Two-thirds of the way through the 30th annual K/D Salmon Tournament — the largest summer salmon fishing contest in the Great Lakes — it appears there’s been some big fish movement into the waters most anglers have been trolling. Four new top 10 fish were recorded, including trophy chinooks that climbed into the second and third positions.
In all, five 20-pound-plus fish hit the scales from Algoma to Washington Island, but it was the one that couldn’t be officially weighed that likely topped them all: a whopper of a Sturgeon Bay chinook that pulled a boat scale to 27.6 pounds. The photo definitely shows a heavy, mature king, but fortunately for current K/D leader John Peters of New London, not everyone on the charter had an entry ticket.
Two other Sturgeon Bay fish did count, however, including a 23.25-pounder for Brian Maloney of Wallace, Mich., and a 22.28-pounder for Luke Ebel of Sturgeon Bay. The island had a pair of 20s, and Algoma its first 20 of the tournament. There are now more than 130 17-pound-plus chinooks on the leaderboard.
With more than $40,000 in cash and prizes on the line, and fish registration open now until Sunday at 5 p.m., there’s still plenty of time to get in on the action. First place is $10,000 cash, a free mount of the fish and a custom sterling silver chinook salmon ring with a diamond eye. Second place is $2,000 cash and a pair of electric downriggers, and third place is $1,000 cash and two copper wire setups.
In addition to paying deep into the field at tourney’s end, daily prizes for the biggest fish at each of the five ports — Kewaunee, Algoma, Sturgeon Bay, Baileys Harbor and Washington Island — are awarded and contain more than $100 in cash and merchandise.
Daily ($13) and full tournament ($25) tickets are available at Lakeshore Lighthouse and the Kewaunee Marina in Kewaunee; Algoma BP; Howie’s Tackle, Hol-N-One Mobil and the GreyStone Castle in Sturgeon Bay; 57 Depot in Baileys Harbor; and Kap’s Marina on Washington Island. Limited edition 30th anniversary clothing is also available.
K/D Top 30 as of 7/26/12
1. John Peters, 26.20 @ Kewaunee
2. Brian Maloney, 23.25 @ Sturgeon Bay
3. Luke Ebel, 22.38 @ SB
4. Aaron Bresnahan, 22.00 @ Washington Island
5. Jeremy Jackson, 21.35 @ K
6. Sam Sieminski, 21.29 @ WI
7. Kirk Young, 21.20 @ WI
8. Timothy Geyen, 21.15 @ WI
9. Brian Kalberg, 21.02 @ Baileys Harbor
10. Stephen Sahly, 20.60 @ WI
11. Heath Peters, 20.30 @ WI
12. Larry Dahms, 20.16 @ Algoma
13. Kelly Berken, 19.84 @ BH
14. Mike Holter, 19.82 @ WI
15. Welcome Kubisidh, 19.80 @ BH
16. Kyle Sever, 19.77 @ BH
17. Josh Berken, 19.66 @ BH
18. Deb Samuelson, 19.63 @ A
19. Andrew Wegner, 19.60 @ WI
20. Jake McFaul, 19.60 @ SB
21. Dale Petersilka, 19.60 @ WI
22. Matt Donley, 19.51 @ WI
23. Mike Cefalu, 19.37 @ SB
24. Ed Prohaska, 19.33 @ BH
25. Chad Ellefson, 19.29 @ WI
26. Christopher Pinton, 19.19 @ K
27. John Berken, 19.18 @ BH
28. Jeff Bentz, 19.14 @ BH
29. W. Elliot Benoist, 19.08 @ BH
30. Bob Fruzen, 19.05 @ BH
