Former Milo resident McMannus wins Schoodic derby in last moments with big togue

By Julie Harris, Bangor Daily News Staff

Her jacket sleeve is still frozen and the garment smells too fishy to bring into the family’s camp, but Rachel McMannus of Old Town is all smiles.

She should be. The 22-year-old won the togue competition in the 62nd annual Schoodic Lake Ice Fishing Derby held Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 17 and 18.

McMannus caught an 8.02-pound, 27-inch-long togue, registering the fish at the weigh station with just two minutes to spare. The fish had a 15.25-inch girth. Jacob Hatch of Greenbush caught the next largest togue at 6.385 pounds, 27 inches long, followed by Gary Scheel of Williamsburg at 5.821 pounds, 26 inches.

McMannus, formerly of Milo who graduated from Penquis Valley High School in 2020, fished in the derby with her dad Lee McMannus, who has competed in this event since he was a child. He passed his love of fishing to his daughter, who earned second and third places in the derby in the 16 and under category as a youth.

The family has a camp on Schoodic Lake, so the derby is a well-loved tradition, she said. McMannus plans to have the togue mounted to hang in the family camp.

She and her dad were in the ice shack on Sunday. They had tended a flag about 20 minutes before, and up went another one. By the time they had walked out to the fishing trap, the line was almost gone.

McMannus started reeling the fish in. It ran a couple of times and took out a lot of line, she said. McMannus had a glimpse of it when it passed the hole once, then again. That’s when she thought it might be a good one.

Then she reeled some more.

“The head was at the hole and the fish spit the hook out. I reached in and grabbed the fish and pressed it against the ice (at the side of the hole) and yelled for my dad. He grabbed the fish by the gills and pulled it out of the hole,” McMannus said.

It was 5:12 p.m., her arm was dripping wet and the weigh station would close at 5:30 p.m.

Her dad told her to take the snowmobile to the weigh station because she would never make it in time with the ATV.

With the soaked arm of her jacket rapidly freezing, McMannus rode hard around 60 mph across the lake, reaching the weigh station just two minutes before it closed. The togue was the only fish she registered all weekend, but it was enough.

On her way back to her fishing spot, she met her dad who was on the ATV.

“Guess who’s first place,” she said to him.

McMannus is not the only family member who won. Lee McMannus won a $250 gift card in the prize drawings. It’s the first thing he’s ever won in the derby.

The placements in the other fish categories in the derby were: 

Salmon, David Audet, Winthrop, 6.050 pounds, 26 inches. Next largest was caught by Ethan Allen, Williamsburg, 5.720, 26.75 inches, followed by Ray Thibodeau of West Enfield, 5.620 pounds, 27 inches.

Trout, Tom Russell, LaGrange, 2.795 pounds, 20.5 inches. He also had the third-place fish at 2.280 pounds, 19 inches. Second place fish was caught by Joe Washburn of Brownville, 2.410 pounds, 20 inches.

Bass, Jarrod Hjort, Enfield, 5.860 pounds, 21 inches, followed by Ricky Hughes, Corinth, 5.490 pounds, 20.5 inches and Brantly Pierce, Lagrange, 4.940 pounds, 20.5 inches.

Cusk, Marco Zeganna, Hermon, 6.315 pounds, 29.5 inches, followed by Ashley Croll, West Gardiner, 4.725 pounds, 27 inches, and Jimmy Chaison, Lakeview Plantation, 4.705 pounds, 27 inches.

Perch, Joseph Arsenault, LaGrange, 1.685 pounds, 14 inches, followed by Jordan Decker, Milo, 1.520, 14 inches, and Jake Turner LaGrange, 1.520, 13.25 inches.

Pickerel, Abby Herbest, Milo, 3.615 pounds, 23.75 inches, followed by Michael Kaselig, Frankfort, 3.580 pounds, 24.5 inches, and Chuck Wooten, Bowerbank, 3.440 pounds, 24.5 inches.

Rachel McMannus doesn’t have any plans for more fishing derbies this year. She is a senior mechanical engineer technology student at the University of Maine, and will graduate in May.

But this derby was bittersweet for her because she may not make the Schoodic event next year. She plans to move to Madawaska to work as a mechanical engineer at Twin Rivers paper company.

“It would be the first time I missed it,” she said.