Derby News - Week 5, 6/20-6/26

New Fish on the Halibut Derby Leaderboard

VALDEZ, Alaska – A 174 pound halibut was brought to port Friday, June 24th and many other large fish followed during week number five of the Valdez Halibut Derby. Just a week ago, the anglers catching the halibut winning weekly prizes in the derby were lucky to have fish over 100 pounds, but this week it seemed every boat had at least one halibut breaking the 100 pound mark.

Dave Pope of Shark Tooth Charters was standing at the fish cleaning station Saturday night enjoying all the flatfish coming into Port. "June and July are really good times to fish for Halibut in Valdez", Pope commented, "The big fish are starting to come in".

The angler who caught the 174 pound halibut and jumped into 2nd place in the overall standings was Charles D. LaCrosse of Mesilla, New Mexico. He caught his big fish June 24th aboard No Excuses. In addition to claiming 2nd place in the overall standings, he is the winner of the 1st place weekly prize. Leading the derby with a 20 pound advantage is Brad Yates of Lake Havasu, Arizona with a 193.4 pound flat fish he reeled in June 15th. Still hanging onto 3rd place is Emmett Hamilton of Valdez, Alaska with the 164.4 pounder he caught June 18th aboard No Excuses. Erik Miller of Glendive, Montana takes 2nd place for the week with a 161.1 pound halibut he brought in aboard Dan Orion, June 19th.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game reports many of the larger halibut are coming from around the southern end of Chenega Island, Middle Ground Shoal and in waters along the northern end of Montague Island. Yelloweye rock fish, black bass, and red snapper have been thrown into fish bins and brought to the cleaning table along with halibut for weeks, but starting this Friday, anglers will be able to keep Lingcod as the season opens July 1st. King fishing has been slow in Valdez, but Dave Cobb of the Valdez Fisheries Development Association says he generally sees more catches in later July as anglers target king salmon while silver salmon fishing. ADF&G reports the West Side of the Sound has been productive for shrimping and suggests deeper sets of 400 feet or more to produce the best catches.

The Kids Pink Salmon Derby is slated for Saturday, July 16th and the Women's Silver Salmon Derby is set for Saturday, August 13th with a luau theme this year. The complete list of Valdez Fish Derbies prizes for both the halibut and silver salmon derbies can be found at www.valdezfishderbies.com .