When Josie Macri of Qualicum Beach got a bite on her line, she had a good feeling. And when she hauled it into the boat, she knew it was a winner.
That gut feeling held true because Macri’s catch that weighed almost 27 pounds ended up to be the top catch of the annual French Creek Salmon Derby that was held Aug. 19-21.
Macri said she and fellow anglers Phil Salsman and David Gilmore in her team she named “In It To Win It” went out early Friday morning (Aug. 19). They casted their lines near the French Creek marina where a bunch of birds were flying around.
“Where there’s sea gulls flying, there’s bait, and we found the bait,” Macri said.
It didn’t take long for them to hook a fish. As soon as they dropped their line, they had a bite.The first fish they caught was undersized and was tossed back into the water as they are only allowed one catch a day.
“When we got our second fish, there was no putting that back in the water,” Macri recalled. “She was heavy and it was a nice height. I didn’t know how big it was until my friend netted it and put it in the boat. I started crying because I knew it was a winner.”
Macri and her team was the first to get their catch weighed in. It was a female chinook salmon and it weighed 26.94 pounds. From then on it was a waiting game for Macri.
“My name was the first on the board and it held throughout the derby,” said Macri. “It was exciting. I was holding my breath the whole weekend.”
The next two anglers came really close to matching the size of Macri’s salmon. Darrell Jobb, who finished second netted a salmon that was just four-ounces under while third place winner Mat Connely’s fish weighed in at 26.45 pounds.
This was Macri’s fourth derby and her first win.
“It’s really exciting to win it,” said Macri, who ended up winning the top prize of $400, plus a $100 bonus, as well as a fishing rod.
The annual derby has been going on for eight years now and it has been raising funds for Marion Baker Fish Hatchery.
This year’s three-day derby sold 910 tickets which organizer Russ Mosher of the French Creek Pub said was 110 more than last year’s number. They’ve raised $5,500 for the hatchery, which through the help of the derby has been able to purchase a generator to protect the salmon in the tanks when the power goes out, as well as make repairs on a couple of their holding tanks.
“The event went smoothly,” said Mosher. “The weather was not a factor. It was a little windy and then the killer whales came out on Saturday morning and that spooked the fish for a while. All in all it was great.”