Petersburg’s 33rd Annual Salmon Derby gets underway Friday morning May 23rd, 2014 with cash prizes for the largest king salmon and tagged Chinook and a long list of other prizes donated by businesses. The four day event runs though Monday.
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Two fish caught, tagged and released Thursday morning are worth 10-thousand dollars and five thousand dollars if someone’s able to land them again over the weekend. Meanwhile the largest king salmon this year wins a cash prize of seven thousand dollars. Second prize is 35-hundred dollars and third place gets 25-hundred. Other prize winners get to select from a long list of gift certificates, services, tours, food and clothing and other donated goods.
Derby committee member Barb Luhr said help is always needed at the weigh-in station at North Harbor. “It’s just a fun thing to do, a great way to give back to your community,” Luhr said. “And when you’re at the derby weigh in station, there’s a lot of excitement when fish are coming in. Not so much when nobody’s bringin in fish. But it’s a lot of fun and I enjoy it every year, seeing all the people, weighing in the fish, especially when the big fish comes in, there’s all kinds of excitement and you’ve got all kinds of visitors coming down to see what kinds of fish is in the display, if there is one. So, every year it’s a lot of fun.”
People can volunteer by calling the chamber of commerce at 772-3646.
Tickets are on sale at the hardware stores, hotels and liquor stores. They’re $40 for the weekend per person, $15 for a single day, or $125 for a family for the weekend. Tickets have to be validated either at the harbors starting at 7 a.m. Friday morning or at the southern end of the island at Banana Point.
There’s a new prize this year, a one thousand dollar cash prize for the most culmulative weight of fish entered, not including the first through fourth place winners. That was donated by Glo Wollen in memory of her husband Jerry. That would should encourage people to continue turning in fish to the weigh stations – and remember, the bag limit for Alaskan residents this year is three large kings a day, up from one a day last year.
All the other derby rules are the same as prior years. The winning fish last year was a 46 and a half pounder caught by local resident Rich Lowell.
The derby is underway at 7 a.m. Friday morning and KFSK will provide leaderboard updates throughout the weekend.
