Cranberry Lake Derby March 3

[nitzer]

maybe all you guys should volunteer to make that happen now that all the suggestions are out there. maybe help the firemen out

[mcboatsret]

If all of you that are complaining about the derby volunteer your time next year and or offered to build a leader board or two that would certainly help.  If you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem.  Now I didn't fish this derby but would imagine the sheer volume of people entered could overwhelm even the best planned event.  Lead, follow or get out of the way....this event goes to a good cause.

[blackmer826]

wow, relax everyone. People are just saying pics and leaderboard would be nice, even us locals want that. The fire dept does pretty well in my opinion and this is such a simple thing people are asking for, we and sorry to speak for others correct me if im wrong, are not dissing the way the derby is ran but would like to see pics of the nice fish caught thats all. I know the whole fire dept and they do a great job and I  thank them for their volunteered time and effort they put in. just would like to see some pics of the big fish.

[ICE DOG 69]

wow, relax everyone. People are just saying pics and leaderboard would be nice, even us locals want that. The fire dept does pretty well in my opinion and this is such a simple thing people are asking for, we and sorry to speak for others correct me if im wrong, are not dissing the way the derby is ran but would like to see pics of the nice fish caught thats all. I know the whole fire dept and they do a great job and I  thank them for their volunteered time and effort they put in. just would like to see some pics of the big fish.

Your right.  Other people are not reading all the post they are just quickly commenting on one or 2 post and not reading it through.  The ideas as you have said are ideas to make the event better that is all.

[esox slayer]

The leaderboard should be a no brainer.

When a fish is registered/weighed, an index card  with name/weight/length is made up, tacked on the board in it's proper spot.  Takes 30 seconds to do.

50 prizes, 50 slots.  Simple.

The added benefit is that if you need say a 10 pounder to "make the board" and you've got a fish obviously below that, you don't need to wait in line to get told you didn't make the cut.

For a derby with an hourly prize, makes it pretty easy to keep track of.

Three Mile Bay has done it for years, as I think most organizations having derbies do.

[Gary Minckler]

I would like to say, once again, it was an incredibly organized event.  Leaderboard or no leaderboard I will be back next year for sure. I will take as many pics as I can . Am I the only guy that won't go fishing without my own camera. If I had caught a pike you all would have seen it by now.

[LastCast69]

I was planning on hitting up Cranberry this weekend.  We have a little sled, but she doesn't like the real deep slush.  Does anyone have any current ice condition reports?

[ICE DOG 69]

I was planning on hitting up Cranberry this weekend.  We have a little sled, but she doesn't like the real deep slush.  Does anyone have any current ice condition reports?

2 days of 50+ temps and yesterday it rained most of the day while being in the high 50's.

If I had to guess, deep slush...

[northernnyice]

The derby absolutely messed up te ice conditions. There were so many deep grooves from all the tracks that froze after the derby. Made it nearly impossible to ride sled or wheeler up the oswagatchie. Then with the warm weather it just turned into soup kinda. I've made my last trip to cranberry for the year

[Toxic fisher]

Just wanted to say this was my first year fishing cranberry derby. I thought it was a lot of fun and well put together. Thanks to my new buddy Bushyjr leading the way. I too had a 3 hour drive home and didn't mind waiting to win a ugly stick pole. Thank u again cranberry and will def be back next year!!!

[blackmer826]

glad to hear people had fun. Lake is alright right now, some slush spots but not too bad, still 10 inches of ice, but not the most solid ice I've ever stood on. I never go on the ice without a camera, will be posting some pics eventually, probably after my last trip on the lake tomorrow. Hopefully I can get ahold of a couple people and make the recomendations and voice everyone's suggestions.

[eyehi]

cant wait for the pics blackmer

[blackmer826]

well sadly probably going to retire the ice fishing gear for the season, had a full day out yesterday on the lake with no luck myself but my buddy caught a 15.8 and a 11.2 so that made teh day right there, also another buddy caught a 7, 6 and a couple racers so overall good day, just not for me but thats how it goes. still 14 inches of ice but yesterday afternoon it turned from good lake conditions for snowmobiles to water on top of the ice yesterday afternoon so I'm sure she's going down hill from here fast. I hate to believe it's over but with the 50 degree weather and college I wont be making it out again before the 15th. I will start a post sometime with some pics hopefully of some of our fish this yr and some of the shanty.

[pikenforcer]

I understand what everyone is saying on both sides. I will probably have  a talk with a couple fire dept guys and see if they can have a chat with dec officers. I have been to other derbies and never had a problem either with dec or any law enforcement like cranberry lake. I understand the laws are laws, as I am goikng to college for law enforcement, but I think they are going to far with it if they are saying they are going to give tickets for not having a solid tow bar. I dont understand the whole riding double thing either, there is more room to ride double on a wheeler than a snowmobile. idk but laws are laws yes but i think they should be more worried about dwi's and non registered/insured than they should be nit picking everything else. I guess if you are getting discouraged by them that sucks, but if you have all of your ducks in a row then you wont have to worry about any problems from them also... idk I'm on the fence with this one.

Blackmer, just make sure you know who you are talking about. Your DEC officers (EnCon officers) are not your problem. It's your forest rangers. Reading some of the other posts, it appears others would be in agreement with me. Although they both work for the same department, they have different titles and different duties. Don't lump them both into one category and blame them both as the problem because that does not appear to be the case. Yes they were both out there but that is their job. You can't expect them not to be out there. There are 600 people fishing. Most large tournaments are going to have some sort of LE around. That is what they get paid to do. If they didn't show up, someone would probably complain they don't work. That is society I guess. I like seeing them out there. It's nice to know someone is keeping an eye on things and is out there to help out if needed. I agree that a bit better discretion should be used. Nit picking the small stuff does not do anyone any good. If you are unhappy with what little discretion is being used then you should talk with your local rangers. Don't they have a station right there in Cranberry? Maybe it will help talking to them and maybe it won't. It's worth a shot. If not, call Albany. Someone there is sure to listen, maybe. As far as them (rangers) writing tickets for towing a sled that does not have a rigid support, that only applies to when someone is towing a sled with someone in it. That does not apply to just towing a sled with your gear. I just looked it up under both the atv law and snowmobile law. If someone gets a ticket for just towing a sled with their gear b/c it doesn't have a rigid support that is a bunch of bs and they should fight that ticket. Well, that's just my two cents on the matter. You can take it or leave it. I just hate to see the wrong guys get blamed.....