Les Anderson, holder of the world record for his 97 1/4# king salmon, hopes this is the year "Somebody from around here gets a bigger one and takes the heat off me!" After 12 years of notoriety, Les is ready to give up the crown of King of King Fishers. With a predicted large return this year, chances are as good or better than ever that somebody will succeed in beaking the hundred pound mark, a record that would probably stand for another dozen years or, perhaps, forever.

It was 7 a.m. on May 17, 1985 when Les and his fishing partner, brother-in-law Bud Lofstedt, tied into the lunker at the Pillars Drift on the Kenai River. Les was drifting eggs when the fish hit. For such a large fish, it had plenty of spunk and gave the pair an exciting hour or so of excitement as it lead them first upriver and then back down.

When it first became hooked, it went airborn and crossed Lofstedt's line, but even in the ensueing confusion, Lofstedt managed to get the line untangled, reeled in and the boat headed upstream after the fish. Unfortunately the thrust knocked Anderson to the floor, but he held tight to the rod as they followed the big fish up to Honeymoon Cove.

More problems came up when they tried to land the behemouth: the net was too small. After three attempts, they beached the boat and manhandled the fish on to the shore. At the time, neither fisherman realized they had a world record so they continued to fish. It was not until 2:00 in the afternoon that they finally got around to weighing the fish on the official scale at Echo Lake Lockers.

It was estimated that the fish lost about two pounds in the five hours since it was hooked, but even at 97 1/4# it beat the previous record of 93#. Les won $500 in that year's derby, but the lucky angler who beats his record this year will gain one hundred times that amount. May could be the month again this year for a local to get the big one, after that the chances are that the record, if broken, will go to a visitor. So let's get out there and try to take some of that heat off Les!