I made it out today for the first Morro Bay Perch Derby and my first tournament of 2015. This was a small event, primarily members of the Central Coast Kayak Fishing group, and a winner take all tournament. A fun little derby style tournament with a cash pot and a small raffle put on by one of the local sportfishing shops, Morro Bay Landing. I loaded up the kayaks the night before and arrived the following morning at Morro Bay Landing to sign-in and pay up.
After paying and signing in, I made my way down to the launch spot at Coleman Beach inside the bay. The weather was overcast with a chance of rain in the forecast but, the temperature was a nice 65 degrees and the wind was calm. We took the kayaks down to the beach and everyone got rigged up in anticipation of the 7:30 launch time.
The Wilderness Systems crew rigged and ready to go with 2 Thresher's and a Ride 115X Max.
At 7:30, as if on que, a light rain began to fall and the wind started to awaken. Not to be deterred, we grabbed our paddles and hit the water in search of the targeted species. This day we were looking for 3 different species of perch. The Black Perch, Pile Perch, and Rubber Lip Perch. Each angler was allowed to measure-in their single biggest of each of these 3 fish and that made up the anglers catch for the day. The angler with the highest total combined length would take home the pot.
The water was calm and the tide was slack so for the first hour or so we had nice conditions even with a little bit of rain. After that though, even with the rain stopping, the wind increased and the tide changed making fishing tough. The bite was hot and cold with most catching the more common black perch and having trouble finding the pile and rubber lips.
Andy O'Brien, Wilderness Systems ProStaff and Deep 6 Fishing team member, braving the rain and doin' a little perchin'
I caught my first fish about an hour in to the competition but as I was putting it on the board to measure it, it slipped through my hands and back into the water! DAMN!!! Oh well, the bite seemed to be picking up and I was soon rewarded with another black perch, this one sticking around for his photo before being sent back home.
A nice black perch, these really are pretty little fish.
From there we worked our way along the embarcadero working in and around the piers and docks.
I'd like to see a boat get beneath the piers and work these areas. The advantage of fishing from a kayak!
With the day wearing on the bite began to slow as the wind and tide increased making it difficult to target one area. The general consensus on the water was that no one had, as of yet, been able to bag all 3 species. The door was still open but time was slipping away with the 2:00 weigh-in getting nearer. After working my way south along the wharf for a few hours, I decided to start working my way back north toward the launch to be closer for the weigh-in.
I was able to hook a few more black perch but I was having trouble expanding beyond that. Eventually I found a nice area where the bottom dropped off into one of the deeper channels within the bay. I cast my carolina rigged pile worm out into the deep water and slowly brought it up the slope. Midway, my light weight rod bent over and I was hooked up! This one fought different than the blacks I had been catching and getting it to the surface I saw that it was a nice sized pile perch. Landing it and getting it on the board it came in at 13 1/2", respectable for a pile perch though they do get a bit bigger.
Pile perch that almost brought home the win.
At this point the day was getting on near the weigh-in but not knowing if anyone had gotten all 3 species I tried for a bit longer to get the trifecta. It was not to be this day so with 30 minutes left before cut-off I landed and quickly loaded up my gear. I arrived at the weigh-in with 10 minutes to spare only to find out that I had been edged out by 2 1/2"! The winner measuring in a black perch and a big rubber lip perch. Two fish! That's all it took this day to walk away with over $400.
The happy winner with his catch and his clams! Way to go Roy! Nice work buddy.
Willy B taking home the $50 gift certificate from Morro Bay Landing in the raffle. Nice on Willy!
The yougest angler competing today. Owen, the son of Wildy ProStaffer and Deep 6 Fishing's Chad Britton. Owen held his own out there today and ended up winning a shirt from Morro Bay Landing in the raffle. Way to go Owen!
With the sun shining, friendships were cemented over fish stories and the comraderie of the kayak fishing life.
The father/daughter duo - Scott with his favorite fishing partner, his daughter Tessa. Great to see the kids come out for the event!
A couple of people missing from the photo but this is the gang from today. Another fun kayak fishing event in the books. Good fishing, good friends, and good times!
As much as I like the bigger tournaments and enjoy the competition and their ability to raise money for organizations and causes, these smaller "local" tournaments are awesome! Getting together with your local club or online forum is a great way to build up your local kayak fishing scene and even get new members involved. It gets the group together, gets the kids and families involved, and builds that fishing comraderie that we all enjoy.
Congratulations to Roy Garner on his win (did I mention that Roy paddles a Wilderness Systems Ride 135?!, YEAH!) and thank you to Derrick and Ryan from Central Coast Kayak Fishing for putting this together. It was a great time fellas! Also, thank you to Morro Bay Landing for their hospitality and generosity, very cool dudes!
OK folks, until next time...Get out there and fish!
Cheers, Tebbs!
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