Fishing the 2012 “Iron Man” Derby! 4
On Presidents Day Weekend, we got to see… firsthand… why the Olympic Peninsula Salmon Derby was nicknamed “The Iron Man”.
Personally, until this year, I had never competed in this event, I simply admired the guys who worked the water for those days in February when the winds can whip the Straits of Juan de Fuca into an unholy froth. These conditions test the mettle of derby anglers in a day. Two days? That's tough. Three days? well, now you're talkin' true "Iron Man" status.
"Tough" is a relative term and when you're talking about the accommodations we experienced in Port Townsend, "posh" is a better description!
Here's a shot of the Harborside Inn which is adjacent to the Port of Port Townsend. It's a short walk from your slip to your room at the Harborside Inn and makes Midchannel Bank a small boat accessable fishery!
The Harborside Inn served as our broadcast location last Saturday and we had a chance to visit with those angling teams up to the challenge of Small Craft Advisory winds threatening to build to Gale force. After we got off the air, I was really looking forward to getting some gear down despite the winds!
My fishing pards for the weekend were Tommy Donlin of Defiance Boats and John Hansen of the soon to open Tulalip Cabela's. Both experienced, passionate anglers with lots of derby experience!
It did not take Penninsula ace John Hansen long to get on the board! Here he is with our first derby entry of the weekend. Not huge, but it's always great to break the ice and get on the board!
The winds never really relented and with the scale closing at noon on Monday, Team Outdoor Line had some serious ground to make up. Luckily, we did find some fish in the last hours of the event. John slips the net under this blackmouth…
…which turned out to be our largest fish we landed for the weekend. It weighed 9.50 on the certified scale (it looked like a ten pounder to me…) Chalk up another chinook to the QCove flasher!
I say it was our largest fish "landed" because yours truly managed to lose a BIG FISH, right as the last minutes of the 2012 Olympic Peninsula Salmon Derby ticked away. Whatever you do, don't let Tommy Donlin near your chartplotter when you lose a fish… he has a talent for "naming" waypoints in a hurtful manner…
As we pulled into the Derby award ceremony the crowd was gathering to claim their prizes and grab a burger courtesy of the Derby committee!
After the numbers are compiled, Derby Chairman Dan Tatum addresses the crowd of nearly 500 derby competitors!
Despite marine weather advisories and challenging conditions, fishing results were good. 217 winter blackmouth chinook salmon were submitted, with an average weight of 8.44 pounds. Anglers were in competition for a tremendous prize list worth $25,089 – including a $10,000 first prize. The final prize ladder had 52 winning fish; the smallest prize-winner was 10.25 pounds, and the winners had an average prize-winning weight of 12.32 pounds. Approximately 700 derby tickets were sold for this event
The first prize of $10,000 went to John Otness of Tacoma, for a 17.60 pound chinook that looked way more like a springer than a feeder blackmouth!
The $5,000 second place winner was Steven Sevilla of Discovery Bay with a 15.50 pound fish. In third place, for $1,500, was David Hansen of Port Angeles with a 15.30 pound salmon. Fourth place ($500, donated by 7 Cedars Casino of Blyn) went to John Calkins of Shelton with a 15.0 pound fish. All prizes except the large cash prizes were donated by area residents and businesses. The large prizes are funded through ticket sales. Net proceeds from each annual derby support local emergency services and other important community needs, in accordance with the charter of Gardiner Salmon Derby Association, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation that runs this ongoing annual event.
It's great to see the fishing community coming out to support this event and we had a top notch experience in this derby! I'm looking forward to hitting this event next year…and every year!!!
Tom Nelson
The Outdoor Line
710 ESPN Seattle
www.theoutdoorline.com
Placed 102 in th2 2012 Derby I,m from Las Vegas and you will see me in the Derby next year. Thanks for the great time.
Sorry Trevor, I got the blog up in a rush my first day back and neglected to add links to the derby's site. I've gone back and placed a few in there! See ya next year, T
Sounds like some good numbers considering the conditions. Gotta like the way point name though. We all have a few of those! Good post. Sharkey
Nice article! It doesn't provide a link to the derby website, which has the full fish ladder, lots of pictures, and other details. Visit http://GardinerSalmonDerby.org.