I CAUGHT ONE

It might be the smallest recorded Derby fish weighed in this year, perhaps ever, but it’s still my first king salmon. It measured 28 inches (minimum required length) and weighed… (drum roll) 10.6 pounds.

To give you some perspective on how small that is, when people say they caught a small one, people assume the weight’s in the 20s. Right now, the current derby leader is 47.5 pounds and past winners are usually in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Regardless, I’m super psyched about my first catch (actually to be fair to myself, earlier that day I had caught a flounder and a sculpin. The sculpin was really cool looking and had these parts which stuck out that emitted poison. It was interesting to get both of them off the hook and see them swim away unfazed). Everyone, when they heard how small my fish was, would say, “Those taste better.” That’s my consolation.

This was on Sunday, around 4 p.m. We had started fishing around 10 a.m. Maria and I were on Kevin’s boat. Right after I caught mine, Maria caught her second king salmon. It was twice as big as mine.