Charlie Skultka, Sr., with his leading king. He knows that with two days to go “anything can happen.” (Facebook photo/Kendra Lee Skultka)
People travel from all over the country to fish in the Sitka Salmon Derby, and once they arrive, may spend hours cruising Sitka Sound looking for that monster king.
This year’s current leader did none of that. He landed his fish — which could be worth $7,500 — about 5 minutes from the dock.
Everyone who drives up and down Halibut Point Road in Sitka — and I guess that is just about everyone! — sees these guys fishing in the kelp right in front of the Channel Club. In fact, it almost looks like they are put there by the restaurant to improve the nautical ambience. Because there’s nothing about this stretch of beach that says ‘king salmon.’
Charlie Skultka, Sr., disagrees.
“The fish are in there shallow, feeding on smaller fish. They were there. You just gotta find them.”
And find them he did. Skultka landed his 36-pounder on Saturday, the first day of fishing. He went back on Sunday and on Memorial Day to the same spot, but came up empty-handed.
Fishing in kelp for kings in shallow water close to town sounds easy, but it’s not. The big chinook can take off into the weeds, wrap up line, and break free.
Compared to fishing in deep water, it can be pretty nerve-wracking.
“We did that about a half-dozen times trying to get close to him. But you just gotta fight it out and keep going.”
Skultka is a semi-retired commercial seiner and longliner. He was using his sport boat on Saturday when he caught his derby-leading fish. He thinks he’s fished in the derby at least 50 times. This is the first time he’s been on top of the leaderboard after the first weekend.
Not far behind Skultka are Bob Edenso, with a 35-pound king, and Kelly Pellet with a 33.5-pound fish.
The overall poundage leader so far is Jason Keith, who turned in 9 fish weighing a combined 181 pounds. Kenny Gray and Chuck McGraw are second and third with 169- and 164-pounds of king salmon respectively. In all, a total of 163 participants turned in 559 kings.
If his fish stays on top, Charlie Skultka Sr. would be the smallest winner in the Sitka Salmon Derby’s 61-year history — in fact, the lightest by over 5 pounds.
Those laurels are not quite big enough to rest on.
KCAW – And are you going to be out there next Saturday and Sunday?
Skultka – Guaranteed. Good luck to everybody.
Fishing continues in the Sitka Salmon Derby through June 5.
