It’s about to be coho season: time to win some cash.

Haines’ annual coho salmon derby will kick off next Thursday, running through Oct. 29. Those who haul in the heaviest cohos will receive cash and gift card prizes.

Top prize is a $1,250 check and a $200 gift card to Outfitter Sporting Goods.

In each of the past two years, the Haines Sportsman’s Association, which runs the derby, has sold more tickets than ever before — and that was without Canadian visitors.

“We have Canada this year, so it could be big,” said Haines Sportsman’s Association president Russ Byerly.

Derby tickets cost $25 and can be bought at Alaska Sport Shop or Outfitter Sporting Goods. Prizes will go to the three fishermen who catch the heaviest fish in each of four categories: overall, fly-rod, and children ages 5-10 and 11-15.

Byerly said this year’s derby includes “enhanced” prizes for the youth categories, but those prize details haven’t been finalized.

In addition to the weight competitions, there will be a catch-and-release contest, as in prior years. Every derby participant who submits a photo of a catch will be entered into a drawing to win a variety of goodies, including a round-trip flight to Juneau on Alaska Seaplanes.

Weigh stations will be set up at both Outfitter Sporting Goods and Alaska Sport Shop. Fish must be cleaned before being weighed. All fish entered into the contest must be hook-and-line caught in fresh or saltwater north of Eldred Rock.

Ole Taug caught the heaviest coho last year at 13.6 pounds.

Everyone who buys a derby ticket, even people who don’t fish, will be entered into weekly drawings for the derby’s duration. The award ceremony will be Nov. 4, Byerly said.

The sportsman’s association, more than 60 years old, used to host a king salmon derby. But after canceling that contest three years in a row due to a declining king stock and stricter regulations, the association switched to a coho derby in 2017.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game limits the coho catch to three per day on the Chilkat River and two per day on Chilkoot Lake and Chilkoot River below the lake.

Fish and Game is projecting an “average” coho run, based primarily on parent-year catch and escapement data. The Chilkat coho parent-year escapements were 66,000 fish in 2018 and 36,154 in 2019, both within the escapement goal range of 30,000 to 70,000 fish.

Byerly said it’s still early and this fall’s run has yet to materialize.