ROXBURY — Weather reports about the upcoming blizzard certainly affected the number of anglers at Saturday’s Larry Mercier Ice Fishing Derby on Roxbury Pond.

Roland Patneaude, Mexico Lions club president, said people were driven away from the derby after listening to the weather report about the snow, wind and cold. “We didn’t have hardly any wind out there.”

And without the strong wind, the temperatures weren’t too bad, either. He said it was about 12 degrees above. Then he added that when he arrived at the pond around 5 a.m., the air here was a crisp 28 degrees below zero.

His wife, Gloria, noted that the number of registrations, at 245, were about half of what they were the previous year.

The event, which traditionally attracts many families, had few youngsters, leaving a lot of the derby fishing to the hardy ice anglers.

Jason Hludik of Hanover said the fishing conditions were not that bad, but it was nicer in the ice-fishing shack when they were grilling fish.

He looked on as youngsters Hayden and Teagan Hludik went over to the fishing hole after the flag over the hole lifted, signaling that perhaps a fish was hooked.

Seven-year-old Brycen Waugh said he was enjoying his day of fishing, showing off a 15-inch bass that he caught earlier during the ice-fishing derby, one of three fish he had caught on the day.

One young family, Meghann and Russ Waugh of Mexico, were seen trying to coax their 18-month-old daughter, Ava, to move closer to the fishing hole, but she was hesitant to do that.

Robert Riley Jr. of Dixfield assisted Russ Bassett with draining the cooking oil into a jug after it had been used to deep-fry fish.

Riley, the owner of towing company and garage MT Pockets of Dixfield, had turned a 1996 Freightliner into an ice shack called “Haulin Bass,” which has attracted a lot of attention during this fishing season.

He noted that even before he had the ice shack off the trailer at the pond, pictures of it were turning up on Facebook.

“One guy even called Dennis (Daniel) at Ellis Pond Variety and told him, ‘There’s a Freightliner on the ice and I can’t see the tires,'” Riley said.

The anglers vied for $3,150 in cash prizes for the largest bass, trout, pickerel and perch.

Besides the $2,000 grand prize for the tagged trout, the largest trout caught was worth $150. The largest perch netted $100. The other cash prizes were for pickerel and bass. First place for either won $200 apiece, $150 for second place and $100 for third place.

Gloria Patneaude said the winners were: Pickerel — 1. Doug Brown, 27 inches; 2. John Sullivan, 20.5 inches; 3. Judilee Whittemore, 20 inches. Bass — 1. Clayton Miller, 18 inches; 2. Darryll Bailey, 17.75 inches; 3. Brodie Thompson, 17.25 inches. The largest trout was caught by Nate Woods, 15.5 inches, with the largest perch caught by David Gatchell, 12.5 inches.

And for the 36th year in a row, no one caught the specially tagged brook trout, which was worth $2,000 to a lucky angler.

The $10 derby entry fee placed people in the running for all of the prizes awarded after the derby ended, including a Jiffy Model 30 ice auger.

“We’re famous for the ice auger prize,” Roland Patneaude said. The club and the Mexico Trading Post share the cost of the auger. Winning the auger was Ron Veilleux.

Patneaude said the derby is a fundraiser for the club’s eye-care program.

“We’re trying to raise money for an eye-screening machine,” he said. “It’s a portable machine we want to take to the schools to do eye screening for the kids to check if they need glasses or for eye diseases.”

The event is timed to coincide with Maine’s free fishing days during the winter, which are this weekend. On these days, anyone, except those whose licenses has been suspended or revoked, can fish without a license. All other laws and regulations apply on these days.

The Mexico Police Explorers ran the Lions Club Lunch Wagon, with proceeds going to the Explorers.