Derby Days (don't look if you have issues seeing bloody fish)

On the way back to work from my mid-day stroll through town, I saw a fish being weighed in outside the Totem Bar. It was 30.1 lbs. Not enough to make the top ten Derby list but still sizable enough to get weighed in and officially entered.

As of May 13, Wrangell has had fishing fever. Not that they don’t always year-round because they truly do. But the King Salmon Derby is another thing altogether. In it’s 54th year, the Derby promises big fish and big prizes. Big is dependent on weight, not length and people go out to fish before work, after work, on the weekends, every moment they get to wait for the big one.

The Derby lasts until June 11. First place gets $6,000; second place $4,000; third place $2,000 and then there are weekly prizes, youth prizes, various awards, bonuses, special derby days, on and on and on. Last year’s biggest fish was 42.6 and the all time biggest fish caught in the Wrangell Salmon Derby weighed 74.4. That was caught by Doris Iverson in 1955.

So far I’ve gone out once for derby fishing, which also happened to be my first time fishing all together. Matt took Maria and I out on his boat a couple of weeks ago. We left Shoemaker around 8 a.m. and stayed out at Grey’s Pass for a good six hours or so. Salmon fishing usually involves trolling but Grey’s Pass has a current so we anchored the boat and just let the water pass us by.

I knew I’d enjoy fishing as it’s just about conversation while waiting for a bite. I learned how to bait the herring on the hook. King Salmon are huge fish so the bait itself seemed like something I wouldn’t mind eating. We put the rods in the holders and just wait.

While I didn’t catch anything myself (average fishing time before actual catching is supposed to be around 8 hours or maybe it’s 11), it was an awesome experience seeing Maria catch one and Matt two. I saw the whole process – the initial excitement of the bite, the reeling in slowly and wondering if it’s actually something and not just a crab, seeing the fish surface as it thrashes about, the even more cautious reeling in, someone else on the boat getting the net ready, the actual netting, and then the landing. It was all very exciting. My job was reeling in the other rods once we realized it was a fish so that it wouldn’t get caught in the other lines. I must say, I was good at my job.

What was amazing about the experience was that it was, for me, an initiation of sorts. I finally got to experience the one thing people in Wrangell hold in the highest esteem. Hunting, I suppose, comes in at a close second, but fishing is where their hearts are. More than just their hearts, their passion, their livelihood. So I was extremely grateful to Matt for taking me out on the water and Maria for giving me a large chunk of her 38-inch fish.

We didn’t stay out at Grey’s as long as we would’ve liked. The wind picked up a lot making the ride back painfully bumpy for Maria and I who had to sit in the front to keep the boat weighted down properly.

The sun is out right now and I hope it stays out for the weekend. I’d like to get out on the water.