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| Courtesy of Ron Niebrugge |
No one knows, not the volunteers at the Seward Silver Salmon Derby, not the members of the Seward Chamber of Commerce, not the folks who physically put tags on the dozen or so flashy coho before slipping them back into secret locations around Resurrection Bay.
No one knows what prize is attached to the numbered blue tags until the fish is caught, the derby ticket verified, and the corresponding envelope is opened by the anxious angler.
It was then that the secret was revealed, and magic happened for Ian Wetherhorn of Houston, Alaska.
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| Ian Wetherhorn |
Seward Chamber of Commerce Becky Carver: “The room erupted into screams, you would have thought it was the Super Bowl in here. He was definitely in shock. He had to turn the paperwork around, to both Cindy and myself, just to confirm that he was reading it properly.”
Wetherhorn couldn’t have held high hopes for the 3.62lb silver salmon he pulled out of Agnes Cove, but the silver dollar sized fish was literally worth it’s weight in gold.
Wetherhorn had caught the Seward Silver Salmon Derby fish tagged for a 2017 Chevy Silverado Crew Cab All Star Edition valued at $47,000 that was donated by Chevrolet of South Anchorage.
According to Carver, Wetherhorn said he wasn’t initially excited about the small fish. About the time he caught the coho, the other line he had in the water was hit by a much larger fish, and he didn’t initially notice the tag on the little silver.
As of Friday morning, Alaskans filled out the leaderboard – with a respectable 15.20 pound fish at the top, caught by C.H. Schroeder of Big Lake trolling for the $10,000 prize for heaviest fish.
For those trying to decide if they want to brave the weather the last weekend of the Derby, the $50,000 tagged fish is still in the bay.
Story as aired on KSRM News:
