Want the hottest deal in fishing? Go out and buy a derby ticket.

Whether fishing salmon in the Mat-Su Valley or halibut in Valdez, kings on Kodiak or silvers in Seward, this is your opportunity to make money while fishing. And what better way to justify your addiction than to turn it into a job?

It’s not only about winning prizes and money, however. When you put money down for a derby ticket, you intrinsically pay more attention to the details involved in successful angling, and therefore your catch rates increase. It also serves to raise the level of anticipation when the next cast could surrender a prize-winning fish. Additionally, buying a ticket helps to bolster the local economy, which ultimately will improve the angling experience.

Besides, you surely don’t want to become one of those stories about the angler who caught the $20,000 fish and didn’t have a ticket. The elation experienced from catching a monster fish quickly descends to despair when you realize that you would have paid for the trip and many others had you bought a derby ticket.

For 2010, there is still time to enter halibut derbies in Southcentral in the cities of Homer, Whittier, Seward and Valdez, and the prime silver salmon derbies are straight ahead. Anglers based in Southeast can choose from silver salmon derbies in ports like Juneau, Ketchikan and on Prince of Wales Island. And don’t forget the Valdez Women’s Silver Salmon Derby on August 14 of this year. Fish Alaska publisher Melissa Norris will be there.

For more information, one can view a statewide list of derbies at www.fishalaskamagazine.com/guides/derbies.cfm. Consult each for a complete set of rules, as boundaries and other derby regulations are defined by each organization that conducts the derby.

Most fishermen I know would love to catch fish for a living. Look at derby fishing as a version of that pursuit. So when your significant other asks you where you are going, you can confidently reply that you’ve gone to work. Go out and take the lessons learned within the pages of Fish Alaska magazine and turn them into money.

—Marcus Weiner, Publisher