Now that’s a big one!
Homer, Alaska, is called the halibut capital of the world, so it’s fitting the winner of its annual fundraiser was a 352.6-pound whopper.
Don Hanks of Sparks, Nev., nabbed a $51,298 check on Friday after besting the catches of more than 18,000 participants in the Chamber Of Commerce’s halibut derby.
Caught June 29, the greenish-gray halibut is so huge that, like other monster fish, it had to be shot before being hauled into the boat. The runner-up was svelte by comparison, at 334.4 pounds (though both fish would tremble in the presence of a 419-pounder a Danish man reportedly caught off Norway in July and hauled away with a forklift).
The derby, says coordinator Linda Winters, is one of the biggest lures in Homer, population 4,000, up there with the Shorebird Festival and the high school’s “The Nutcracker.”
Raising $70,000, the five-month event embodies the town’s other moniker: “A quaint drinking village with a fishing problem.”
-- Ashley Powers
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