Alaskan Man Catches a $50,000 Tagged Fish

Seward has a way of sending visitors home happy. Year after year, decade after decade, the town that hosts one of Alaska’s most famous fishing derbies celebrates winners who come from someplace else.

Not this year. The pretty city on the edge of Resurrection Bay is cheering for one local who became a big winner Saturday and another who could hit it big Sunday when the Seward Silver Salmon Derby wraps up its 57th year.

Michael Rogers, a 64-year-old who was born and raised in Seward, caught a $50,000 tagged fish Saturday afternoon.

And Earl Cagle, a 69-year-old who has lived in Seward for 32 years, sits nervously atop the leaderboard. If his 16.14-pound silver survives the final day of derby fishing, Cagle will become the first Seward resident to win the derby in decades.