32ND ANNUAL ISABELLA LAKE FISHING DERBY

What an amazing opening weekend for the 32nd Annual Isabella Lake Fishing Derby, as our anglers had a weekend of amazing weather with unbelievable fishing.

To kick off the derby on Friday, May 19, Elysa Foley came in for her registration card, but was told there was an issue and had to wait for me to assist. The issue was a simple one as she had just won the $250 early bird entry, which is a good problem to have when someone wants to hand you cash money.

We were informed of anglers boating 20-plus trout per day on the troll with full limits of trout all over the shorelines of Isabella Lake.

The map we utilized at derby HQ to share the location of the trout being caught became nothing but a board of dots versus a color map of our lake with the anglers’ reports coming into derby headquarters.

The $10,000 trout was not caught, but it is still out there valued at $1,000 through June 4. This weekend’s big trout went to Scott Embree with a five-and-one-half-pound trout in addition to his family catching a number of quality fish.

The largest tag paid out so far is a $500 tag, which went to Daniel White of Orange County, California, and if that was not enough, on Sunday, he took two more tags valued at $50 each for a $600 weekend at the derby.

One very special person to my team is a long-time attendee, Jeremey Hill Jr., who grabbed one of the 32 sponsored Bobber Bowl trout on Sunday as well.

Our Blind Bogie Drawing was a raging success again as we handed out a total of $2,000 in cash to our lucky 40 anglers who had the winning drawing tickets.

I want to thank all of our anglers for making 2023 a fantastic event, and please keep the photos coming, as we enjoy being allowed to share your family moments with everyone within the fishing community on the Isabella Lake Fishing Derby Facebook Page.

More exciting news and highlights are on the way as the derby enters into days three through seven, so stay tuned.

–Fred Clark, Isabella Lake Fishing Derby President