Steve Lothrop won last year's ice fishing derby on Sebago Lake with a 22.42 pound lake trout. He believes the 57-year old Maine state record for largest lake trout, which is over 31 pounds, could be broken if caught in Sebago Lake. Lothrop has been ice fishing on Sebago for over 20 years and enjoys it more than open water fishing because you can have more lines out. This year's derby on February 14-15 offers a top prize of $100,000 for the largest lake trout caught, as well as prizes for the top northern pike and perch. All fish caught up to the daily limit can also be entered into prize drawings.

1. By JIM PEAK
Advertising/Marketing Department
Last year’s prize-winning lake trout tipped the scales at 22.42 pounds and measured 39 3/8 inches, an
ice-fishing derby record for Sebago Lake. Yet ask ice fisherman Steve Lothrop, last year’s winner, if
the state record that’s stood since 1958 will ever be broken, and he will tell you without a doubt that it
will, and the fish will be caught at Sebago.
“I’d like to think the state record will be broken, and there’s a fish that size or bigger in Sebago,” says
Lothrop, 48, of Poland, who’s been fishing the lake for 20-25 years. To break the state record for lake
trout set in 1958, that fish will have to weigh more than 31.8 pounds. That’s almost 10 pounds more
than Lothrop’s togue, a fish of a lifetime.
Lothrop won a Polaris ATV last year and, with any luck, will be back to compete again this winter in the
Tom Noonan Cup Togue Derby. He and other ice fishermen will be angling to beat the 57-year-old
state record and win the biggest ice-fishing prize in Maine – $100,000.
Lothrop got his start ice fishing as a kid growing up in the Dixfield-Mexico area. His uncle used to take
him out. “It seemed pretty cool at the time. You have a trap, put bait on it, and when the flag goes up,
you have a bite. Sometimes there’s a fish, sometimes not. I like it more than open water fishing
because you can have more lines out,” he says.
Now, his favorite method for ice fishing is jigging, but he still uses traps.
“Jigging, that’s how I catch most of my fish. But for some reason I catch the big ones on traps. For
some guys, it’s the other way around. Luck, I guess,” he says.
Lothrop has fished the derby on Sebago many times – “as much as I can. I’ve come close to prize
money a few times, within ounces. Last year, I got lucky,” he says.
What did it take to catch the big one? Lothrop rigged a trap with a 10- 12-inch dead sucker on 20-
pound test line with a 5/0 hook and dropped it to the bottom of the lake. It took him about 10 minutes to
put the fish on ice.
When he’s fishing for “the big one,” Lothrop says he doesn’t fool around with lighter tackle. “You can
catch a big fish on 6-pound test line, but it’s going to take you about an hour to ice the fish,” he says.
His advice for other ice fishermen? “Know what you’re fishing for, and rig up accordingly.”
There will be quite a few fishermen rigging up again this year for the derby Feb. 14-15 and angling for
the top prize. Other prizes will be awarded for the top three largest togue and the top three largest
northern pike, and every togue and pike weighed will get a chance to win something in the fish pool.
Winners will be ranked by fish weight. The first tie-breaker will be the longest length; a second tie-
breaker will be the earliest time weighed. Anglers must be present while the fish is weighed.
All stage regulations apply to the derby at Sebago, including: No bag limit for togue under 23 inches
and no minimum length limit. Daily bag limit on togue greater than 33 inches: one fish. All togue
between 23 and 33 inches must be released alive at once. Closed to all fishing within 100 feet of
White’s Bridge.
The pike, perch and pickerel derby also is being held at the same time as the derby on Sebago. All
legal waters open to ice fishing in Cumberland County may be fished. Prizes will be awarded for the
top three places for each of the three different species – perch (white or yellow), pickerel and pike.
Also, every fish caught during this year’s derby, up to the daily limit of six fish per species, will serve as
one entry into the fish pool drawings. That means each angler could enter 24 fish in the fish pool each
day of the derby for a total of 48 fish. Each angler must enter his or her own fish at the weigh station.