By Ted Waddell
LOCH SHELDRAKE — February 8, 2005 – On Sunday, local ice fishermen reeled ’em in during the annual Loch Sheldrake Volunteer Fire Department’s Ice Fishing Contest.
While a few anglers escaped the cold by visiting nearby Bummy’s Lakeside Tavern, most ice fishermen hunkered down on the ice on Loch Sheldrake Lake. They proceeded to fish away the afternoon, reeling in perch and pickerel through holes drilled through the lake’s frozen surface.
Gregg Taylor of Monticello and Liberty’s Julie Babson traveled down from Lake George where they competed in an ice fishing contest on Saturday.
“It’s a beautiful day, and we always fish this contest every year,” Taylor said. “We usually have very good luck.”
Babson said she was hoping to land an award-winning fish.
“I’m just trying to win a trophy,” she said.
Fishing a hole a few feet away was Gary Magie, owner of Angler’s Dream Bait Shop in Monticello.
“It’s a nice sport,” he said. “You get outside during the winter, catch a few fish and enjoy some time with friends.”
A couple of holes away, first time ice fisherman 13-year-old Allyson Bowers, who is a seventh-grader at Tri-Valley Central School, was “really hoping for a record fish.”
In the summer, she goes fishing with her grandfather Ron Gieger up at his camp near Albany.
While the young angler was patiently waiting for “the big one,” her grandfather was keeping his toes warm at Bummy’s.
In the kids’ perch category, Brandon Edwards of Neversink took first and second place.
The winners in the adult perch division were all Loch Sheldrake residents. They were: first place – Fred Wilson; second place – Bruce Sabinsky; third place – Mike Ward.
Top anglers in the adult pickerel category were: first place – Wayne Wright; second place – Gregg Taylor and third place – Nick Narsehg.
Money raised during the contest will be used to fund restocking programs at Loch Sheldrake Lake and Morningside Park Lake.