May 26, 2009
Tuesday

Ketchikan, Alaska - Tim Eide must have felt pretty good after landing his 41.5 pound king early Monday morning and taking the lead in the 62nd Annual Ketchikan CHARR King Salmon Derby. But Eide's stay at the top was short, as Mark Tollfeldt spent the noon hour weighing in the derby leader, a 44.0 pound chrome-bright king, at the Mountain Point Boat launch. Tollfeldt's king was one of 222 fish weighed in at the derby's four weigh-in stations over the Memorial Day weekend.

"Anglers felt the fishing was a little bit slow but the total number of participants and the number of fish weighed into the derby looks to be slightly over the first weekend of the 2008 king salmon derby," said Russell Thomas, 2009 King Salmon Derby coordinator. In 2008, 9-year-old Gage Heath took a first-weekend lead with a 42.7 pound entry. Heath's fish held the top spot through the final two weekends of the derby, making him the youngest winner in the derby's history.

Changes to the derby weigh-in procedure caused some additional work for derby committee members on Saturday. The derby committee moved to an electronic weigh-in process, allowing results to be more easily tabulated and tracked. Internet connection problems at some of the weigh-in locations caused some early result reporting to be delayed. By the end of the weekend some sites were still experiencing minor glitches but results were showing up within minutes of being weighed in. "We knew when we moved to a new weigh-in process there would be some issues we would need to work through," said Thomas. "The derby judges were fantastic in their willingness to help us make the system work." Thomas added that the patience of anglers waiting to weigh their fish in while judges experienced technical difficulties also made the process less stressful.

Over 950 anglers punched their tickets and ventured out onto the water over the weekend, vying for over $86,000 in cash and prizes. The derby will resume at 7:00 a.m., May 30, with fishing continuing on May 31st, June 6th, & June 7th. The derby awards ceremony will be held June 12th at 6:30 p.m. at the Ted Ferry Civic Center. Different than in year's past, derby winners will choose their desired prize package based on their position on the derby ladder.

Proceeds from the annual event benefit the Ketchikan CHARR Educational Fund, which provides local high school seniors with scholarship money towards post-secondary education.

On the Web:

2009 Leader Board
http://www.ketchikankingsalmonderby.com/09ldbd.html

Photographs
http://www.ketchikankingsalmonderby.com/09ldbd.html

2009 Ketchikan King Salmon Derby Prize List
http://www.ketchikankingsalmonderby.com/09prizes.html

Special prize category results (Scroll to the bottom)
http://www.ketchikankingsalmonderby.com/09ldbd.html

 

Source of News:

2009 Ketchikan King Salmon Derby
www.ketchikankingsalmonderby.com

 

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Ketchikan, Alaska