Northwest Salmon Derby Series in Full Swing

As the calendar rolled over into July, so did the parade of salmon derbies throughout Puget Sound for the next three months as the Northwest Salmon Derby Series moved into high gear. I recall a story in The Seattle Times regarding salmon derbies, written by Mark Yuasa back in 2007, capturing the history of these kind of fishing tournaments. According to his writing, the first big salmon derby started with the Ben Paris Salmon Derby held on the Seattle waterfront, beginning in the early 1930s. Thousands of dollars in cash, new cars, and the salmon derby meant "game on". Overwhelmingly, anglers enjoy salmon derbies, just ask the nearly 7,000 anglers who participated in the 2014 Northwest Salmon Derby Series tournaments.

It’s a fishing game of chance, similar to making a trip to Vegas. Here is how it works: anglers have the opportunity to purchase a salmon derby ticket for one of the 9 remaining tournaments in the Series over the next three months for a chance to win the event by catching the largest Chinook or coho salmon. The full schedule is available at www.NorthwestSalmonDerbySeries.com. Fishermen, fishermwomen, and their kids come to these events, entering the game for the potential of pocketing thousands of dollars, along with hooking up with fishing friends, and possibly winning tons of prizes provided by each derby. The Northwest Salmon Derby Series was conceived by the Northwest Marine Trade Association (NMTA) late in 2003 as a promotion to encourage boating and fishing in the Northwest. The Series kicked off in 2004, partnering with six existing salmon derbies. Stabicraft Boat Company, Suzuki Marine and EZ Loader trailers partnered with the Series by donating a boat package, which included Lowrance Electronics and Scotty Downriggers. Three anglers fishing together won the first grand prize boat by participating in the Gig Harbor Salmon Derby in the inaugural year of the Series. The Derby Series is all about angler participation, and not about catching fish. In fact, it does not make any difference if the winner of the grand prize boat catches any salmon during the tournament they entered.

Since 2004, NMTA has given away 11 fully-rigged grand prize fishing boats with a combined value of over $500,000. Additionally, NMTA has also given away three 14-foot aluminum kids division fishing boats that include an outboard motor and trailer. This year’s grand prize boat is a 21-foot hard top Hewescraft, with Mercury outboard power including a trolling motor, Lowrance Electronics, Scotty Downriggers and an EZ Loader tandem axle galvanized trailer that will push that total dollar number closer to $600,000 over 12 years. This year’s grand prize boat will be awarded to one lucky angler in a raffle drawing at the Everett Coho Derby. All 12 boats, motors, trailers and equipment are donated to NMTA from the manufacturers to help promote the Derby Series through partnering sponsorships. Again, the promotion is all about encouraging anglers to go boating and fishing.

“The Northwest Salmon Derby Series has been a huge success and one of our best promotions in the 68-year history of the NMTA,” said George Harris, president of the association. The NMTA produces the Seattle Boat Show, the biggest boat show on the West Coast that draws nearly 60,000 people every year.

“I am equally proud that all of the tournaments target only hatchery-produced Chinook salmon, which is good for our industry and the resource,” Harris added.

Harris also noted that the series is looking to expand into eastern Washington in 2016. While considering the history of salmon derbies, particularly tournaments that focus on Chinook salmon, several of these annual events nearly evaporated when four stocks of Puget Sound wild Chinook salmon were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act back in the late 90s. After several years of scientific and political debate, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and most western Washington treaty tribes began clipping the adipose fin (small fatty fin on the back of a salmon between the dorsal fin and the tail) on hatchery-produced coho and Chinook salmon to help identify these fish as hatchery fish. As these “marked” salmon came back as adults, in many cases anglers would be required to release un-marked fish while being allowed to retain hatchery fish, due to conservation concerns by fisheries managers. As a result, salmon derbies began to grow and flourish - especially during the last 10 years.

The first three Saturdays in August feature three long-standing salmon derbies beginning with the South King County PSA Salmon Derby (Aug. 1), followed by the Gig Harbor Salmon Derby (Aug. 8) and the All South Sound Salmon Derby in Olympia (Aug. 15). All of these tournaments are based on the availability and opportunity to catch hatchery-produced Chinook salmon. The summer salmon derby season concludes with the Willapa Bay Salmon Derby in Tokeland (Sept. 5), the Columbia River Fall Salmon Derby in Woodland (Sept. 6), the Edmonds Coho Derby (Sept. 12) and the grand-daddy of the Series, the Everett Coho Derby (Sept. 19-20). The grand prize Hewescraft boat winner will be drawn on Sunday afternoon during the awards ceremony in Everett. For detailed information on all of these derbies in the Series, visit the Derby Series website.

“We are looking forward to a great summer salmon fishing season and being on the road to promote sport fishing in this region of the country,” Harris said. “Washington sales data shows fishing boats are the most popular kind of boat being sold in the Northwest and we’re excited about making one lucky angler very happy with this year’s grand prize boat.”

View the original article published in July 2015 edition of The Reel News HERE.