Alaska Fishing

Cleveland has LeBron. Anchorage has Scotty. And now Homer has Tom.

Tom Youngblood, that is, whose job at the Kachemak Gear Shed out on East End Road puts him at the center of Homer's outdoors world.

Youngblood became the talk of that world, and much of the town, Friday by landing a monstrous eight-foot-long halibut that muscled its way to first place in the summer-long Homer Jackpot Halibut Derby.

If his 354.6-pound fish stays atop the leaderboard for the contest's final three months, Youngblood would become the fourth Homer fisherman to win the derby since it began in 1986. The last hometown halibut hero was Tom Barkman in 2001, and before him came Jim Clymer in 1995 and Tony DeMichelle in 1986.

"I'm here at the store now, and (the news) is all over town already," Youngblood said Friday afternoon. "The Chamber of Commerce and the people who sponsor (the derby) are real happy it was a local.

"I'm real happy it was a local."

Youngblood, 72, said he'll try to resist dreaming about a five-figure jackpot that would certainly help smooth his eventual transition into retirement. In six of the last seven years, first place in the derby has paid more than $40,000. Last year, Jeff Pardi of San Rafael, Calif., won $45,475 with a catch of 348.2 pounds.

"Somebody could go out there tomorrow and catch one bigger," he said. "There's no use worrying about it till it gets to the end."

Youngblood's haul dropped David Moore of Gill, Colo., into second place with a 235-pounder.

Youngblood caught his monster aboard the Sweet-T of In-2-Fishin Charters. The skipper, Ron Hurley, is a friend, and when Hurley had an open seat Friday, he invited Youngblood to come along.

Fishing with a jig, Youngblood hooked his monster near Point Adam in about 80 feet of water. It took about 30 minutes to get it into the boat.

"We'd been there about 30 minutes and one lady on the boat caught some kind of fish and lost it, and then there were no more till I caught this one," he said. "After we seen how big it was, we said we better go to town, so we came to town."

On the 75-minute trip back to shore, the six people aboard the boat debated how big the fish was. Each put $20 into a pool and tried guessing the weight. Hurley -- a member of the derby committee -- guessed 345 pounds, Youngblood said, to take the pot. Youngblood's guess was 333.

Everyone on the boat came out ahead, though.

Because the boat hurried back to Homer to get the halibut on the scales before it lost too much water weight, no one other than Youngblood caught a fish. To make amends, Youngblood will share his bounty with the other passengers. His big catch yielded 175 pounds of fillets, he said, and everyone will get some.

And when the filets are all gone, Youngblood will still have a piece of his gi-normous fish. He said he plans to get the 24-inch-wide tail mounted.

Fishing and grandchildren were the draw when Youngblood and his wife Laveda moved to Homer about five years ago from Naturita, Colo. Youngblood's son, Tary, had just retired from the Air Force and decided to keep his family in Alaska.

Three years ago, Youngblood reeled in what he guessed was a 280- to 290-pounder while fishing Kachemak Bay but he was on a three-day trip and the crew and passengers didn't want to cut the trip short to take the halibut ashore to get it weighed.

This time when Youngblood landed a whopper, Hurley got on the radio to derby headquarters and said he was coming in right away with a fish.

"I called the local papers, because I knew it would be a big one," said Paula Frisinger, derby coordinator for the Homer Chamber of Commerce. "Oh my gosh, it's exciting. It's just a huge monster.

"It's great when you get a local -- a man who just loves fishing in the first place, and works in a place that's all about fishing."

Find Beth Bragg online at adn.com/contact/bbragg or call 257-4309.

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