This year’s Slam’n Salm’n Derby is limping to close Saturday, with more fish being caught but still nothing like recent previous years.
June 11 when high muddy water blew out the creek, not a single fish was weighed in. As the water level has dropped, and started to clear, more fish are being caught and weighed in, but jacks under 10 pounds make up the vast majority of entries.
Most fish are also being caught near high tide by bait fishermen.
As of Thursday the leader was a respectable 28.95 pound fish, but only a handful over 20 have been weighed in, compared to many years when the top 20 were all over 30 pounds.
Saturday more than 600 young fishermen are expected for the second annual kids derby, 6 a.m.-6 p.m., when the stretch of creek between the bridges is restricted to young fishermen only.
But oldtimers say there have been past derbies that started slow, then saw hundreds of fish caught and weighed in the last weekend, so anything is still possible.
