Miscellany Mondays: The Fishing Derby
In a 1967 Andover Townsman there's a photo of two youngsters that proclaims, “Ellen Cheever proves that girls too can bait their own hooks.” Read on for more about Andover's Fishing Derby.
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On April 29, the Andover Sportsmen's Club (ASC) is bringing back its fishing derby. The derby is open to all children, aged 15 and younger and will be held at Sudden Pond in Harold Parker state forest. ASC will have fishing gear and knowledgeable assistants available. Registration starts at 6am and trophies and prizes will be awarded at noon.
The fishing derby dates back to 1949 and was an annual event up until 2019. Covid19 and last year’s drought meant that the derby had to take a few years off. In this installment of History Buzz, I will share some of the derby’s history.
An Andover Townsman article I found from 1948 mentions two boys who caught large brown trout from the Shawsheen River. “Both lads are members of the Andover Sportsman’s (sic) Club and spend most of their time after school hours in the surrounding woods and streams.” This was great news because the Sportsmen’s Club had stocked the river with 1,000 trout and the state matched an equal amount. It was clear that, since trout do not live in polluted waters, cleanup efforts were succeeding.
The earliest newspaper mention I have of the derby comes from 1950. David Markert, at the ripe old age of four, caught the biggest fish. Club members stocked Hussey’s pond with brown trout before the event. In 1950, the Townsman gave David Markert’s father (also named David) credit for instituting the fishing derby. In 1969, the same newspaper gave Bert Foss the credit. Bert Foss was involved with the derby for many years. He is an important figure in the history of ASC as well.
Hussey’s pond is located in Shawsheen Village, between Poor Street and Iceland Road. It was used to harvest ice (click to follow the link) in the years before refrigeration. ASC moved the fishing derby to Sudden Pond in Harold Parker State Forest after many (mostly) productive years at Hussey’s pond. The year 1957 is an exception. In my paging through Townsman back issues, I stumbled across a photo of youngsters standing in the pond and waiting . . . and waiting. The caption read “These and many other youngsters tried in vain to catch a trout during the derby Saturday at Hussey’s pond. Finally one trout allowed himself to be hooked just before the end of the day.”
I don’t have many statistics available, but there have been a few other unlucky years for the young anglers.
Although fishing has been a stereotypically male sport, along with hunting and shooting, girls were not excluded from the derby. Far from it. The newspaper coverage of the 1967 derby was very slim. There is a photo, however, of two youngsters, proclaiming “Ellen Cheever proves that girls too can bait their own hooks.” Virginia Snyder was the ‘feminine champ for the weekend’ in 1956, with a catch measuring 11 inches. Wendy Market won in 1954.
I’ve combed the Andover Townsman for mentions of the Andover Sportsmen’s Club up until 1970. One of these days, I’ll get the chance to look further. In the 1930s, during the early years of ASC’s incorporation, I could read skeet and trap shooting scores on a weekly basis. Mentions of the club’s events and good works have been, unfortunately, few and far between as the years wore on. It seems like the derby always gets a mention… and a photo or three. An internet search yielded online Andover Townsman stories from 2014 and 2015 (click the years to follow the links).
In its early years, the derby was an all-day event and, once or twice, it stretched to a two-day affair. I’ve read in several places that the derby is always held during the first weekend in May. I don’t know where that notion came from. The timing of the derby has changed frequently. In 2022, with covid19 keeping all of us guessing, I had the bright idea to hold the derby in September. The drought got in my way.
I’m happy that the fishing derby has had such staying power. ASC’s objectives are posted on the website for the wide world to see. One of them reads " To spread knowledge of wildlife among the residents of Andover.” And, the fishing derby fulfills that objective. Young residents of other towns are invited to fish as well.
ASC offers a variety of archery and firearms ranges, social events, and firearms safety education classes to its members. For more information, visit
http://andoversportsmensclub.org/
Do you like to fish? Are you an angler, fisherman, trawler, or even a “piscator?” Leave us a comment! We love to hear from History Buzz readers.
Further Reading:
I used a lot of Andover Townsman from the 1950s and 1960s articles to write this post. They are all digitized online and available via Memorial Hall Library (click to follow the link).
May 20, 1948
May 11, 1950
May 13, 1954
May 17, 1956
May 16, 1957
May 18, 1967
May 22, 1969
Later articles
Casting season; Annual children's derby proves good fishing for all (May 1, 2014)
Reel session; Andover Sportsmen's hosts 66th annual Fishing Derby (May 7, 2015)
I took part in many fishing derby’s at Hussey’s pond. We skated on the pond in the winter. Why is that pond a nightmare now? The town doesn’t care?