Catching the big fish

A great fishing story can start with a mysterious premonition of destiny that sets the course to where great friends go on an adventure that seems totally unbelievable. We learned such things from the recent Fishing Derby on February 1-2 at the Upper and Lower Sunshine Lakes. The event was put on by Discover Meeteetse.

The stage was set with Grandpa Monty Thorton speaking to his grandson Trever Birdsley. The elder cowboy said, “You guys are going to catch big fish today.” Birdsley looked at his grandpa in wonder and asked, “Are you sure!?”

Saturday the derby started out at the Upper Sunshine Lake. Teammates Gage Maser, Carnell Deere and Trever Birdsley, all from Thermopolis, watched their fishing holes that morning on the thick, cold ice. They all prayed for no 40 mph winds that would cut through their coats. 

According to Birdsley, the morning “was a rough one.” However, it wasn’t until about noon that Deere got his first big fish, close to 16 inches. By 1 p.m. most of the teams in the derby were packing up and deciding about their plans for the next day at Lower Sunshine. At that point the Thermopolis team was at 38th place, sitting near the middle of rankings. They were about four inches away from the first place.

Maser and his friend Sam Korhel drilled holes in the ice at the Lower Sunshine Lake. The following morning about 9:30 a.m. Maser caught his first big fish. Excited, Maser radioed over to Sam to get his help, to pull the line and get the fish to the surface. This first fish measured at 31 inches with Maser and Korhel taking pictures thereafter.

Only 10 minutes later, Korhel ends up pulling out a fish measuring at 30.75 inches. Sam Korhel was on a different team with friends, Dave Diede and Justin Kiser. In the previous year, they were on the same team and placed first. Maser helped Korhel pull his fish out.

Twenty minutes after Korhel’s fish was caught, Maser discovered he had caught another big fish, this time measuring 27 inches. Then the third fish Maser and Birdsley pulled out measured about 29.75 inches.

Birdsley said, “It was back to back. It was wild! You never see stuff like that. Ever.” Maser’s team caught three big fish all within two hours. They still had three more hours left in the derby. Birdsley pondered, “I don’t know, man, I think we kind of got it. But you never know how everybody else is doing, right?”

Maser said he was functioning with little sleep. He said, “After I caught that 32 inch, I was like, man, I should probably go back to the camper and take a nap because usually it’s, you know, one big fish like that and you’ve pretty much won. But then after I saw Sam catch that bigger one, I was like, well, I gotta keep fishing and try to get at least another big one to try to get first.”

Birdsley was taking stock of the experience and showed concern for his friend. He asked Maser, “Gage, not only one, not only two, but three. I was like, how are you feeling right now?”

All Maser could reply was, “I’m numb. Numb. Like, I am so anxious.” Birdsley described the fight they faced trying to pull the fish. He said, “It’s just getting that fish right to come out through the hole is crucial.” They were all excited, screaming, and jumping up and down.

Maser, Deere, and Birdsley’s team placed first with 133.125 total inches winning $3,550. They were sponsored by Stars and Pipes Derby Promotion. Maser recognized his team’s competitors and said, “This year really is special because every team had at least one Thermopolis person on it that was in the top three, which is pretty cool.” 

Coming in second place, Dave Diede, Justin Kiser, (both from Worland) and Sam Korhel (from Thermopolis) brought in a total of 121.625 inches, winning $2,540. Korhel also won $800 in the Calcutta competition. Last year Korhel, Maser, and Kiser were on the first place winning team at the derby. Korhel also won first place in 2022.

On Saturday, Korhel said his teammates “really carried me that day…The second day it’s just a crapshoot.” However, on Sunday Korhel said he and his team were able to pull some big fish. Korhel pulled one just over 30 inches.

Korhel said about his friend Maser and their team, “I was super stoked for Gage. He and I have a passion. I kind of got him into ice fishing and passed on quite a bit of knowledge to him. To see all that payoff was really cool. I was really happy for him. I landed his first big fish for him that morning and kind of talked him through it, kept him calm. And then, you know, gave him a big hug. We got it through the ice.”

All of these friendly fishermen also work together at Wyo-Ben.

The third place team includes Adrian Padilla (from Thermopolis), Heidi Freeman, and Jose Guzman (both from Lander). Their total inches were 116.625 and won $2,000.

Saturday, their team was six inches behind from being in the lead and placed 82nd. However, for Heidi Freeman, it was her first time there. She pulled a lake trout measuring at 36.5 inches and weighing 15 pounds. Padilla said, “She never caught a big laker like that.” It was the longest fished caught during the derby.

Freeman said it took her and her team six minutes to get the big fish in. She said, “It was a big one, but I did not realize it was that big. The size of it coming through that hole, it was monstrous…And oh man, I was just like holy struggle. Just the weight of that fish pulling it up was heavy. I was just like, oh my God. There was a lot of swearing that happened.”

Freeman’s son Logan earlier told her that her previous fish were babies. But after catching this one, she sent a photo to him and asked, “Is this big enough for you?” Freeman won an additional $100 for catching the biggest fish.

It turned out that Grandpa Thorton’s prediction was more than just about his grandson. What a great fish story for everyone.