Desert Lake fishing derby an overwhelming success

Feb 18, 2010

First time angler Thomas Richardson of Kingston

Over 200 anglers took part in the first-ever free family fishing derby at Desert Lake Resort near Verona on Feb. 13 and for many, young and old, it was their first time ice fishing.

The Norman family, who live on Desert Lake, were among the first-timers. Sara Norman said, “It was just great! The kids had a great time and we would definitely come out and do it again.”

Event organizer Cam McCauley, coordinator for the Frontenac Stewardship Council, and host Bret Coleman of Desert Lake Resort both anticipate making the event an annual occurrence due the overwhelming turnout.

McCauley said, “We even had couples out who were visiting from Korea and Israel who wanted to see what we Canadians do in the winter time. It’s been a great day; people had a great time and we got a lot of first timers out.”

Bret Coleman co-owner and operator of Desert Lake Resort said, “We would have been happy if 30-50 people showed up and close to 200 came out so we are very happy… A lot of them were young kids and that is exactly what we wanted. Our intent was to show people that it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money to have fun in the winter. All they need is 30 feet of string and a hook, and some fish bait."

At 2pm McCauley handed out a plethora of prizes to the participants and Bret relit the barbeque to feed anglers who had worked up an appetite.