Fishin' Magician: Dave Graybill

Last weekend was the third annual King of the Reach Salmon Derby sponsored by the Grant County PUD, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Tri-Cities chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association or CCA.

I wanted to share what I saw there to encourage everyone to participate in next year's event. The way it works is that derby ticket holders get to fish the closed waters at Vernita and White Bluffs for kings and deliver them live to waiting tanker trucks.

The fish, which are all unclipped, natural origin fish, are then delivered to the hatchery at Priest Rapids Dam. This really boosts the numbers of natural origin fish for spawning at the hatchery, strengthening the gene pool of this valuable run of fall upriver Brights. This year 64 anglers live-captured 300 fish, and Thor Ostrom of Pasco was the winning skipper with his crew turning in 52 fish.

The CCA did a great job organizing the event and feeding the participants and getting the prizes that were awarded through catches and a raffle prize valued at $1,250.00. You can go to the CCA Tri-Cities chapter web site and see all the results and learn when next year's event is scheduled.