August 13, 2026, Seward Folly Staff

The 71st Derby is off to a solid start. According to Derby Coordinator Liz Marsh, “The Silver Salmon Derby had a wonderful start on Saturday, August 8th, with a 15.41-lb. silver caught by angler Kodi M. Straight still on top. He arrived at 7:56 p.m. just before the 8:00 p.m. weigh station cut-off!” 

As of August 12, 884 registered anglers, 612 salmon entries and four and a half thousand pounds of coho were weighed in. All proceeds from fish weighed in (whether they are donated or bought back) go straight toward fish restoration.

Gavin Couch, from the Youth category, is on top with a 12.7-pound fish. Wiley Frank has the smallest submitted fish at 3.05 pounds. Seward’s own Erik Jackson has 178.94 pounds turned in, leading the Top Cumulative Weight category. 

“The Charter Competition is going strong, as well, with Kevin Sneed holding the lead with Millers Landing after catching a 14.18-lb. coho. The winning charter company receives a variety of swag prizes as well as $500 to both angler and charter,” Marsh reported. 

From the Chamber “Visit Seward Alaska” site, the Folly found that the last 20 fish weighed in had a total weight of 127 pounds, with an average fish weight of 6.3 pounds. 

According to the Chamber’s website, historically the record-breaking fish was 22.24 pounds in 2002. The latest winning fish in that range was caught in 2013, weighing 21.25 pounds. The last two years have had 14- and 15-pound winners. 

According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, fish numbers and weights fluctuate with local freshwater ecosystems and ocean conditions. Another factor influencing numbers is the amount of hatchery fry and smolt released into the bay yearly. Most of Resurrection Bay silvers are hatchery fish or wild fish on their way to other spawning habitats in the Gulf of Alaska. There are relatively few silvers spawning out of this bay. Last fall, biologists struggled to find enough adults to harvest eggs to populate the Trail River Hatchery. The hatchery number has been decreasing, in part due to a lack of funds to purchase them. The Chamber has partnered with the Charter Boat Association this year in part to address this problem. 

You can see tournament stats on the current results page of the website: https://hbt.seward.com/71st-annual-seward-silver-salmon-derby/current-results/