HARRISVILLE, New York (WWNY) – From dawn until dusk, Chris Gamble spent countless hours ice fishing on Lake Bonaparte.
“He would sleep on the ice, he wouldn’t let anyone go to sleep. You had to be up at 4 a.m. or whenever they put the tip-ups in to fish,” said Tasha Gamble, Chris’ sister and ice fishing derby volunteer coordinator.
Chris grew up on the lake at his family’s camp.
“We’d go up, I say we because he’d drag me up there every winter to go up to the lake and ice fish,” said Tasha.
Before he died in a UTV crash in 2020, Chris regularly participated in the Harrisville Volunteer Fire Department’s annual Ice Fishing Derby.
“Between this and the fish fry, these are the two biggest fundraisers. This is the biggest one-day fundraiser we’ve had,” said Harrisville Assistant Fire Chief Don Thomas.
It’s helped the fire department purchase two new trucks.
“We didn’t have to borrow money from the banks because we did fundraisers, and along with the town, to pay for them,” said Thomas.
Now the fundraiser, going on its 24th year, is known as the Chris Gamble Memorial Ice Fishing Derby.
The Gambles and the Harrisville Fire Department joined forces five years ago.
Not only does it help raise money for the fire department, it also raises money for the Chris Gamble Memorial Scholarship, awarded to a member of the Carthage High School Boys’ Varsity Lacrosse Team.
“Chris played lacrosse for Carthage Central School and then SUNY Canton,” said Tasha.
The derby will have fishing, weigh-ins, and prizes for adults and kids.
“All kinds of prizes, we’ll have over 100 door prizes,” said Thomas.
With a foot of ice on Lake Bonaparte, the conditions are perfect for February 15. The derby runs from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. You can register here.
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