The 2026 Saratoga Lake Ice Fishing Derby has been put on ice this year. The Saratoga/Platte Valley Chamber of Commerce announced the cancellation of the 42nd annual event, planned for Jan. 17 and 18, due to “very poor ice conditions.”
Stacy Crimmins, the interim executive director of the Saratoga/Platte Valley Chamber of Commerce, said the board of directors had to make a difficult decision. After consulting with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and other agencies, they decided it wasn’t safe for the event, and no compromise could be found.
“This is a big event for the hotels, convenience stores, and restaurants, so it's going to be a big hit,” Crimmins said. “The Board of Directors understands the impact it'll make economically, but we’ll be back.”
Half And Half
With the unprecedentedly warm winter weather in Wyoming for the last several weeks, people might assume the Ice Fishing Derby was cancelled due to a lack of ice on Saratoga Lake. That hasn’t stopped the event before.
“We've had open water during the derby before, but there were some spots that had almost 24 inches of ice,” she said. “During those years, we just roped off certain areas and kept going.”
Crimmins confirmed that there’s ice on Saratoga Lake. The problem is that there is, simultaneously, too much and not enough ice.
“We haven't had cold enough temperatures to get a good layer of ice,” she said. “There's no snow, with no snow cover, the little bit of skim of ice we get melts off in the sun.”
They considered an open-water, bring-your-own-boat alternative to the Ice Fishing Derby, but that was also a non-starter. It just wouldn’t be safe for any activity, on the water or the ice.
“There's currently too much ice to have boats on the lake, but not enough ice to walk on it,” Crimmins said. “Because of that, the Board of Directors decided to cancel so we wouldn't have any worries about safety.”
Stay Hooked
This isn’t the first time the Saratoga Lake Ice Fishing Derby has been cancelled due to the condition of Saratoga Lake. Crimmins could recall at least one time in the last 20 years when it was called off, but for entirely different reasons.
“We had to drain Saratoga Lake a couple of years ago because of the health of the fish,” she said. “That's actually happened twice over the history of the event.”
The derby was canceled in 2023 because of a lack of fish. Wyoming Game and Fish killed all of them in an attempt to wipe out invasive yellow perch, white sucker and brook stickleback.
The consolation prize that year was that there was plenty of ice, so event organizer 307 GoFast turned Saratoga Lake into an ice racing track for dirt bikes and ATVs. That won’t be an option this year, at least not by Jan. 17.
According to Crimmins, over 100 people had preregistered for the event. The event regularly attracts over 800 participants who hope to hit the ice and potentially win up to $40,000 in cash prizes.
Everyone who’s already registered will receive a refund. Crimmins hopes they will retain their enthusiasm for 2027, when “neither snow nor rain, nor heat nor sleet,” will keep Saratoga from fishing.
“I'm sure the board have some discussions on how to help remedy the economic loss, but we’ll be back in 2027,” she said.
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
