This weekend, Burlington Boatyard is volunteering for Lake Champlain International as they hold the 28th Annual Father’s Day Fishing Derby on Lake Champlain. As one of many proud LCI sponsors, we have had the chance to be involved in a variety of ways, from the hustle and bustle of prepping the equipment heading out to the twelve weigh stations, to the headquarters tasks like recording every fish caught and constant follow up with those volunteering out on the road. But, aside from the hands on tasks that need attention, we are fortunate enough to experience the deeper meaning of what an event like this does for the community.

What brings excitement to a competitive derby angler? Prepping your boat, tackle and mapping the hot spots the day before? Having multiple lines hit while trolling your “secret” locations on Lake Champlain? Battling it out with the big one in anticipation of what’s on the end of your line, and if it’ll be the one that lands you the top spot on the board? Yes, all this and more is what typically runs through the mind of those who take part in a derby of this scope and involvement. However, with the LCI Father’s Day Derby, there are many more thrills and excitement that revolve around family, friends and community.

Father’s get a chance to spend a weekend with their kids teaching them about the sport of fishing, or experience all over again the feeling they had when catching their first “big one”. Friends take to the lake and see firsthand the positive effects the lamprey treatment initiatives have had on the revitalization of Lake Champlain when they have bigger and healthier fish on their line. Lake communities teem with activity, as well as local charities are benefited with programs like Share the Catch where residents can donate food items by dropping them off at any of the twelve LCI weigh stations. What happens during this particular derby is unique, and without a doubt focuses on benefiting the conservation, education and celebration of the wonderful resource that is Lake Champlain and its community.

We are lucky to be a part of the some 80 volunteers it takes to facilitate an event of this size and intricacy, and with 5500 anglers coming to Vermont from over 30 states, that is no simple task. We meet members of local businesses, fellow sponsors, our boaters and their families, learn about event planning and the list goes on. Most importantly though, we are able to take a few days to experience all the great things taking place around the Vermont lake communities with an organization that continues to dedicate their time and resources to making Lake Champlain a better place in the present, and for the future.

Good luck to all the LCI anglers this weekend and happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there!

-The Burlington Boatyard Crew

Be sure to stay in touch with LCI by becoming a fan on Facebook, following them on Twitter, reading their blog and contributing to the forum, and watching more on YouTube.

You may also stay connected with BBY on our Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and forum.

As a follow up to our original article, “9^th Annual LCI Bass Open: Recap and Coverage” – and after many hours of editing footage - we finally have a full length feature of this year’s LCI Bass Open. Our newest video is dedicated to all the anglers, volunteers and sponsors that participated this year. See you all next year and hope you enjoy the film!

- Jimmy

The 9^th Annual LCI Bass Open was yet again another well run and exciting day for all anglers, staff and volunteers involved. There were 120 participants that took to the water in sixty bass boats, and Burlington Boatyard was there to cover the day’s events, launch to weigh-in.

At 4:30am, myself and Jimmy arrived at the Malletts Bay boat launch to start filming what seemed to be an endless line of pick-up trucks trailering their bass slayers down to the water and quickly going through check-in to get situated. As they manned their boats, many guys were setting up their ten or so rods, taking a coffee break every few minutes, only to get right back at it making sure all gear was in check and ready to reel in the winning fish.

As launch time drew near, we hopped on a pontoon boat provided by Jim Salter of Vermont Home & Marine, with James Ehlers of LCI to get footage of the teams taking off as their numbers were called out. Past the no wake zone, the guys were sure to “showboat” a bit and display what their rigs could do, which stirred cheers and jeers from those still in the launch.

After a long six hours on shore, it was 2pm and time to prepare for the return of the anglers. The LCI staff and volunteers had the weigh station all set up, everyone in place, and myself, Jimmy and Nick took the pontoon out on the water to check return times and collect the numbered tags of the teams as they returned. Finally, when all the participants had lined up with their bag of bass and continued sharing stories of their day, we had our winners and the check presentation followed. This year’s 2008 LCI Bass Open champs were J.J. Judd and Mark Hickory, who are members of the Green Mountain State Bassmasters. We had the chance to interview them and we thank them for their time. You can see the coverage in our video.

Overall it was a great day for everyone involved, and we were proud to be a sponsor as it allowed us to meet some really great people as well as get some awesome footage for a complete video that will be released soon!

Congrats again to J.J. and Mark on their win, and a special thanks to all the anglers that came out this year to make the LCI Bass Open another great day of celebrating fishing.

Please feel free to comment on this post below!

-Guy

This Sunday, come out and catch all the action at Malletts Bay in Colchester at the 9^th Annual LCI Bass Open.   See some of the top two person angling teams battle it out for first place and the guaranteed $3,000 grand prize.  All boats must be in the water by 5:30 am and tournament hours are from 7:00 am till 3:oo pm.  Pre-fishing is allowed up until Midnight on Saturday, August 30^th.  If you haven’t already registered and you want to get in on all the action, you are still able to register up until 6:00 am, the morning of the tournament, and the fee is $200.00 per team. You can read more about all the specifics here, at the LCI website.

Burlington Boatyard will be at Malletts Bay covering the tournament all day.  Check out BurlingtonBoatyard.com for all of the exclusive highlights and interviews of the 2008 LCI Lake Champlain Bass Open.  Best of luck to all the anglers!

-Jimmy

Hi All-

This past weekend Burlington Boatyard held a free raffle while taking part as a sponsor in the LCI Angler Night at Centennial Field. This morning, three tickets were picked out of a hat and the winners of the $25 gift certificates to West Marine are:

1. Michael Tutt     –  Ticket Number 7310003
2. Travis Desilets –  Ticket Number 7310021
3. Bob Bolyard    –  Ticket Number 7310006

Congrats! You should be receiving an email from us soon and we will confirm where to send your prize.

To everyone who signed up, thanks for interest and it was great getting a chance to meet all of you. We appreciate you stopping by to learn a bit about BBY and hope you spend time here around the site to find out more!

Go ahead and leave any comments or share any stories about BBY & the LCI Angler Night below, we always look forward to hearing from you.

Enjoy your day!

Guy

If you look at numbers alone, the 27th Annual LCI Father’s Day Fishing Derby was very successful this year, up in revenue with no fee increases and reeling in 5, 261 anglers from 26 states.

But step away from the official statistics, numbers and business dealings, and you will realize that this derby’s success comes in many different shapes and sizes.

It comes in the form of cheers and high fives between buddies when weighing in the leading smallie for the day. You see it when a group of tired and waterlogged anglers huddle into the supplies shop at Hero’s Welcome, raffle tickets in hand and sharing laughs and “ooh’s and ah’s” at the raffle drawing. It is found in the excitement of every dad who, no matter a half pound perch or a sixteen pound catfish, knows he is already a winner because he spent the day with his son or daughter fishing and getting away from everything else that keeps him busy before and after the derby.

While volunteering at the LCI Derby this year, I realized exactly what fishing does outside of winning you a prize or dubbing you with the title of largest fish or the winning team. When you cut through all the hard work and planning done by James Ehlers, Chris Baker and the LCI staff…all the scurrying around from check point to check point by volunteers and sponsors…the countless measurements and registrations performed by the weigh station captains and workers…when all that is over, you see that the true accomplishment of this derby is its ability to take the activity we all do season after season, and use it to promote the sense of community and “celebrate family, friends and fishing”.

Regards,

Guy

Feel free to comment below with your thoughts and experiences with this year’s derby.

To read more about Burlington Boatyard’s experience as volunteers, read Jimmy’s write up in BBY News.