History

Early Days

The first “derby” started in 2015 as a 1 day tournament that Capt Doug called ‘Christmas at Easter”. Partnering was Rockdale County Fire Department and the funds would go to help buy Christmas presents for the foster kids of Rockdale County. Santa was present, and with the 12 participants over $2600 was raised to buy presents. Hank Mann won the very first one day tournament. In 2016, another one day tournament raised over $6000 for 4Sarah, an organization that is on the front lines battling sex trafficking.

From One Day to Eight Weeks

In 2018 Capt Doug read a book about the grand striper tournament put on every year at Marthas Vineyard that goes on for 6 weeks. He thought, “How great would this be on Oconee, and so The Derby moved from a one day to an 8 week event. With the help of their very first sponsor, Sugar Creek Marina, they targeted the times of Feb through April when the fishing would be at its peak. It was an overnight success as anglers embraced the idea of not being boxed into fishing just one day, but several weeks.

More days to fish, but less time to sleep..

Just because anglers have 8 weeks to catch the best Derby fish, don’t think for one minute that they ever take a day off! Vacations have been moved around as not to interfere with derby, even people come from out of town and rent houses to make sure when it goes off, they’re there! It has quickly become a late winter rite of passage on Oconee. The prizes are huge, the cash is great, but there is something about getting that Championship Ring at the end of the long grind that is worth everything. Ive heard guys say after a long run, ‘This Derby is going to kill me, if it doesn’t come to an end”. Even though Capt Doug started it, he has never won it. “One day, he says looking at the Championship Rings,, “the precious will be mines!’