After more than four decades fishing the Sitka Salmon Derby, Chris McGraw rose to the top of the ladder with a 36-pound king that he caught on May 30, holding on to the lead when the closing horn sounded the next day.

“We were just getting to the point where we were thinking, ‘This is getting old, trolling around, and not getting any action,’” McGraw said, recalling the moments before the big one hit.

It took 25 minutes to haul in the good-size fish, and 15 minutes to run it to the weigh-in station to make it official.

“I’ve caught quite a few fish,” said the 47-year-old angler. “I knew it was a nice fish, but you don’t know until you see it.”

The 71st Sitka Sportsman’s Association Salmon Derby wrapped up with 335 fish turned in, 125 participants and 4,801 pounds of king salmon entered for prizes. The derby is a fundraiser for the Sitka Sportsman’s Association.

The top 10 catches were all at or over 25 pounds, with three weighing it at more than 30 pounds.

McGraw remembers growing up fishing the derby, and his father, Chuck, taking fourth in 1985 with a 54-pound king, the first derby Chris can recall.

“We’ve fished pretty much every year since I was a little kid — some of us take it more seriously than others, but we usually fish a few days,” McGraw said.

This year McGraw fished both weekends of the derby with his family aboard the 35-foot Cadance Marie. His 17-year-old son Colton caught a king on the first weekend, but they otherwise had no luck.

Around noon on May 30 their luck changed, while fishing a “random spot” where Chris had never caught a fish before. After the fish bit and McGraw started reeling it in, his anxiety rose once he realized its size.

Spurred on by the big catch, they returned to the same spot close to Windy Passage, “We didn’t catch anything else that day,” he reported.