Nick Marrone, of Plattsburgh, shows off the 28-inch salmon he pulled in at the 2022 Colby Classic on Sunday, March 6, 2022, the largest caught during that year’s derby. He said the fish gave him a good fight, lasting around 20 minutes. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

SARANAC LAKE — Hundreds of ice fisherman are expected to converge onto Lake Colby this weekend for the 40th annual Colby Classic.

The event, which is hosted by the Saranac Lake Fish and Game Club, will kick off on Saturday at 7 a.m. and will wrap up on Sunday at 3 p.m. The main registration area on Saturday will be at the Lake Colby Public Beach

Colby Classic Derby Chairman and Saranac Lake Fish and Game Club Membership Secretary Francisco “Rocky” Nogales said the event was created 40 years ago to host an event so the community could have something to do during these cold winter months.

“We were just trying to support the local restaurants, businesses and hotels at a slow time,” he said.

The annual derby has expanded since its first edition, reaching around 200 entrants per year. With this being the 40th anniversary, Nogales hopes to have around the same number of entrants.

“We may have even more,” Nogales said. “The Tupper Lake derby was cancelled, (others) out on Lake Champlain and other lakes in the area have been canceled, so ice fisherman have been looking for a good ice fishing derby to be able to safely get on the ice.”

With this weekend expected to face warmer temperatures, Nogales said the DEC has been monitoring the thickness of the ice. As of Wednesday, there was 11 inches of ice.

“It’s going to be a warm weekend, so we will probably have some water coming up out of the holes,” Nogales said. “It’ll be a little sloshy on ice, but the base will be pretty solid. We have good ice and we’ll have a safe ice fishing derby.”

Participants can win prizes in the following categories: trout, salmon, perch and northern pike. The winner of each categories will be determined by the the largest length of the fish. The derby is open to youth and adults.

On Tuesday, fish culturists with the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s Adirondack Fish Hatchery — stocked the lake with 20 Atlantic salmon, brown trout and rainbow trout ranging from 2 to 6 years old. If one of the tagged fish is caught during the derby it will be redeemed for a prize.

“We had local business challenging each other, by purchasing the tags,” Nogales said. “The tags normally are worth $100, but this time we have a tag worth $800. It’s anywhere from $100 to $800 tags.”

All fish have to be caught on Saturday and Sunday between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. to be redeemed. Nogales added that all fish that are measured must be alive.

“There has got to be a wiggle,” he said.

While the Colby Classic allows participants to fish for Nothern Pike, they are not available in Lake Colby. Entrants can use the fishdonkey application used to help participants register their fish from their phones while in the surrounding waters. Northern Pike will also be accepted for measuring at Lake Colby Beach House during normal measuring hours.

Nogales said with people on the surrounding waters it is a bit concerning with the warm weather, however, they will continue to monitor those particpants.

“We know that Lake Colby is going to be safe,” he said. “We want to make sure the Northern Pike fisherman are monitoring where they are going to be and we want to make sure that it’s safe to do their fishing.”

For the 40th anniversary of the derby, those who enter into the derby will also be offered a spaghetti dinner put on by the Belvedere at the Saranac Lake Fish and Game Club at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Those interested can register at Woods and Waters or Blue Line Sports in Saranac Lake. For more information, visit https://tinyurl.com/mwktanw7.