Syracuse.com - Whitney Point crappie derby cancelled due to insufficient ice

HuntingNY-News · February 4, 2013

The thickness of the reservoir's ice is believed to be sufficiently safe for the large number of participants expected.

The following is a press release:

Whitney Point, NY – The Broome County Department of Parks and Recreation evaluated the status of Whitney Point Lake this morning and measured only 8 inches of ice. These ice dimensions are not believed to be sufficiently safe for the large number of participants expected for this upcoming Saturday’s scheduled NYS Crappie Derby.

It is therefore, with regret, that the Broome County Department of Parks and Recreation and the Whitney Point Sportsmen’s Association announce the cancellation of this years’ crappie derby. This year marked the 40th annual attempt to stage this event.

We can look back this year and see a number of weather ‘flags’. Late “first ice” was December 29th due to a relatively warm month. We received a few brief cold blasts in January but usually interspersed by balmy warm spells.

The warm spells were sufficient to retard any ice growth we may have experienced. The derby was postponed for two weeks at the point that we maxed out at about 9 inches of ice.

As we approached the week prior to the event, we received about 2 inches of rain with temperatures in the upper 50s. This caused a 4+ Foot raise in the lake level due to an inflow of warmer runoff water. This was most likely the derby’s death knell for 2013.

An analysis of the 40 years history of this event tells us that there were no cancellations in the first 10 years, the second 10 years saw only two cancellations, the third 10 years showed three cancellations and the last 10 years, we have had to cancel five times.

We prefer though to think of the 30 GREAT times that we have had our derby.

Next year, the derby is scheduled for the last Saturday in January 2014, which would be the 25th of January.

The derby attracts participants and visitors from a number of nearby states as well as most regions of New York State. One year, approximately 8,000 people attended. The derby is intended to be a “day out” after the typically cold months of December and January. It is frequently called “a party on the ice” due to its’ format.

For more, visit the Crappie Derby Website .

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog