The 27th Annual Homer Winter King Salmon Tournament is scheduled for Saturday. It is the premier fishing tournament of Alaska where anglers take to the Kachemak Bay waters each spring in search of King Salmon. The one-day tournament awards tens of thousands of dollars in prize money to the largest kings caught.
Brad Anderson, Executive Director for the Homer Chamber of Commerce spoke to KSRM, “We moved it a little later time frame than usual so we’ve made it a little safer for folks to come out and fish with the vaccine a little bit more prominent in our community. We’re seeing a really strong response with folks coming out wanting to get out fishing again.”
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, last year’s Homer Winter King Salmon Tournament had to be canceled. Anderson spoke on modifications that were made to address COVID-19 concerns, “What we’ve done to try to make it safer for everybody and also take advantage of the amazing outdoor space we have to work with down here in Homer, we’ve moved our event area to the area called the Deep Water Dock, it’s where our cruise ships come in. It’s a big open space down there so we can spread everybody out while we’re doing the weighing of the fish and have the event area. We’re just going to use as much space as possible so people can stay socially distanced properly. We certainly will have hand washing stations and everything to also accommodate everyone. We are requesting people bring, as they’re interacting with others, use facemasks. Primarily we’re just keeping everything outdoors with as much open space as we can.”
If interested in participating, you have to go to HomerWinterKing.com. Registration has to be completed and done by the start of the tournament Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. The tournament kicks off at 9:00 a.m. Lines have to be out of the water at 4:00 p.m. and the weighing of the fish will take place at 6:00 p.m. Additionally, the boundaries for the 2021 tournament have been expanded. There is just a North boundary line running west to east across the Cook Inlet at latitude 59 46.113.
For more information, log onto www.homerwinterking.com/