{"id":682664,"date":"2026-05-20T20:31:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T20:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/682664\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T20:31:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T20:31:15","slug":"iqaluit-fishers-bring-in-more-than-2000-cod-at-long-weekend-derby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/682664\/","title":{"rendered":"Iqaluit fishers bring in more than 2,000 cod at long weekend derby"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"byline\"><a class=\"category sports\" href=\"https:\/\/nunatsiaq.com\/tag\/sports\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sports<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0May 20, 2026 \u2013 9:20 am EDT<\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">Prizes in multiple categories and draw for volunteers handed out on Monday<\/p>\n<p>                                                    <a class=\"thumbnail\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/PJ-Derby-Photo-scaled.jpg\" title=\"Iqaluit fishers bring in more than 2,000 cod at long weekend derby\"><br \/>\n                                <img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2400\" height=\"1801\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/PJ-Derby-Photo-scaled.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full wp-post-image\" title=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\"  \/>                            <\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Iqaluit Mayor Solomon Awa, centre, brings in the longest cod brought in by an elder which came with a return airfare prize from Canadian North. (Photo courtesy of P.J. Akeeagok)<\/p>\n<p class=\"author\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/nunatsiaq.com\/author\/mosha-folger\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\t Mosha Folger<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Koojesse Inlet west of Iqaluit was buzzing with activity over the Victoria Day weekend as fishers took to the sea ice for the 2026 Iqaluit Cod Derby.<\/p>\n<p>Vying for more than two dozen prizes in five categories, jiggers lowered their lures with the hopes of pulling up the longest cod.<\/p>\n<p>Tommy Nauyuk won the $10,000 top prize for his 40.8-cm catch.<\/p>\n<p>In the under 16 category, Ethan Tiglik reeled in the first-place prize of $1,000 as well as the second-place prize of a $750 and a gift card to Asian Kitchen.<\/p>\n<p>Iqaluit Mayor Solomon Awa pulled up the longest cod caught by an elder, and his reward was a Canadian North return ticket.<\/p>\n<p>The elder\u2019s category also featured a $1,000 draw for anyone 60 years old and up who caught a cod over the weekend, which Atsanak Price won.<\/p>\n<p>There was a $500 \u201cmystery\u201d contest as well for those who caught a specific size of cod. The first, for an 18.5-cm catch, was picked for the derby\u2019s date of May 18. The second, a 20.2-cm cod, was for the year 2026. Moe Baines and Susie Baines won these contests respectively.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/nunatsiaq.com\/ads\/260515-north-west\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"373\" height=\"331\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/260515.100.93.png\" class=\"no-lazy-load wp-post-image\" title=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The final category was a $500 draw eligible for everyone who caught a sculpin, or \u201ckanajuq\u201d in Inuktitut. Gordon Campbell won the draw.<\/p>\n<p>Between 800 and 1,000 people took part in the derby and caught a total of 2,095 cod, organizers said on the event\u2019s Facebook page. That\u2019s three times the number of cod measured in any previous year.<\/p>\n<p>Organizer Andrea Anderson was contacted for comment, but she declined citing a need to rest after the work she had put into the four-day event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sports\u00a0\u00a0May 20, 2026 \u2013 9:20 am EDT Prizes in multiple categories and draw for volunteers handed out on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":682665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-682664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=682664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/682665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=682664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=682664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=682664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}