Chris McGraw has won the 71st annual Sitka Salmon Derby with a king salmon weighing in at 36 pounds.
McGraw has been fishing the derby for most of his life. But he said this year’s derby started out slow, even on Saturday (5-30-26) when he caught the prize winning fish.
He started fishing at 7:30 a.m. but didn’t pull anything in until noon. McGraw said he “knew it was a decent fish, but didn’t realize that it was actually a contender for a winning size until we got to the boat and saw it, and thought, ‘Okay, now it’s serious, because it looks like a nice fish that could take the lead.'”
This is McGraw’s first derby win. He said he may have caught fish close to this size in previous derbies, but that was when the winners usually topped out around 50 or 60 pounds. He said he’s always appreciated that the derby is a family event. He said that’s usually what informs his derby strategy.
“In general, during the Derby, I fish with my family,” McGraw said. “A lot of them don’t particularly like rough water, so we usually try to find places that are calm, kind of in more inside waters, and in places that we’ve caught in the past.”
But McGraw said he “just happened to get lucky” when he secured the 36-pound king salmon in a spot he hadn’t fished before. He said he’s considering putting his winnings toward a fly fishing trip with his son.
While McGraw will likely take home the prize for the single largest fish, the win for total pounds snagged will go to another contender. Sitka Sportsman’s Association president John McCrehin said there were high expectations for two-time derby winner Caleb Gray who took home last year’s biggest catch.
“He’s pretty good at it,” McCrehin said. “I’m gonna have to call it that everybody thought he’d win again.”
Though he didn’t appear on the leaderboard for biggest catch, Gray placed first for total poundage with 166.2. At just 10-years-old, he continues to reel in major prizes.
McCrehin said that between two years of winning, Gray has racked up around $25,000 in prize money which he could save for college or other future plans. “He could be off to do whatever he wants to after college, and may not come back to fish, who knows? But I think he’s– no pun intended, but I think he’s hooked.”
Derby officials say this year 125 participants caught 335 fish, for a grand total of 4801.7 pounds of salmon.
McGraw and Gray’s wins won’t be official until the derby’s awards ceremony on June 18.
