Six women catch 10 of them weighing a total of 88 pounds to win annual Powder Puff Derby

The winning team in the annual Powder Puff Ladies Fishing Derby consisted of (from left to right): Sharlena Klug, Dani Johannsen, Jennifer Noelani, Rebecca Halverson, Tori Brown, and Krisi Kaiser. – Submitted photo

Rebecca Halverson has zero fishing experience.

Tori Brown has never even been on a boat.

But there they were, with teammates Sharlena Klug, Dani Johannsen, Jennifer Noelani and Krisi Kaiser, winning the annual Powder Puff Ladies Fishing Derby on July 17.

“I’m not a big outdoor-type person and didn’t think I’d like it at all,” Brown said. “But it was a lot of great fun. It’s a lot more comfortable and kind of relaxing when you’re on the water.”

The Wharf/Jeff’s Tackle hosted the event, which raises money for the Sheboygan County Cancer Care Fund.

There were a total of 53 boats on Lake Michigan with 173 women participating.

Halverson, who lives in Plymouth – as does Klug, her mother – never expected to be one of them.

“Well, actually I hate boats, I hate being on the open water and I hate fish,” she said. “So I said, ‘OK, that sounds like a really bad time.”

But her best friend is Johannsen, so she told her she would try it out and do it for her.

Halverson was nervous, as expected, and for good reason.

“It was super foggy,” she said. “So I was even more terrified, but at soon as we got out a little bit farther and the fog went away, it was so amazing and I want to do it all the time now.”

As does Brown, who was asked to fish even though she’s only been on a rowboat before.

“At first, I was rather alarmed,” said Brown, who like the others lives in Sheboygan. “I’m not necessarily comfortable with large bodies of water. I didn’t know if it would be rocky and kind of rumbly, but it was actually not bad at all. A little scary once you lost sight of the pier, but it was a smooth ride. Once you’re out there, it’s kind of just overcoming one of your fears.”

The women used a boat from Dumper Dan’s Charter Fishing, and their captain was Mitch Deering.

They took first place by combining to catch a total of 10 fishing weighing 88 pounds.

Kaiser, competing in the Powder Puff for the third time, says the most fish on other charters was six.

“So we hit a gold mine on Lake Michigan,” she said.

Brown caught two fish and helped on a third, and says she will “for sure” partake again next year.

Halverson also caught two fish.

Her first was “a little difficult” and she was not expecting it to be so hard.

He second weighed 17 pounds and took about 22 minutes to reel in.

“That one was really tough,” Halverson said. “My arm definitely hurt.”