Derby News Archives
Slana Woman Takes the Lead in Valdez Halibut Derby with 266 Pound Fish
Tiffany Williams has been going halibut fishing for 13 years in hopes of catching the big one, and this year she did. “I started catching a lot of rock fish and then all the lines got tangled and I put my fish back in”, Williams said. “Even though the line was kind of tattered on my pole, I said I’m going to give it a try. I dropped my line down and I said, oh my gosh I’ve got one”.
When Williams got her fish in the boat it measured 86 inches. “When we measured it, we all got pretty excited”, Williams said. When Dave Bruss, Captain of No Excuses, called his catch in he reported it was very long, but a bit skinny. The fish drew a crowd at the Valdez docks as it weighed in at 266 pounds even.
Williams takes the lead in the Valdez Halibut Derby with her catch and, while the derby has been won the last two years with fish tipping the scales at more than 300 pounds, fish in the two hundred pound range have won the derby in years prior to that. Just in case you were wondering, a woman has never won the Valdez Halibut Derby by catching the largest fish. During the days Valdez held a target weight fish rather than a big fish contest, a woman won the $10,000 first place prize. Williams stands to win $15,000 if her halibut remains the largest caught in the derby this season.
William’s fish was not the only big halibut caught aboard No Excuses and it wasn’t the only big fish caught by a woman from Slana on Wednesday, June 20th. Linda Bates of Slana reeled in a 149 pound halibut on the same charter. Williams not only takes the lead in the Valdez Halibut Derby overall standings, she is also in the running to win the first place weekly prize. While Bates’ catch was not enough to get her on the overall leader board, she currently holds 2nd place for the week.
The Valdez Halibut Derby week ends Saturday night.