King salmon hooks Willow resident $10,000 in cash

By Chris Gillow

Frontiersman

Mat-Su — Giant king salmon and oversized checks took center stage at Tuesday’s 2007 Mat-Su King Salmon Derby awards banquet held at Lake Lucille Inn. While many fishing enthusiasts know they can usually hook big fish in the Mat-Su Valley, it’s not everyday a fisherman earns $10,000 for catching a king.

“It feels pretty good,” said Luke Conner of Willow, winner of the adult division of the Mat-Su King Salmon Derby. “I have no complaints at all.”

Conner, a former fishing guide, managed to catch a 58.9-pound king that outweighed any other derby fish by at least four pounds. When asked to share some of his fishing secrets, he didn’t hesitate to decline.

Like a good magician, “a good fisherman never tells,” he said.

The Mat-Su King Salmon Derby is one of the larger events the Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce organizes, executive director Cheryl Metiva said. Mat-Su is a hot-spot for fishing enthusiasts and tourists, so people from all over the United States enter the derby. This year, an entry was received from a tourist from Maine.

“The derby is a real challenge,” Metiva said. “Our derby covers the whole Borough. So typically, it’s a week after the derby before the tickets are even sorted.”

While organizing and operating the Mat-Su Derby is a lot of work, participants experienced their own obstacles.

“It took, like, 15 minutes to catch it,” said Jenae Shannon, the youth division winner.

At only 13 years old, Shannon said it felt good to pull in a big 50.2-pound king salmon. She loves to fish and plans to continue her derby participation next year. While the notoriety of being a first-place fisherman may be a little overwhelming for the Big Lake resident, banquet attendees could see the happiness expressed in Shannon’s smile as she held her $1,000 fish trophy mount. As for Conner, $10,000 was plenty to smile about after attending college for two years.

“I’ll be paying off some credit card bills,” he said. “And I’ll probably buy some furniture, because I’m sick of sitting on lawn chairs.”

Next year, the derby might experience some changes, Metiva said. Instead of a king salmon derby, organizers are considering a silver salmon derby that would take place in August.

Contact Chris Gillow at 352-2284 or chris.gillow@frontiersman.com.

Pro Division Winners

1st Maynard Young 52.9 lbs.

2nd Dan Trotter 51.4 lbs.

3rd Tim Brown 51 lbs.

Overall Adult Division Winners

1st Luke Conner 58.9 lbs.

2nd Henrik Wessel 54.8 lbs.

3rd Maynard Young 52.9 lbs.

4th Frank Peter 52.1 lbs.

5th Dan Trotter 51.4 lbs.

6th Tim Brown 51 lbs.

7th Jeremy Hunt 49.8 lbs.

Overall Youth Division Winners

1st Janae Shannon 50.2 lbs.

2nd John Flanagan 45.9 lbs.

3rd Joel Smith 44.2 lbs.

4th Steven Matherus 41.8 lbs.

5th Eli Hife 41.4 lbs.

6th Samantha Hartman 40.5 lbs.

7th Luke Warta 39.1 lbs.