Don Zenger sat at the bar at Louie\u2019s Douglas Inn, waiting for a bomb to explode.<\/p>\n
It was Sunday afternoon on the last day of the Golden North Salmon Derby. The blast \u2014 a tradition which signals the end of the derby at three ports around town \u2014 was due at 6 p.m.<\/p>\n
A little more than 24 hours earlier, Zenger had caught the biggest coho of his life, an 18.8-pounder that put him firmly at the top of the Derby leaderboard. If nobody turned in a fish bigger than Zenger\u2019s by the end of the Derby, he would take home $10,000 in prize money.<\/p>\n
Zenger returned at 2 p.m. to his Douglas home a few blocks up the street from Louie\u2019s. Done with fishing for the weekend, he had nothing to do but listen to the Derby standings on the radio, wondering if his fish would hold up.<\/p>\n
The anticipation was too much. Zenger needed a beer. He was in his seat at Louie\u2019s by 5:30 p.m. The bartenders had the radio on, listening to Derby updates.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey said, \u2018You\u2019re gonna make it, you\u2019re gonna make it,\u2019 and I said, \u2018Not until 6 I\u2019m not,\u2019\u201d Zenger said during a Tuesday interview at his home. \u201cI don\u2019t think I have been that nervous for a long, long time. I think if I had taken my blood pressure, I would have broken the machine.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the bomb finally went off, Zenger rang the bell above the bar. After decades of fishing the Golden North Salmon Derby, the 71-year-old retired electrician had finally won.<\/p>\n
It was his turn to buy a round.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was pretty exciting. You know, I had been trying 50 years to win that darn thing, it was just something,\u201d Zenger said, still riding high from the win. \u201cIt was my time to buy, you know? We\u2019ve always had a tradition, all us friends here in Douglas. \u2026 Whoever won had to buy everyone else a beer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now a Douglas resident, Zenger fishes a lot out of Douglas Harbor on the other side of town where he caught his Derby winner. But he knew the area well; he and his siblings grew up 16 miles north of downtown.<\/p>\n
As a child, Zenger remembers fishing the Derby with his family. It was then he learned where the best coho spots north of town.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad had this old wooden, 16-foot plywood boat with this old, cranky 25 Evinrude on it. Half the time he\u2019d have to wrap a rope around the flywheel to get it started. He\u2019d be cursing and yelling and all that. We\u2019d roll that boat down on logs to the water \u2014 it seemed like it was always low tide then,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n