enlarge Gordon Chibroski/ Staff Photographer

Jeff York of Sebago and Ronnie Brulotte of Standish inspect the big togue that eventually won the Sebago Derby at the Jordan’s Store weigh station in East Sebago.

enlarge Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer

Weigh station volunteer Don Drew, left, tells a fish tale that amuses Jordan’s owner, Carroll Cutting during the Sebago Derby on Feb. 22.

enlarge Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer

Doug Vadnais of Saco, left, looks on as Bruce Clark and Don Drew compare Vadnais’ trout with one found in the mouth of the largest fish caught for the Sebago Derby: an 18-pound, 6-ounce togue. The weigh station at Jordan’s Store in East Sebago will be at it again this weekend, when the statewide contest takes place at lakes and ponds throughout Maine.

STATEWIDE DERBY WEIGH STATIONS

LEARN MORE about the statewide derby on Saturday and Sunday, and the 22 weigh stations around Maine

SEBAGO — The laughter, jokes and barbs in Jordan's Store could make a newcomer think the place is low on business and big on banter.

Here at the crossroads of the lake district and mountains, many who stop in at Jordan's come for the latter.

Mind you, they get their coffee, fish bait and beer. But buying such items is secondary to hearing 80-year-old owner Carroll Cutting tell a yarn.

No doubt, many a fisherman has left the Sebago Lake store trying to unravel truth from fiction, fact from fun.

That was clear on Feb. 22 during the Sebago Derby Festival, when hundreds of ice fishing fans stopped at the country store and weigh station to see the 3-foot-long togue that eventually won the derby.

The 8-year-old ice fishing festival on the 28,700-acre lake has become the biggest in the state, and one of the largest in the country. It draws an estimated 6,000 people each year

This Saturday and Sunday, another contest, the Sebago Lake Rotary Club's Statewide Derby, will be held on lakes and ponds throughout Maine. About 22 weigh stations are participating, including Jordan's Store.

The fishermen who compete are in it for the fishing, the bragging rights and the fun. They find all three at Jordan's.

"These gentlemen here at the Rotary – and I use the word 'gentlemen' sparingly – weigh the fish," said Cutting by way of introduction.

In truth, the volunteers from the Sebago Lake Rotary Club are chief among the braggarts.

Volunteer Don Drew loaded into a pickup truck the 18-pound, 6-ounce togue that eventually won the event and drove it to the other side of the lake to the Raymond weigh station – just so he could brag about the prize fish that was weighed at Jordan's.

"I always maintain the biggest one comes out of the west shore," Drew boasted to a round of laughter at Jordan's.

"Whether we're right or whether we're wrong, we want bragging rights," chimed in Bruce Clark, another volunteer.

From dawn to dusk, these weigh stations are buzzing. And all three weigh stations in the Sebago Derby were busier than normal this year. In two days, they weighed 1,784 togue, including 498 at Jordan's Store.

The derby was founded to cull the number of lake trout, also known as togue, in Sebago Lake to help the landlocked salmon fishery rebound.

So high numbers of togue taken out of the lake amounts to great news for fishermen.

"That beat our prior high by over 500," said derby founder and director Tom Noonan. "And the other interesting thing is, the condition of the fish was exceptionally good. There were a lot of healthy-looking fish. They were a lot bigger than usual."

At the weigh stations, volunteers start taking derby registration at 5 a.m. and weighing fish soon after that.

"At the peak, there were 30 people standing, waiting to weigh fish. Some had five on a string at a time," said Drew, who helped record the fish.

And as ice fishermen poured through the door to weigh fish, they stopped to swap stories.

"This is the local spot," said fisherman Rick Turner, who frequents Jordan's throughout the year. "It's the personal touch. They're quick-witted. It's dry Maine humor."

For a half-century, Cutting and his wife, Barbara, have served these disciples of early morning light.

And Carroll Cutting embraces the Sebago Derby as he does life, with a laugh and an interest in his customers' stories and jokes.

He shows no sign of slowing down. With his two sons, Jeff and Greg, to help him with the business, this elder of Sebago Lake gathers and passes on fish tales at derby time – and all year-round.

"They're just salt-of-the-earth people," said Bruce Clark of Casco. "There are not many of them left."

Staff Writer Deirdre Fleming can be contacted at 791-6452 or at:

dfleming@pressherald.com