THUNDER BAY – The Thunder Bay Salmon Association held its annual salmon derby this weekend and during the three-day event, anglers from the area and beyond brought in their fish to get weighed for the chance to win one of many prizes.
"Since it has been a pretty late spring, and water temperatures are still cold, I've been talking to some of the fishermen around,” said Cameron Parnham, weigh scale operator, on the first day of the event. “It's been tough fishing, but I think the guys out there know what they're doing and I'm sure they will be able to pull through."
Ernie Ukrainec, President of the Thunder Bay Salmon Association says that while the number of people who came out this year was almost half usual,total, he still counts this year’s derby as a success.
“We didn’t have as many salmon weighed in as we wanted to. There was about 125 salmon weighed in, the 9.8 was the winner of it,” he said.
“The temperature of the water was just not warm enough, I think it’s just a little late. So, it’s kind of pushed back but I think it’s going to be some pretty awesome salmon fishing come August here.”
There were more than $20,000 in prizes available with first-place winner, Shawn Huls, winning $10,000 in prizes, including a new boat valued at $6,000.
“It feels good, you know, when they call your weight and say that you’re the top guy, there’s probably nothing better than that,” said Huls.
“When we went there the first day, I figured, you know, someone’s definitely going to come with something bigger, like, 9.8 is not necessarily a large fish, and then the second day when we see 9.7… by the third day when I saw the weather I was like, we might have this.”
On top of the derby, the Thunder Bay Salmon Association is also selling tickets online for a chance to win a Kubota side-by-side.
