February 10, 2019: 40th Great Meredith Fishing Derby

Another beautiful but cold day for a winter event.  This was the 40th Great Meredith Fishing Derby which brings anglers from all over New England to try their luck in any of New Hampshire's lakes.  The headquarters is at Meredith Bay, and by Saturday there was already a nice set of trophy fish on the leader board.

The largest was an 8.3 lb cusk, but larger fish will replace these as the derby progresses

Rainbow Trout

The temperature yesterday was in the 20s with full-on sun and blue skies, but the wind was howling at 20-30 mph with gusts up to 50, which made for a cold day out on the ice.

A fully extended flag indicates a wind speed of about 35 mph or higher

Meredith recorded a wind gust of 56 mph while Mt. Washington recorded their highest wind speed in over a decade at 148 mph (click here for story).  Neil Crimins, an avid Lake Wicwas fisherman and Association board member, sent me that information.  Neil was fishing at Center Harbor on Saturday when one of those 50 mph wind gusts send their tent and all their equipment literally sailing down the bay.  It took them the better part of an hour to collect all their gear, and since the blast snapped a couple of tent poles, they moved into the lee of an island for the rest of the day where they fished, watching other people's gear blow across the lake on its way down to Wolfeboro!  (Thanks for sharing Neil!)

Due to the thaw earlier in the week, the ramp onto Meredith Bay was closed for vehicles so there weren't nearly as many bob houses on the bay as usual, but still there was a nice variety of size and shape houses out there.

A ski hut

A Ski-doo castle

Central heating and lots of windows

Those guys were sure bundled up, but one happy fisherwoman was out enjoying the day, doing it the old fashioned way, and she wasn't bothered by the cold!

We saw a group around a really large hole, using a seriously strong line, indicating they must be after some pretty big prey.

We waited to see what they would come up with.

Now, that's a nice catch, and two at once!

This is something a lot of serious divers have on their bucket list, and Central NH Divers gives them a chance to try it out in a well-supervised situation. 

They have to stay down at least 15 minutes for it to count as a dive.  And it doesn't matter how much insulation they have on, it's still cold.  How do they warm up after a dive?

Thawing feet in a bucket of hot water boiled up by a propane burner

There will be more action today, including picking winners until 4:00, so there's still time to experience the event if you haven't been there yet.

All around New Hampshire we experienced another crazy week of weather:  warm, cold, wind, snow and ice, but with some gorgeous days as well.

Melt-water on a 50 degree day in February

After a beautiful Monday, the lake surface thawed on Tuesday, and then froze up solid again on Friday when the cold air blasted in, causing fog to settle in the valleys and freeze onto the trees.

Super cooled fog freezes on the trees at higher elevations

The big casualty of the this week's weather was the Sled Dog Championship in Laconia which has been cancelled due to snow loss in the start area and icy trails elsewhere.  But the ice is still solid on all the lakes which bodes well for other lake activities.  The Meredith Fishing Derby was the main event this week, with Winnipsaukee the featured attraction, but people are fishing everywhere, including right here on Lake Wicwas.

A lone bob-house, seen from the White Mountain Ledge before the thaw