8-Year-Old Girl Wins Silver Salmon Derby

The best silver salmon fisherman in Kodiak is an 8-year-old girl.

Stephanie, a pupil at East Elementary School, accepted a $500 check Thursday in front of the Ocean Beauty cannery for winning the 27th Lions Club Silver Salmon Derby.

The pint-sized redhead won with a 19.75-pound silver taken from the Pasagshak River. It was sometime in late September when Stephanie caught the fish, but she is not sure of the exact date, because she goes fishing nearly every day.

The second-place finisher was Carl Power (17.65 pounds). Patty Maechtle (17.25) placed third.

More than 100 people brought silvers to the official weigh-in site, Cy’s Sporting Goods, over the course of the six-week derby, which ended Oct. 10.

But none were bigger than Stephanie’s

Some girls play with dolls, Stephanie slays fish. She caught her silver on a 9-weight fly rod. She fooled the fish with an olive-and-black, size No. 2 fly.

“We knew it was a big fish,” Stephanie’s father, Randy, said. “But we didn’t know it was that big.”

It was.

The silver took the fly, bent the rod and made several runs. It spun the line off Stephanie’s reel well into the backing.

By the time Stephanie brought the silver to the riverbank, she was so tired – and the fish so big – that she couldn’t lift it up.

Stephanie is a passionate outdoorsman; she sits and ties her own flies for hours at a time. She uses equipment given to her by sport fishermen who are clients of the family business.

The fly she caught the derby-winner on was not a proprietary pattern, but she sells those for $3.50 a piece. “She’s quite the little businesswoman,” her father said. “I’m actually surprised she hasn’t raised the price.” Stephanie also shot her first deer last year and loves to hunt rabbit.

It seems like she’s ready to tramp off into the woods at a moment’s notice.

Stephanie arrived at the awards ceremony wearing a camouflage fleece pullover and brown Neoprene waders. She was going fishing with her dad later in the afternoon. But Stephanie wasn’t the only winner Thursday. A record 363 derby tickets were sold at $20 each. The Lions Club will take the proceeds from the raffle – about $1,500 – and use it to help fund the organization’s various charities.

So what does Stephanie plan to do with her $500?

What else? Buy a four-wheeler.