The 16th Annual Moosehead Lake Togue Derby - 2023

The 16th Annual Moosehead Lake Togue Derby! Come join us for a fun weekend to celebrate the ice fishing tradition of the Moosehead Lake Region. Three prizes will be awarded for the first, second, & third largest togue. Winners will be ranked by weight. Prizes for the three largest togue are $1,500 -1st place, $500 - 2nd place, and $250 - 3rd place.

NO FISH NEEDED TO WIN FOR DOOR PRIZES

Just buy a ticket and you could be a winner!

The first door prize winner takes home a check for $1,500!!!

And well over 50 other prizes: gift cards, gift certificates, gas cards, sports tickets, and goods from businesses around the State!

Plus, the Youth Prize Drawing including a Lifetime Fishing License!

Ticket Prices: $25 Individual, $40 Family Ticket (Parents, Grandparents or Guardians and children age 17 and under), $5 Youth Door Prize Raffle Ticket (Top Prize: Maine lifetime resident fishing license)

Official Rules:

2023 Moosehead Lake Togue Derby Rules:

This derby is for lake trout (togue) caught in Moosehead Lake only. No other fish can be entered. All fish entered in the derby must be caught between 12:01 am Friday, January 27th and the close of the derby at 4:00 pm January 30th. You must be in line at 4:00 pm January 29, 2023 to have your fish weighed to be included in the derby. Derby ticket sales end at 3:00 pm on Friday Jan 27, 2023 at Old Town Trading Post and at 12:00 pm Saturday, January 28, 2023 all other locations and internet sales. You must have a valid entry form to have your fish weighed.

Fish can be weighed at the Bartley Event Center (241 Pritham Ave) in Greenville or the Moosehead Bait and Tackle in Rockwood. Weigh stations will be open Friday 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm, Saturday 4:00 pm –6:00 pm and Sunday 9:00 am – 4:00 pm. All fish must be free of ice, snow, & visible bait and/or tackle before weighing.

The legal bag limit on Moosehead Lake is 1 togue over 18 inches. Participants are reminded if they keep a togue over 18” to register for a prize, they must legally consume that fish before keeping another togue over 18”.

Entrants with a potential winning fish will be required to provide the judges with the exact location of their catch. The top three winners will be required to sign an affidavit that their winning entries were caught in Moosehead Lake between January 27 and January 29, 2023 and may be subject to interviews by the judges. All winning fish may be retained and closely examined by the judges. In all matters, the decision of the derby judges will be final.

All Maine Ice Fishing Regulations must be followed and all winners unless exempt will be required to provide proof of a valid fishing license.

The derby will be postponed by NREC in the event that Moosehead Lake does not have a safe thickness of ice and the derby will be rescheduled.

Three prizes will be awarded for the first, second, and third largest togue. Winners will be ranked by weight. First tiebreaker will be the longest length; second tiebreaker will be the earlier time weighed. In all matters, the decision of the derby judges will be final. Prizes for the three largest togue are $1,500 1st place, $500 2nd place, and $250 3rd place.

We will draw door prizes from entry tickets Saturday evening and post the results on the NREC Facebook page. Please do not show up at the weigh station for the drawing. There will be only 1 entry per ticket into the door prize drawing. This is the primary name, address, and phone number on the ticket. However, all names on a family ticket may enter a fish into the derby. Children’s names on the family ticket and names from the additional youth drawing tickets will be entered into a separate drawing. First prize is a RESIDENT lifetime fishing license if the winner is age 15 or younger. If the winner is not eligible for the Resident lifetime license, they will receive $250.

We will have all prizes at the Greenville Weigh-in station on Sunday from 9am-4pm so you can pick them up on the way out of town.

We will attempt to notify winners on Monday and Tuesday after the derby. Winners have until the end of the 2024 Moosehead Lake Togue Derby (1 year) to pick up prizes at the Moosehead Region Visitors’ Center.

As a final note: We are encouraging anglers to harvest their limit of smaller togue to help control the population. IFW states that additional harvest is needed to keep the population in check and ensure good growth for togue, salmon and brook trout. The derby has been very successful in helping to manage the fisheries on Moosehead Lake. Let’s keep it up!

email : [email protected] with any questions

Host or Publisher NREC Moosehead