Click Here To View Photos From The 2006 Derby

     The 43rd annual Rose Holland Trout Derby was held at Montauk State Park on October 7 and 8. The event raised $10,665.25 for the American Heart Association, surpassing last year's total of $8,772.80 and setting a new record amount for the two day event.
     Roosevelt Holland was hatchery superintendent at Montauk for almost 24 years. After his death from a heart attack in 1963, journalist Charles O. Stewart and some of Holland's fishing friends formed a committee and organized the annual derby held the first weekend in October. The derby was first held in 1964. $389 was raised that year and there were about 200 participants. This year there were 1,934 fishing tags sold for the 2 day derby.
     Prizes, donated by businesses and individuals, were awarded for men's heaviest fish, women's heaviest fish, kids heaviest stringer (up to four fish), and heaviest brown trout. There were also prizes awarded to contestants who caught tagged fish. There were one hundred tagged fish. 58 tagged fished were turned in. 33 lunkers, a fish over 3 pounds, were weighed in during the derby.
     The Slippery Liz I award, given to the person with the first tag number to select a prize, was won by Ronald Kraus from St. Louis. He had tag number 2.
     The Slippery Liz II, the men's heaviest fish award, went to Brian Stam of Farmington, MO.  His big rainbow trout weighed 11 pounds and 14 ounces.
     The women's heaviest fish was a 4 pound, 2 ounce rainbow caught by Amy Luna, St. James, MO. There was a tie for second place. Gabriel Holman from St. Clair, MO and Barbra King from Oak Ridge, MO both caught 4 pound fish.
     The heaviest brown trout was caught by Doyle Hood, Licking, MO. It weighed 5 pounds and 13 ounces.
     The kids heaviest stringer prize went to Dustin Blackburn from Houston, MO with a total weight of 4 pounds, 14 ounces. Second place went to Terry Pelczynski Jr. from Ashley, IL. His stringer weighed 4 pounds and 4 ounces. Tyler Reed from St. Clair took third with a stringer weighing 3 pounds, 6 ounces.
     Trout season at Montauk ends October 31st.  The Rose Holland Derby is the last big event of the season and for many fishermen, the last time they will fish for trout until next season opens March 1st.
     You can fish for trout in the Current River below Montauk year round and a catch and release season inside Montauk begins the second weekend in November. The catch and release season is on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 8 am till 4 pm. It ends after the second weekend in February.

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