Big fish, bigger stakes: Lake Placid’s lake trout caught in derby crosshairs

Local guides blame out-of-state contest for dwindling giants, but state officials see little threat

By Brenne Sheehan
Zac Horrocks, a fishing guide based in Lake Placid, makes his living promising one thing to his customers — catching at least one giant fish per trip. 

But each time Horrocks does so, he releases them.

He fishes Lake Placid’s lake trout, which at their biggest are around 30-50 years old and can exceed 30 inches long and weigh up to 40 pounds. These fish take a high level of experience and knowledge to handle safely, he says. 

Large, naturally regenerating trout like those found in Lake Placid’s small ecosystem are at risk of depletion from overfishing, says Horrocks. He points to the Vermont-based Lake Champlain Basin Fishing Derby as a main culprit.

Hosted by Lake Champlain International, a non-profit organization focused on addressing issues facing the Adirondack region’s largest lake, the Lake Champlain Basin Fishing Derby is a year-long “keep” derby which awards cash prizes for the top-weighing fish in 14 different species. 

The derby boundary includes all water systems in the Champlain basin, which extends to western Vermont, south Quebec, Canada, and eastern New York— including Lake Placid and the Saranac lakes. 

“We are the only place for lake trout this big. If you want to win, you come to Lake Placid,” Horrocks said. “But if you want to come over here and wipe out the one thing that’s going to keep this place going for the next 200 years, it is just totally out of line.” 

Concerns about overfishing

Horrocks believes that anglers participating in the derby are in part responsible for a declining population of giant lake trout.

“I’ve gone from fishing 1,200-1,300 lake trout a year, to now only about 75,” Horrocks said. “I’ve gone from catching 25-30 lake trout per fishing trip, and now I can only promise customers about one or two if I’m lucky. “

Other local anglers echo this sentiment. Steve Dempsey, a part-time Lake Placid resident, says the Vermont-based competition targets the small, pristine lake and puts local fishing, and the ecosystem, at risk. 

“To me, the concept of having a fishing tournament that pays people to catch the biggest fish they can out of this lake is so wrong,” Dempsey said. “These fish have been here for thousands and thousands of years, and now they’re in a scenario where they can actually be eliminated in the near future.”

Large “breeder” lake trout typically carry the most eggs, according to Corey Laxson, a professor of natural science at Paul Smith’s College. Because the fish are slow-growing, sometimes taking more than 20 years to grow 2 feet long, he says they are particularly susceptible to overexploitation. 

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“Most responsible anglers are aware of these biological facts and choose to release these large fish rather than killing them and driving them to Plattsburgh to be weighed,” Laxson said.

But there isn’t enough recorded stock assessment data to support the exact impact of the basin derby, according to Laxson. 

Beyond just the water itself — Horrocks argued that the pristine lake and its balanced health is what keeps local residents and summer tourism afloat. 

“Everybody revolves around this water,” Horrocks said. “But that water relies on not having over a bunch of small fish that have fish waste, not having algal blooms, not having all that stuff. And that all comes with the ecosystem taking care of itself.” 

Derby organizers weigh in 

Lake Placid lake trout have taken first prize in the Champlain Basin derby’s lake trout category four times since 2019 — in 2025, 2024, 2022 and 2020. According to the results of the 2024-2025 derby, angler James Follett caught this year’s winner, weighing in at 20.43 pounds and just under 38 inches long. 

The derby requires that participants take their caught fish to one of the competition’s certified weigh stations — the nearest to Lake Placid is at the Runnings store in Plattsburgh. 

Upon hearing about the concerns from local fishermen, LCI executive director Liz Ehlers says she contacted the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to learn more about the potential effects of the derby on the lake. After talking to Region 5 Fisheries Manager Rob Fiorentino, she learned the state believes the impacts were minimal. 

In an email to Adirondack Explorer, Fiorentino provided the total number of lake trout entries documented by LCI over the past 5 years, which includes all lake trout caught throughout the entire Lake Champlain basin at all LCI organized events. Of the recorded entries, about 75-80% are live fish, eventually released, he says. 

Ehlers said LCI hosts catch-and-release derbies, such as the Father’s Day derby, which release around 80% of its fish. 

“I do appreciate the conservation, catch-and-release frame of mind,” Ehlers said. “And that’s a big part of our mission, conservation of the [Lake Champlain] fishery.” 

DEC: ‘Not a cause for concern’

Fiorentino estimates the harvested, or killed, fish didn’t exceed more than 20 fish in the largest year of 2023.

“This number of harvested fish is not a cause for concern,” Fiorentino wrote. “I think it’s important to understand it is a small number of anglers that are proficient at capturing lake trout in Lake Placid and that only a fraction of the total catch is harvested overall.” 

The DEC hasn’t surveyed the population of Lake Placid lake trout since 2013, when it recorded “over 160 lake trout with the use of nets at random locations around the lake,” targeting young trout at the bottom and not larger adults at the top, Fiorentino said.

New York state law prohibits catching more than three lake trout per day, all of which must be longer than 15 inches, which is to protect younger, female spawning class fish. Fiorentino added that the harvest of large lake trout allows for younger and smaller fish to grow.  

But Horrocks claims that many anglers who participate in keep derbies break this law, catching and killing more than three fish and disposing of the rest before exiting the lake with only their biggest catch. 

Ehlers says that she condemns this kind of fishing practice, and when notified, takes action to disqualify offending anglers. 

“If I hear something like that, like my first next stop is going to be to get in touch with that angler and let them know that we won’t tolerate that type of sportsmanship,” Ehlers said. 

Fiorentino said anyone observing a violation of conservancy laws should contact DEC Law Enforcement.

Doubts persist among local anglers

Horrocks believes that the state doesn’t know the full scope of the situation due to their lack of surveillance of the lake. But he believes the solution to his concerns could come from collaboration between state surveyors and local guides such as himself. 

His boat equipped with sonar technologies, Horrocks says he has a better understanding of the lake and its fish than anybody else — stemming from seven generations of outdoorsmen, and spending most of his days and nights giving tours of the lake. 

He welcomes the idea of guiding DEC agents and surveyors to further monitor this issue. 

For local catch-and-release anglers like Dempsey and Horrocks, the bottom line is further regulation. They believe the only way to protect the trout population is to limit all fishing to catch and release, or give fish a break altogether.

“If you shut this place down to trout fishing for five years, I’d be totally for it,” Horrocks said. “Would it hurt me? Sure, but it’d be the best thing to ever happen to this lake. You’d be amazed at what could change.”