By Joanne Rodgers, Bruce Peninsula Press
The 1st place winner of the 2024 Chantry Chinook Classic Fishing Derby for the Largest Salmon was Debbie Brick who caught the winning Salmon which measured 25.62 lbs. – 40 in. and received $15,000 in prize money. The Salmon, which was weighed in at the Lion’s Head Weigh Station located at the Marina, generated lots of local interest within the community, and ultimately proved to be the winning catch.
Derby sees an uptick in ticket sales
For 40 years the Chantry Chinook Classic has held the fishing derby on Lake Huron/Georgian Bay. Today the 16-day volunteer-run tournament is the largest Salmon derby in Georgian Bay and Lake Huron and is a major fundraiser for the two fish hatcheries operated by the Lake Huron Fishing Club.
The organizers were thrilled by this year’s event and said “everything is trending in the right direction.” There were 200 more entrants this year, with over 1,000 single angler tickets and 220 group tickets sold for the event.
Scott’s Home Hardware say they sold out their 100 single angler tickets and had to source an additional 30 tickets due to increase in demand.
While the weight in pounds of Salmon caught was similar to last year, with the new rule of 4lb minimum weight for any fish weighed in (up from 3lbs last year) this meant the fish were bigger and heavier. “This is a good sign for the health of the fishery,” says Past Chairman Michael Hahn.
One of this year’s attractions for anglers were the favorable winds. Hahn says fishing was good on Lake Huron for 15 days of the 16-day tournament. However due to changing wind patterns, hence more windy days in August, the Derby has shifted its start date to begin a week earlier. In the past, the Civic Holiday weekend marked the middle of the tournament, now the latest date for the end of the tournament is August 7.
Chantry Classic Derby Statistics
• Total Fish Caught – 1502 – 12,758.01 lbs
• Total Salmon – 966 – 9,103.25 lbs
-Chinook Salmon – 830
-Coho Salmon – 126
-Atlantic Salmon – 10
-Largest Chinook Salmon caught 25.62 lbs. – 40 in.
• Total Trout – 497 – 3,472.63 lbs
-Lake Trout – 208
-Rainbow Trout – 282
-Brown Trout – 7
-Largest Lake Trout caught 21.80 lbs. – 34.5 in.
-Largest Rainbow Trout caught 12.47 lbs. – 33 in.
-Largest Brown Trout caught 9.91 lbs. – 26 in.
•Total Walleye – 39 – 182.13 lbs
-Largest Walleye Caught 6.85 lbs. – 28 in.
• Ticket Numbers
-Single Anglers – 1,008
-Group Tickets – 220
-Junior Single Tickets – 22
-Junior Group Anglers – 503
-Junior Total – 525
-Physical Tickets – 585
-Online Tickets – 684
For full results and to see list of winners, please visit the Derby’s website https://www.chantrychinook.com/2024-leaderboard
