Fishing derbies that serve as fundraisers are rebounding in New York this winter

Fallsburg, N.Y. — A year ago, J.W. Halchak, organizer of the annual ice fishing tournament on Morningside Lake, in Sullivan County, N.Y., had to make the difficult decision to cancel the tournament because of a lack of ice. The winter of 2023-24 was the latest in a number of years of spotty ice fishing conditions around the Northeast.

The annual Hurleyville Fire Department/Fallsburg Youth Commission Ice Fishing Tournament is a fundraiser for the two organizations, drawing 300 or so people to fish each January, Halchak said.

“Last year, we had to call it off. This year we have 10-12 inches of ice so we are ready to go,” Halchak said.

From the heart of the Adirondacks to the small and mid-sized lakes of western New York, the winter of 2023-24 seemingly saw more ice fishing tourneys cancelled than went on as planned.

That will not be the case this winter, as two cold spells that brought below zero temperatures to most of the state have set up ice well for tournaments scheduled from late January into early March.

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The warm weather last winter led to the scrapping of two ice fishing tourneys on Great Sacandaga Lake, but both appeared to be in good shape for the weekend of Feb. 14-15 this year.

The Fulton County Chamber of Commerce’s annual walleye tournament had 1,500 people signed up in 2024 before it had to be canceled because of questionable ice, said organizer Anne Boles, from the chamber of commerce. The 2025 event, set for Saturday, Feb. 15, was on much stronger footing.

“We are certainly getting the cold this winter,” Boles said.

Grafton Lakes State Park in Rensselaer County hosts an ice fishing tournament in mid-February each year, with 300 or so registering to fish the park’s ponds for trout, pickerel, walleyes and yellow perch. It was also cancelled last year, but with temperatures bottoming out around 15 below zero during this January’s cold spell, there was 7 inches of ice as of Jan. 23, according to the NY State Department of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation.

One of the more surprising cancellations of 2024 was the annual Northern Challenge Tournament on Tupper Lake, which has attracted up to 1,400 fishermen and women during its best years. But in 2024, organizer Scott Lalonde and tourney assistants made the difficult decision to scrap the event the first weekend of February, the only cancellation recalled in its 30-year history.

Lalonde said they were concerned last year about possible safety issues with large numbers of snowmobiles and four-wheelers descending on ice that was spotty in places on the large Adirondack lake.

“This year, we should be good to go. We had 11 inches of ice on Simond Pond (an offshot of Tupper Lake) on Tuesday (Jan. 21),” Lalonde said.

Temperatures bottomed out near 20 below the third week of January in the central Adirondacks, and didn’t go above freezing in much of the region for more than a week.

The Schroon Lake Ice Fishing Tournament is usually one of the last ice tourneys of the season in upstate New York, set for March 1-2 this year. Much of Schroon Lake had 8-plus inches of ice as of press time, so there was optimism that this end-of-winter tradition would be good to go for 2025.

And even Lake George, one of the last Adirondack waters to freeze because of winds that keep surface water stirred up, had some fishable ice on its bays as of late January, though it was unclear if the Hague Fish & Game Club ice fishing tournament – canceled in recent years for lack of ice – was planned in 2025.

Many, if not most, tournaments are organized by non-profits or charitable organizations that depend on the revenue to do good things for fisheries and other causes. The Hurleyville tournament has helped fund Fallsburg Youth Commission programs and improvements on Morningside Lake.

“We have used some of the money we raised for stocking Morningside Lake. It’s important to us,” Halchak said.

While tourney cancellations are a bummer for those who look forward to the competition on the ice, they also have financial impacts for organizers.

For a list of upcoming ice fishing tournaments, check out the latest outdoor calendar from New York Outdoor News.