For the second day in a row, an Oswego County angler has caught a big fish locally to gain prominence in the Lake Ontario Counties Summer Derby.

Altmar’s Mark Chybinski caught a 15-pound, 15-ounce steelhead on Friday morning to take over first place in the LOC Derby’s Rainbow/Steelhead Division.

Division winners take home a $1,000 prize.

The derby began May 23 and continues through July 20.

“I’m excited,” Chybinski said. “Hopefully, it will hold up.”

On Thursday morning, Oswego’s Tom Allen caught a 29-pound, 9-ounce king salmon near the Oswego lighthouse to take the derby’s grand-prize lead. The grand prize is $7,500.

Fishing on Lake Ontario Friday with Captain Tom Wojslaw and the Fish Hawk team, Chybinski was hoping for a big salmon.

“We were searching for the big king,” Chybinski said. “We thought it was a coho (salmon) at first. It was a shock to see this nice steelhead.”

The team was fishing 12 miles northwest of Oswego. They were in over 600 feet of water, and the fish was caught 88 feet down on a Spin Doctor with an A-TOM-MIK fly.

“I almost ran out of line,” Chybinski said. “The fish was on the surface and still had 400 feet of copper out.”

He said it took about 15 minutes to boat the steelhead. The fish was weighed at Larry’s Oswego Salmon Shop, and it easily put Chybinski in the Rainbow/Steelhead Division lead.

The previous leader in the division was Albert Dewald of Grove City, Pa., with a 12-pound, 1-ounce fish.

The Fish Hawk team was doing some pre-fishing for today’s Mustad Challenge in Oswego, and they fished in the LOC Derby at the same time. Their efforts proved fruitful with the catching of the derby-leading steelhead.

For derby details and entry information, see www.loc.org.