Ardenia catches winning winter king
Published 1:30 am Thursday, April 9, 2026
Snow and wind pelted anglers and community members gathered Saturday at the Deep Water Dock on the Homer Spit, but all awaited the results of this year’s Winter King Tournament good-naturedly. Despite the weather, the spot was a festive scene, with many tournament-goers enjoying food trucks, live music, merch sales and a beer garden included as part of the event.
The 32nd annual tournament was postponed twice from its original March 21 date due to a buildup of sea ice in the Homer Harbor. Homer News previously reported that this year marks only the second time that the tournament has been delayed two weeks past the original scheduled date since the very first tournament in 1994.
In spite of the delays, the tournament still saw a decent, if comparably smaller, turnout with 825 anglers and 249 boats participating. The 2025 tournament had 1,235 anglers on 373 registered teams. A total of 98 fish were weighed in this year — also a decrease from last year’s weigh-in count of 233 fish.
The Homer Chamber of Commerce announced in a press release Monday that the tournament awarded an estimated $130,520 in prize money and nearly $30,000 in merchandise prizes this year.
Homer resident Michael Ardenia, fishing on the Salmonator, earned the top spot in Saturday’s tournament with a winter king salmon weighing in at 26.2 pounds. His total earnings including his team’s side tournament winnings, according to unofficial results shared by the chamber, amount to $41,144. This year marked his fourth time participating in the tournament.
Ardenia said that the Salmonator left the harbor at about 7:45 a.m. Saturday morning, and he caught the tournament-winning fish “right at the last second,” at about 3:45 p.m. According to tournament rules, lines had to be out of the water no later than 4 p.m.
Ardenia was the only angler on his team to catch a fish. He said he’d had a good feeling about placing in the tournament with his winter king.
“As soon as it hit the deck, we knew it was up there,” he said.
Ardenia’s captain, Mike Geagel, was awarded the John Hillstrand award and a prize bucket for being the captain of the winning team.
This year’s Top Youth Angler prize went to Amelia Stengel, 7, from team Kinak. Stengel caught a 16.92-pound winter king that placed 11th overall in the tournament.
The top female angler was Anchor Point resident Christine Marlow, who placed seventh in the tournament with a fish weighing 18.46 pounds.
Third place winner Sean Lowe also caught the largest white king of the tournament, earning him an additional prize bucket.
Most of the top 10 winning anglers were Kenai Peninsula residents, excepting one — Riley Whitsitt, hailing from McDade, Texas, earned ninth place with a winter king weighing 17.88 pounds.
The Scott Ulmer Award went to Jack Montgomery, who co-founded the Winter King Tournament 32 years ago alongside Scott Ulmer.
“He was there from the very, very beginning to help create this tournament,” Ulmer said during the award presentations. “The mission and the goal was to let everybody know that you can catch king salmon in Kachemak Bay 12 months of the year, and Jack Montgomery was one of the first anglers to actually accomplish that…Truly a legend, an amazing man. He loves sharing fishing with people. He loves sharing this bay with people.”
A complete summary of the 2026 tournament results can be found at www.homerwinterking.com.
2026 Homer King Salmon Tournament Results — Top 10
Place, Angler, Weight in pounds, Boat, Earnings, Side Tourneys
1. Michael Ardenia, 26.20, Salmonator, $23,513, $17631
2. Tim Dillon, 24.76, The Edna Francis, 12,375, 22, 831
3. Sean Lowe, 21.90, Go Fish, $9,900
4. Stephen M. Krause, 20.12, Nona’s Ark, $8,662.50
5. Bo Calhoun, 19.68, Hope, $7,425
6. Joe Sr. Martishev, 19.08, Minion, $6,187.50
7. Christine Marlowe, 18.46, Christine K, $4,950
8. Mark Tornai, 18.00, Y O L O, $3,712.50
9. Riley Whitsitt, 17.88, Nona’s Ark, $2,475
10. Aaron Challans, 17.64, Kachemak Jack, $1,237.50, $2,616
