Resident Robert Clay caught the second largest fish in the coho derby.
John Austin, 67, of White Rock, British Columbia, won the third annual Haines Sportsman’s Association 2019 Silver Salmon Derby with a 14.3-pound coho.
Austin took home a $1,000 prize from the sportsman’s association along with a Lamiglass fly rod from Outfitter Sporting Goods. He’s been fishing in Haines for the last 37 years, he said.
Austin caught the winning salmon at 14 Mile around 12 p.m. during the first week of the derby. “It was a lucky cast and the fish cooperated and he even stayed on,” Austin said. “Sometimes they don’t. I don’t know that there’s any skill involved other than rod hours. It’s like winning at bingo, you’re just lucky I guess.”
Residents Robert Clay and Zach Tarleton took second and third place, along with a $500 and $250 prize respectively. Clay also won a $100 gift certificate and a fly-tying kit from Outfitter Sporting Goods. Tarleton won a $100 gift certificate and a Plano tackle belt from Outfitter Sporting Goods along with $100 cash from Storage and Warehouse for catching the largest coho on a fly rod. Tarleton caught a 11.75-pound coho on a fly.
The sportsman’s association for the first time awarded a prize to children open to ages 5-15 years old who competed in the derby. Resident Esra Nash turned in a 3.8-pound coho and took first place and a $75 cash prize for her age bracket. Cole Carlson, from Alberta, caught an 11-pound coho and took first in his age bracket.
Seventy people participated in this year’s derby, 50 from Haines, 10 from Canada and 10 from other cities as near as Juneau and as far away as Washington D.C., said organizer Cheryl Stickler.
“Canadian visitors contribute annually to our derby and to Haines businesses,” Stickler said. “Their presence was certainly felt as four out of the 10 Canadian derby entrants won prizes.”
Derby fishermen turned in 37 salmon, 13 of which were caught on flyrods.
Six people won $50 gift certificates from Delta Western during the weekly drawing.
The coho derby began Sept. 15 and lasted through Oct. 29. The sportsman’s association started the coho derby after poor king returns prompted the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to prohibit sport fishing for fish that had failed to meet escapement goals seven of the past 10 years, prompting cancellation of the once-traditional king salmon derby. King salmon made the lower goal this year.
Fish and Game sport fish biologist Rich Chapell said Chilkat River coho escapement was estimated at 36,000 this year, just above the 30,000 lower escapement goal.
“This escapement is lower than I expected based on the very high fish wheel catches in September,” Chapell said. “Possible reasons for this difference are: the run was early, with few fish entering the river in October after the fish wheels were pulled out; the fish wheels were in a really fishy spot this year, and relatively low water levels helped their efficiency.”