Call 
Seward’s 65th Annual Silver Salmon Derby wrapped up on August 16, 2020. The nine-day event brings hundreds of both casual and earnest anglers to Seward’s Resurrection Bay. This year’s fish were overall elusive and small, but the prizes were still worth dropping a line in the water!
Grand Prizes, which get reserved for tagged fish, range from $50,000 to $1,000. Two round trip tickets to anywhere Alaska Airlines flies is another Grand prize.
There are three divisions: Men, Women, and Junior. Additional prizes are available in various categories from
Heaviest Fish for the day to Heaviest Fish Cumulatively from shore, boat, kayak, and sailboat.
The contest is hosted by the Seward Chamber of Commerce, with proceeds reinvested into the community, including funding Resurrection Bay Fish Enhancement.
The entire community takes part in the activities, with local sponsors providing prizes and in-kind donations, volunteers who work the derby booth. This year, local artists who designed not only the 2020 t-shirt but coordinating face masks.
Angels Rest guests who visit between during the derby will rarely see Paul because he fishes the derby “like a religion,” as Lynda likes to say. This year was mainly exciting because our grandson, John Paul Junior, fished the whole derby with Paul. Typically Paul is a winner of some kind, but this year it was Junior! John Paul Junior won three categories! His 13.09 pound Silver Salmon won First Place in the Youth Category. It also qualified him for First place for Daily Heaviest fish overall, and his fish won Second overall of the derby! We’re so proud of him! His total winnings were $5200!
What a special memory Junior will have of his Uppa Paul driving the boat and encouraging and coaching him when he pulled in his winning fish.
Tight lines to all of you and remember, good things come to those who bait.
It’s never too early to book your next getaway! Come fish from our shore! We’ve got loaner fishing poles and rubber boots! Click here to check our availability!
Written by staff member Melissa Wolff and Lynda