Shelly Daigle was finally on the leaderboard of the fishing derby she’s been participating in for 13 years.
She brought in a brook trout from Long Lake in Aroostook County that weighed just more than two pounds and was 17 inches long. It ended up winning the brook trout division of the Long Lake Ice Fishing Derby, but in her mind it also solidified her place in a family that can boast multiple hunting and fishing accomplishments.
Daigle, who was the only woman to place in the adult stakes that weekend, said she let out a whoop when she saw the weight. The men who were recording weights and handling the leaderboard at Lakeview Restaurant in St. Agatha laughed because they have seen her come in with fish each year, hoping this might be her year.
This was her year. And it was her biggest brook trout to date.
“I’ve had 13 years of doing (this tournament) and I didn’t expect much,” she said. “I thought it might be third place.”
Daigle, who grew up in Solder Pond and now is an intensive care unit nurse at Cary Medical Center in Caribou, was more of a hiker type of outdoor recreationist until she began dating Peter Daigle — no relation — in 2011. Peter was an avid hunter and fisherman and loved introducing people to his sport.
Daigle and her two boys, who were 11 and 8 at the time, went with him when he participated in the annual International Muskie Tournament. That was when she realized how serious he was about his sport. She started paying attention to his dedication to the details and began to see beyond her childhood experience of a pole, with line and bobber and a bait.
Her only other exposure was to fly fishing because her father’s friend tied flies.
Daigle wanted to learn more about fishing so Peter, now her fiance, taught her, explaining the nuances over time. They have both entered the Long Lake derby ever since. She now has her own traps and associated equipment and the couple root for each other’s success.
Peter won first place in brook trout in 2021 with a three-pound, 6.2 ounce fish.
The couple had fished for togue on Eagle Lake Saturday of the tournament, but never saw a flag. On Sunday, they brought the pickup truck onto Long Lake for a place to get warm and fished for brook trout. Daigle had a flag around 10 a.m. Her friend Kristen Babin of St. Agatha videoed while Daigle pulled in the line.
There was no resistance on the line and suddenly the fish was at the hole and Daigle yanked it out of the water onto the ice.
“When the weigh station closed and my fish was still first, I was excited and flabbergasted and really happy for Pete because he got a return on his investment in me of teaching me to fish,” Daigle said.
She said fishing is so much more than chasing flags. Family and friends, including the community’s youth, gather on the ice. People are cooking and laughing. Someone was cooking french fries on Sunday of the Long Lake derby. Sometimes the wind is blowing and triggering flags on the ice fishing traps.
It’s a total experience built around ice fishing.
Daigle gave her prize-winning fish to her grandmother, who is proudly preserving it in her freezer, she said, although Daigle wanted her to eat it.
“I have a trophy next to Pete’s on the mantle. I may retire from derbies and go out on top,” she said.
