Battle of the Bays Recap...

[Saba Slayer]

Tony makes another issue of WON....



I've finally gotten back from my yearly June trip to Silver Lake after 9 days, I'll post a Sierra Report as soon as I'm almost caught up with unpacking and cleaning up after the kayak tourneys...

Here is a recap for Hasheim and any others that missed the original post...this was published in todays' WON.
There are a ton of photos on the CCA CAL Facebook page...https://www.facebook.com/CCAofCAL/ph...type=3&theater

BATTLE OF THE BAYS RECAP

Thanks to the kayak fishing community, the CCA CAL volunteers, and our many CCA sponsors, the two inaugural Battle of the Bays kayak fishing tournaments, were a complete success. Not only did we have a fun time at both beautiful venues, but we managed to raise some funds to deposit in our Coastal Conservation Association California general fund.
Our second tournament was Saturday June 10th at the fabulous King Harbor Yacht Club… picture kayak anglers eating our swordfish tacos at tables with white tablecloths alongside King Harbor and you get the idea.
As in our first tourney at Dana Landing/Fastlane, we once again had challenging conditions. The wind was up early at our shotgun start and there was a pretty good groundswell rolling in too. Due to the challenging conditions a few anglers chose to stay in the harbor and they were handsomely rewarded with a few legal Halibut and lots of shorts on the bite.
The biggest fish was an 11.55 lbs. Halibut caught off Torrance Beach on a sardine from Inseine Bait by Jay Scarcella. $380 was the cash payout on the Big Fish side pot and Jay also received a $100 gift certificate from Savage Gear for catching the largest Halibut.
The CPR (catch-photo-release) bass division and the three heaviest rockfish divisions were both won by “local” Team Sewer’s Tony Park with a bass bag of three Sand Bass totaling 56.25” and a rockfish bag of 6.2lbs. just beating Mike Bain’s 6.0 bag of Reds and Browns. Tony took home a $500 gift card from Dana Landing and a Penn Fathom 2 speed reel.
The second place finisher was Derwin Chang, who won the Mission Bay event. He hit a few stones between Hermosa and Redondo to pull up 3 Sandies for a total length of 52.5”. Derwin is a dedicated angler who made a game plan based on pre-fishing each event, he then stuck to his plan and as a result, caught some nice big bass and came home with some great prizes. He was rewarded with a $250 gift card from Baja Fish Gear.
Frank Santiago 52.25” and Chad Gierlich 47.5” took 3rd and 4th places fishing from a Hobie Tandem kayak with those killer Hookup Baits. Frank’s 3rd place earned him a $125 Turners gift card provided by Sportfishing Financial, as well as the largest bass prize, a pail of selected Hookup Baits. Frank and Chad re-gifted the pail of baits to the CCA to help with our broodstock gathering program. Chad’s 4th place prize was a $75 Promar/AHI gift certificate.
Aaron Smith caught the longest Calico and received a gift pack of One Cool Tuna CNC jigs. Alan Toji won a selection of Live Deception and Assault jigs from Promar/AHI for the biggest rockfish caught on an AHI jig or Squirt Rig.
The big winner of the Grand Prize 4 day trip to Cedros Kayak Fishing was Wayne Kotow who drew his own ticket then re-gifted the trip back into the drawing where it was won by Dave Brown from Okuma who also won the largest Spotty prize at the Mission Bay event. Lucky Dave will be fishing from a Hobie kayak for world class Calicos and Yellowtail with Jeff Mariani at Cedros.
The raffle earned CCA CAL over $2000 at each event and most everyone left with some great prizes ranging from rods, jigs, and apparel, to a Hobie i11s Marige Drive inflatable kayak provided by Southwind Kayaks and Hobie. This $2100 kayak was won by …………… one of our many CCA LA Chapter volunteers at the event.
Thanks to Wayne Kotow our Executive Director who’s previous Make-a-Wish tournament experience was invaluable and to the LA Chapter President, John Ballotti for coordinating the CCA volunteers staff at the event. John, Eric, and Mike Thanks for your gracious hospitality at your beautiful facility at the King Harbor Yacht Club. Our delicious fish tacos were once again donated by Rex and Marlen at Prime Time Seafood and prepared by Fabian and the staff at the yacht club.
With the success of the Battle of the Bays tournaments and the proud support of our sponsors, Wayne and Jim Salazar are already starting to work on next years expanded trail of events that will stretch from Mission Bay to Dana Point, and Santa Monica Bay then on to Channel Islands Harbor. Hobie Fastlane, and Cedros kayak Fishing and many of our sponsors have already expressed a commitment to another fun series of fishing tournaments next summer.