Ultimate Salmon Derby
Something new has gotten attention over the winter, a different kind of fishing tournament. Similar to the Lake Erie fall Brawl in that you are weighing 1 big fish over a period of time vs a one or 2 day tournament. I’m actually surprised this sort of thing hasn’t been done on Lake Michigan before (there is also a walleye division for everyone fishing the walleye run). New to the Great Lakes this year is the Ultimate Salmon Derby and the Ultimate Walleye derby. I think it is an exciting concept and if you are a big lake fisherman it is worth noting since they have giving away a boat a week for 8 weeks and then a grand prize boat for the biggest salmon.
I’ve been monitoring the announcements for awhile and spent some time talking to the owners at the Novi fishing show. There’s no doubt it has taken a tremendous amount of work to pull this off and it seems like they are really doing this derby right. The premise is simple, catch the biggest salmon or trout that you can and take it to one of the weigh stations. There is a ton more info on the ULTIMATE SALMON DERBY website but here are some of my thoughts on it.
The first step is that you’ve got to buy a ticket to the derby. There’s multiple tiers, boat tickets, family tickets, individual tickets, and daily tickets. Boat tickets cover everyone on a given boat but they are big $$$. If you are a charter it makes a lot of sense though and it also is an incentive for clients to book with you. The family covers every family member (I think up to 5 living at your house) and is 300 dollars. For the amount of time any of the 3 kids might make it on the Great Lakes this year while they are still young it didn’t make sense for me. In a couple of years with the way the rules are laid out it might make sense. I ended up getting my individual ticket for 100 dollars. It got me into a weekly drawing for the rest of the year (which I definitely won’t win) and also every week of the derby.
I’m not going to go through all the prizes and payouts as that is easily found on their website. But it is pretty cool that 8 people are going to get new boats out of this derby, that is a lot of boats! The rest of the prizes are quite a bit less exciting but a top heavy payout is one way to generate some buzz. The odds of me catching a winning fish at all are very low. We aren’t putting the time in out there and I think it is going to be really tough to compete with the random people on charter boats that are going out every day. That is one of the hesitations I had about buying a ticket but if I don’t the odds of catching a 35 pounder certainly go up. It makes sense for the tournament to include all the randoms on a charter but it doesn’t sit well with me knowing someone who isn’t even interested in fishing catching the winning fish. Sort of like the kid who caught the state record salmon on a charter a few years ago. This year will be telling on if there is even a chance and also if certain ports are going to dominate the scales.
There are also some other rules that people should be aware of. You’ve got to purchase your ticket 48 hours in advance to enter a fish. That makes a lot of sense to me as the temptation is there for people to buy a ticket after they’ve caught a fish. That seems like a good question for the winners during a polygraph at the end of the derby (I’m assuming those will be involved). Another interesting thing is you can only win one prize during the derby however it would be the top placing prize you won. I like this as it allows for more people to get in on the action and it is also fair in that you will win your top prize.
Another interesting one is that everyone on the boat will need a ticket. That complicates things as far as who can go fishing. I’m not sure that I’m dropping 100 bucks and then going fishing with people who don’t have a ticket. Whether it is a daily pass or what I’m sure we’ll be requiring something on board this year. They did put an exception in place for children under 6. While I certainly appreciate that, selfishly I wish the age was bumped up a litle bit more. Let’s face it no one is giving the rod to a 6 year old if a 30 pound winning fish is on the line. But it makes sense for them to sell tickets and also to prevent non derby entries from catching a fish and finding a way to enter it. There is a much greater chance for people being shady in this derby vs the bass tournaments I’m used to fishing.
There are some other things in play to keep it on the up and up. There is an Etournament app that must be run while fishing. I like that there is something else involved except I wouldn’t want to see someone lose out on a prize because of a technical difficulty. So I hope the app runs flawlessly or there will be a backup plan in place. It also looks like photos must document the catch.
I’ve noticed that the rules are more clear and look different than the first time I read them. All the changes I’ve seen have been positive so far and I think it is great that they are listening to any feedback they are getting and dialing things in. I’m sure there will still be some growing pains but I wish them success and a positive first year (and also a 30 pounder for me). I think it can only get bigger and better from here on out, let’s have a derby!