The winner: Ryan Beason shows off the 33.9-pound king salmon he turned in at the Douglas Harbor weigh-in station on Friday during the 2001 Golden North Salmon Derby. Photo by Kay Calvin

By Catherine Parmelee
For the Juneau Empire

For Ryan Beason, the best thing about winning last year's Golden North Salmon Derby was the prize. In 2001, Beason walked away with a trophy, derby winner's jacket and belt buckle-plus $15,000 cash, which in part went towards a new set of golf clubs. The remainder is tucked away in a college fund.

Beason, then 12 years old, is believed to be the youngest derby winner since 5-year-old Joel Pasquan won in 1963.

In 2001, Beason angled first place with a 33.9-pound king salmon he caught on the first morning out. "I was sweating it out," Beason said in a Juneau Empire interview last year.

"It made me nervous every time we went down to the boat harbor."

The victory was Beason's first in a salmon derby, but he has been in the top spot before. He scored third place in the 2000 Golden North Salmon Derby and fifth in the 2000 Spring King Salmon Derby.

Beason, now an 8th-grader at Dzantik'i' Heeni Middle School, has essentially been fishing all his life.

He's gained much of his angling skills from his father, Randy, a commercial fisherman who took 7th place in last year's derby with a 22.2-pound fish and ninth place in the 2001 Spring King Salmon Derby.

Ryan Beason said that the best thing about fishing is catching them, and what he likes best to catch is king.

He plans to participate in this year's derby, and he's hoping to win again.

Beason's a all around sports enthusiast. When he's not fishing or playing golf, he enjoys basketball, baseball, bowling and more.

Beason hooked his prize-winning fish about 11:30 a.m. on Friday of last year's derby, but he didn't think he had a salmon at first.

"It acted like a halibut because it went straight down," he said.