COVID-19 pandemic, this year would have been the 39th derby.
“We decided not to have a dance this year to bring it back slowly,” Woods said. “Next year we will go ahead with the dance again if it is safe to do so. Maybe even a quad raffle again - stay tuned.”
Woods has been involved with the derby for about 15 years - 10 years as the organizer. She said she took over for Vince Sorley who showed her the ropes and who has remained on the committee.
“Thank goodness because he is an avid fisherman and I am not. I just love being out on the lake.”
She and her husband moved to Big Lake 33 years ago from the Lower Mainland, wanting to raise their three children who were four, five and six years old at the time in the country. They rented in Williams Lake for a month and started looking around at houses, eventually buying a log home on Big Lake.
“We knew we were set for life. Our children grew up here, went to the Big Lake School and then they all came back and settled here to raise families.”
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