1st Annual Estero Kayak Challenge Results

Sunday, June 7, 2015 was awesome! We held the 1st Annual Estero Kayak Challenge and had 49 anglers compete for almost $2000 in 4 divisions. We called this tournament the Estero Kayak Challenge for 2 reasons. First, it was held within Estero Bay on California's Central Coast and the Northern boundary was Estero Point. The second reason, the fishing can be tough in this area, hence the "challenge". As you can see from the results, there were many who didn't weigh in any fish at all, while others were able to find some nice ones.

A very big congratulations to Jim Gosciminski, our tournament champion! Jim, took the win in 2 divisions. He took the Lingcod division with a solid 10 pound 9 ounce hawg and in the 2 fish division added a nice 6 pounder to his other ling for a total of 16 pounds 9 ounces! Way to go Jim!

His buddy, Mike Sapp who traveled down with him from the Santa Cruz area, took 2nd place in the Lingcod division with a heavy 9 pound 10 ounce ling, followed by Ren Reidel in 3rd with a very nice 7 pound 5 ounce fish of his own. Solid fish boys!

In the Rockfish division there was some very tight competition with quite a few guys tieing, luckily all of the ties were lower on the leaderboard. Just like at last years 3rd Cambria Slam Down tournament, Carlos Cantu took the win in the rockies! Congrats Carlos, nice work in some tough conditions. Carlos was followed by Billy Hurst and Jason Potts, in third and fourth respectively. Awesome job guys!

The Cabezon division was very tough. It is a good thing we were only paying out 3 places because only 3 cabs were brought in all day. The cool thing, is that all 3 of those cabbies would have been contenders even if more had been caught. Kenny Nakamura, from Roseville, took the win with a fat 6 pound 5 ounce cabby, followed by Dusty McAdon with a fatty of his own at 5 pounds 3 ounces. For a while we thought that might be it for the cabs. Then Justin Vermillion, one of the last to come in, brought the final one to the scale. It came in at 4 pounds 10 ounces and secured him third place. Very cool boys!

We saw some nice fish brought in, including a swell shark caught by Carny Stuart-Williams. He rushed the shark to the scale where we took a quick weight then he ran it back down to the water and released it safely. It was awesome to see that beautiful shark and to have it released back into the water. Next year, we will take a look at the 2 fish division and add some restrictions to the allowable species for the sake of conservation.

The raffle for HOW was a great success, we ended up raising more than $2700! All of which will go to our new local chapter. William Platte of Los Osos, a veteran himself, was the winner of the Wilderness Systems Kayaks Thresher 140. Very happy for you Willy!

Thank you to all of our wonderful sponsors who donated to the event and made it a success. You all rock! A list of our sponsors can be found here.

Thank you to all who came out and made the event a success and to all the awesome sponsors who donated items to the Heroes on the Water raffle. I am already looking forward to next years event when we can do it again!

Here are the final results:

Division 4 - 2 Fish Tournament Champion

1st Place - Jim Gosciminski 2 lings - 16 lbs 9 oz - $490

2nd - William Platte 12 lbs 7 oz
3rd - Brian Valenzuela 12 lbs 12 oz
4th - Ren Reidel 11 lbs 13 oz
5th - Nick Lana 10 lbs 7 oz
6th - Alan Kupstas 10 lbs 10 oz
7th - Chad Johnson 10 lbs
8th T - Carny Stuart-Williams 9 lbs 7 oz
8th T - Justin Vermillion 9 lbs 7 oz
10th - Bob Joslin 8 lbs 13 oz
11th - Phil Lopez 8 lbs 12 oz
12th - Jason Potts 8 lbs 8 oz
13th - Kenny Nakamura 8 lbs 4 oz
14th - Ricardo Holden 7 lbs 15 oz
15th - Andy O'Brien 7 lbs 3 oz
16th T - John Gonzalez 7 lbs 1 oz
16th T - Mason Radke 7 lbs 1 oz
18th - Roy Arnold 7 lbs
19th - Eli Campos 6 lbs

Division 1 - Rockfish

1st Place - Carlos Cantu 3 lbs 14 oz - $245
2nd Place - Billy Hurst 3 lbs 2 oz - $145
3rd Place - Jason Potts 2 lbs 15 oz - $100

4th - Andy O'Brien 2 lbs 14 oz
5th T - Brian Valenzuela 2 lbs 10 oz
5th T - Nick Lana 2 lbs 10 oz
7th T - Corey Hamblin 2 lbs 9 oz
7th T - Ricardo Holden 2 lbs 9 oz
9th T - Chad Johnson 2 lbs 5 oz
9th T - Ren Reidel 2 lbs 5 oz
11th T - Alan Kupstas 2 lbs 4 oz
11th T - Justin Vermillion 2 lbs 4 oz
13th - Eli Campos 2 lbs 2 oz
14th T - Erik Nordholm 2 lbs 1 oz
14th T - Mason Radke 2 lbs 1 oz
16th - Robert Marlow 2 lbs
17th T - Roy Arnold 1 lb 15 oz
17th T - Kenny Nakamura 1 lb 15 oz
19th - John Gonzalez 1 lb 8 oz
20th - Carny Stuart-Williams 1 lb 5 oz

Division 2 - Cabezon

1st Place - Ken Nakamura 6 lbs 5 oz - $245
2nd Place - Dusty McAdon 5 lbs 3 oz - $145
3rd Place - Justin Vermillion 4 lbs 10 oz - $100

Division 3 - Lingcod

1st Place - Jim Gosciminski 10 lbs 9 oz - $245
2nd Place - Mike Sapp 9 lbs 10 oz - $145
3rd Place - Ren Reidel 7 lbs 5 oz - $100

4th - William Platte 7 lbs 2 oz
5th - Brian Valenzuela 6 lbs 11 oz
6th - Alan Kupstas 6 lbs 2 oz
7th - Nick Lana 5 lbs 14 oz
8th T - Jason Potts 5 lbs 9 oz
8th T - John Gonzalez 5 lbs 9 oz
10th - Phil Lopez 5 lbs 8 oz
11th T - Dan Fleming 5 lbs 6 oz
11th T - Chad Johnson 5 lbs 6 oz
13th - Carny Stuart-Williams 5 lbs 4 oz
14th - Roy Arnold 5 lbs 1 oz
15th - Mason Radke 5 lbs
16th - Justin Vermillion 4 lbs 11 oz
17th T - Bob Joslin 4 lbs 12 oz
17th T - David Chaves 4 lbs 12 oz
19th - Andy O'Brien 4 lbs 5 oz
20th - Ricardo Holden 4 lbs 4 oz
21st - Eli Campos 3 lbs 14 oz
22nd - Doug Browand 3 lbs 11 oz