Raymond Victory arrived at Bluffton's annual trout derby at 8:15 a.m. - much later than usual, but still nearly six hours before the 2 p.m. starter's gun would sound. He was carrying two poles - one with which to fish, the other to lay on the ground to stake off his three-foot section on the quarry's bank.

As the derby began, Victory announced to those nearby: "That guy (the number one tagged trout) is in this area. One of us will catch him." Victory was joking, but just 15 minutes later, that joke turned into reality.

Victory felt a catch as his pole bent a bit, so reeled in his line. He'd left his reading glasses at home, but thought he saw the number "1'' on the tag. To be certain, he asked a guy sitting nearby to read the number. "Congratulations," said the other fisherman.

Knowing that the prize for his catch could increase over the next few hours - it's based on a raffle - Victory waited another hour before reporting in with his tag. His prize amounted to more than $1,000. But for Victory, that was just money. As far as he was concerned, he was celebrating much more.

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