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The more fishers the merrier for annual derbies Darrell Greer Northern News Services Published Wednesday, June 1, 2011
The community held its main fishing derby during the May long weekend and its ugly fish derby this past weekend. Geraldine Mamgark took home the top prize of $10,500 in the main derby for her cod, while Janet Ishalook won the second-place prize of a 16-foot aluminum boat and $500. Mayor Bob Leonard said there's always a lot of excitement in the community when the fishing derbies arrive. He said while everyone loves to win big prizes in the main cod and trout derby, the most excitement in Arviat is often generated by the ugly fish (sculpin) derby. "The ugly fish derby is popular because it's held right down on the ice and you don't need to be rich, have a big machine or travel hundreds of miles to catch the biggest fish," said Leonard. "Anybody can walk down to the ice, find an unused hole and start fishing it. "It's incredible the excitement this derby causes. It's really amazing." Leonard said the beauty of the ugly fish derby is that no matter who you are, or what you or your parents do, you have the chance to be just like everyone else for a weekend. He said people often don't even know how big the prizes are when they start the ugly fish derby. "The prize money is based on how many pay the $5 entry fee, so it's really affordable to people. "It's a real community-based activity and some people also look upon it as the unofficial start of spring." Arviat had a 100-mile boundary on its main derby this year. Leonard said he doesn't have a strong stance on the boundary one way or the other, but it does seem to level the playing field for everyone. "The boundary here seems to be more about allowing people who have jobs to be able to go out on a long weekend and come back with a fish without having to take time away from work. "The boundary also made it competitive for more people. "To me, it's all about making the derby more inclusive and the limit seems to help accomplish that."
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