This story will be updated throughout the day.
Update 5 p.m.: The current leader as of Saturday afternoon is now Cohen Odenheimer, 14, who turned in a 26.6-pound king at the Auke Nu weighing station. He took over the lead from Willie Harris who turned in a 24.6-pound king at the same station during the day.
Original story: The 78th Golden North Salmon Derby is off to a slow start, apparently due to fishing conditions as well as lots of people still cleaning up from this week’s record flood, but there were still more than 200 fish turned in on the first day of the three-day event, Shawn Hooton, co-chair of the derby, said Saturday morning.
“I wouldn’t say it’s our slowest year yet, but it’s definitely fairly slow comparatively,” he said.
Full-scale cleanup of Tuesday’s record flooding of the Mendenhall River that damaged more than 100 homes is still ongoing, with a multitude of agencies and volunteers assisting residents in the affected areas, which Hooton said is likely a factor in the slow pace so far. But he said the reports of fishing conditions are also less than optimal.
“Most of what I heard was it’s pretty slow for this time of year, but hopefully it’s going to pick up before the end of derby,” he said.
A total of 67 non-scholarship fish were turned in Friday to the three weighing stations, with a 23.3-pound king caught by Shirley Gray-Kekovich and turned in at the Auke Nu station leading at the end of the day. No larger fish had been turned in as of 10 a.m. Saturday.
The four heaviest fish were turned in Friday at the Auke Nu station, with the heaviest fish at the Douglas Harbor station being an 18.3-pound king turned in by Sierra Mow and the largest at the Amalga Harbor station a 17.7-pound king caught by Cameron Hotch.
The largest coho salmon caught Friday weighed 14.6 pounds and was turned in at Amalga by Marie Lam.
Hooton said “probably more than 100” scholarship fish were turned in at the Auke Nu station, and “maybe 20 to 30” at the Douglas and Amalga stations.
Weather was mixed on Saturday morning with occasional rain sprinkles and patches of sun. The forecast through the end of the derby at 6 p.m. Sunday calls for a chance of rain and winds up to 15 miles per hour.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
