In 2021, Andrew Marley, 10, became the youngest ever champion of the Homer Winter King Salmon Tournament when he weighed in the biggest fish, a 25.62-pounder. Last year saw the event moved to April instead of its traditional mid-March date, and that success means 2022’s tournament will be on Saturday, April 9. (LB PHOTOGRAPHY)
FIT FOR A KING TOURNAMENT
HOMER HOPES TO REPEAT APRIL 2021’S SUCCESSFUL SALMON DERBY THIS MONTH BY CHRIS COCOLES
T
he season might be spring now, but that doesn’t mean it’s not time for the Homer Winter King Salmon Tournament. After the Covid-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the popular one-day event in 2020, last year’s edition was pushed back from the usual mid-March date to mid-April. The rationale was that a later start – vaccines had helped slow down the spread of the virus – would allow for better odds of staging a safer event, which it was. So, why mess with a good thing?
The 2022 Homer Winter King Salmon Tournament returns on April 9. We caught up with Brad Anderson, executive director of the Homer Chamber of Commerce, about the details of this month’s event.
Chris Cocoles After having to cancel a
tournament in 2020 and getting through a successful 2021 event, are you hoping for a little more normal Homer Winter King Tournament in 2022? Brad Anderson It’s hard to say what is normal nowadays. From what we are
seeing with our early registrations and comments, it looks like we will be close to the number we had last year, around 1,500 anglers.
CC It looks like the decision to have an
April start worked out well last year and you’ll do it again. How has the later date had a positive effect? BA We received many comments last year that the April date allowed more people to get boats out of the snow, so they were able to participate when they could not in the past. This was
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