The Chamber of Commerce’s annual king salmon derby has been cancelled, it announced last week, following emergency management orders issued by the Department of Fish and Game (see king salmon story).
A tradition for over 60 years, initially the month-long fishing derby was to be pared down to weekends this year, given restrictions ADFG had at first countenanced that would have centered around the Stikine River’s mouth in District 8. The eventual orders released last Thursday were far more expansive, encompassing nearly all inner waters in Southeast Alaska. With no room to maneuver, the Chamber’s derby committee decided it would be unable to hold its event this year.
However, with the scuppering of one event, the return of another event from Wrangell’s past has been suggested in its stead. Meeting at the Stikine Inn Monday evening, the WCoC derby committee discussed bringing back the coho derby, a late-summer competition last held in the late 1970s.
“It used to be a big thing and it used to be kind of fun,” commented Shawn Curley, the committee’s chair.
Also known as silvers, coho salmon tend to run considerably smaller than kings, weighing in at from eight to 12 pounds and between 24 and 30 inches long, on average. Coho are distinguishable from Chinook by their lack of black spots on the lower lobe of the tail, having instead small black spots on the back and upper fin lobe, and by their white gums.
The coho are still fun to catch, however, and their population is doing more robustly than their king-sized cousins. Though runs of them start returning in mid- to late-July, the derby committee felt a weekend-only tournament held through the month of August until Labor Day in September would be make for a good end-of-summer competition.
“I think it’s perfect timing,” said Cyni Crary, Chamber executive director.
The competition would begin on August 11. Due to cost considerations for hosting such a tournament, and the proposed time of year, to keep this competition more manageable the committee decided it wise to correspondingly scale down its coho derby. Advertising for the event would need to be worked out, as well as how to maintain weigh stations. The committee decided ticket prices would be lower, at $20 apiece, while top prizes could run at $2,000, $1,500 and $1,000.
One idea that was brought to the committee was to set the coho tournament’s bracket up differently than the king salmon derby. Grand prizes would not be awarded for the biggest fish caught, but rather for the biggest three fish weighed in by participating anglers. One-off prizes would still go for the biggest individual fish caught each weekend, but the top three winners at the end would be determined by their cumulative weight totals.
“It’ll be different and fun,” Crary anticipated.
To maintain an air of mystery in the competition, the leader board will still rank anglers by their biggest fish, but a winning combination that would upset that balance could be lurking just beneath the surface. The hope would be to encourage people not just to keep on fishing, but to weigh in what they catch.
Along with the main prizes, $500 prizes for biggest fish each weekend could also be offered, jumping to $1,000 for the final Labor Day weekend. To further encourage participation, each ticket sold would be tied to a raffle for two round-trip air travel tickets donated by Alaska Airlines, initially for the king salmon derby.
The closing ceremony would be kept simple, without the usual runners-up prize items and special brackets. Committee members figured the lack of activity from catching kings would already have an impact on local businesses, so approaching them for further contributions would be burdensome.
The group will finalize details over the coming month, coming up with a plan at its next meeting May 7.
Anglers this summer can still go out fishing for king salmon. They just can’t keep them while waters are closed to retention through June or July.
“If you aren’t fishing and targeting king salmon, we ask that you just use best release practices,” commented Patrick Fowler, ADFG management biologist for Wrangell and Petersburg. If possible, release hooked kings while still in the water.
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