Katherine Dimond said she and her family were five minutes away from calling it a day when it happened: a 27.4 pound fish was at the end of her line.
“It all happened kind of quick,” Dimond, 23, said Monday. It was during a “last-ditch effort” around 5 p.m. Saturday near the Douglas docks that she fought a king salmon for about 10 minutes.
“It ran for a little bit in the beginning, but it got tired and we were able to pull it up,” she said.
Dimond has been a Golden North Salmon Derby participant alongside her family for about 12 years — her dad’s a commercial fisherman and she was born and raised in Douglas. She said she’s placed in years prior, but this was her first big win.
“It’s something we always look forward to as a family,” she said.
Other members of the Dimond family didn’t come up short, either. Dimond’s mom Jackie Dimond placed ninth with a catch she made on Friday, and her brother Jon Dimond got the 52nd largest catch of the derby on Sunday. He could have easily also placed first because he was seated next to his sister when her line connected to the winning king on Saturday. It’s proof, she said, that winning involves a bit of luck.
“It just took my pole instead of his,” she said.
Plenty of other derby participants were “lucky” as well, with approximately 18,150 pounds of salmon submitted by the end, derby co-chair Matt Robus said. That’s about a 30 percent drop from last year’s catch total (26,000), but Robus said that has more to do with weather conditions that derby participation.
“It was pretty mellow all three days last year and it was pretty tough all three days this year,” Robus said.
He said, based on talks he’s had over the past couple days with participants, that it appeared the bigger catches were happening where the winds were heavy and the waves were high. That would make less than ideal for the smaller vessels trying to stay in the game while also staying in the calmer waters.
[Derby kings trickle while cohos abound]
“So many of Juneau’s sports fishermen stayed out in those conditions and brought back great fish. That show they’re very dedicated to fishing and helping territorial (sportsmen) and raising scholarships,” Robus said.
Overall, Robus said he considered this year’s derby and success, with far more cohos showing up than anyone expected. Then there was the fun “statistical coincidence” with this year’s winning catch weighing the same (to the tenth of a pound) as last year’s winning catch.
But derby happenings aren’t over yet. The doors will open for an awards ceremony at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Centennial Hall. Before the top winners take their prizes at 7 p.m., people with scholarship tickets can also pick up their winnings.
To see a complete list of the top 70 derby catches this year, visit goldennorthsalmonderby.com/topfishmain.html. The official results should be ready by noon on Tuesday.
• Contact reporter Paula Ann Solis at 523-2272 or paula.solis@juneauempire.com.
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