It was Saturday August 11th and I woke up early to go to work, only my day didn't end up this way. I descided to call in sick to work and went fishing instead. (Sound familiar to some of you?) My cousin and I were lanching my boat at TOA in Tacoma for a little salt water fishing. I remember telling my cousin that I will probably catch a fish (King) of a lifetime and won't be able to brag about it because I was supposed to be at work. Well, we got over to Gig Harbor just before daylight and set up the downriggers. We started trolling along the shoreline in 70 feet of water trying to target migrating Kings to the South Sound rivers. I put my downrigger at 35 feet and began to relax and take in the morning calm. I remember discussing with my cousin that there were an unusually high amount of boats in the water that morning. Then it struck me, there was a salmon derby going on that morning (Boaters World?) We discussed going over to Pt. Defiance to enter the derby but didn't want to miss the prime fishing time so we declined. Needless to say, my downrigger released and I swear that I snagged an anchor! My line went straight to the bottom. Judging by the weight of the fish I knew I had a big King. 15 minutes and a couple of runs later, I had a 36 pound buck in the boat! Wow! This was at 0630 hrs and my day was suddenly getting better! My cousin was telling me to go join the derby but I declined. I'm a local boy and if I got caught, I would get banned for life from future derbys. It was never an option. Anyway, I missed out on the 1000.00 dollar first prize (23 lbs won it) but I will have a story and pictures to last me a lifetime. By the way, the fish had an adipose fin but also had a tag in the head. I'm still waiting to hear from the State to see what river system it was from, I'm guessing The Nisqually. You can bet that I will always enter any derbys that may be going on in the future if I'm going to be out there fishing anyway!