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

Estero Kayak Challenge - 3 weeks away!

Update 5/15 - We are getting a great turnout as we get closer to the event, 44 anglers competing! There is still time to register if you haven't yet. Remember, there is no day of registration and we are 3 weeks away, so get those entries in. I would love to see us hit 50 anglers, can we do it? 

Even if you don't fish in the event, come out for some fun in beautiful Cayucos, Ca and help us celebrate the new Central Coast Chapter of Heroes on the Water!

1. Erik Nakamura - shogunofthecity
2. George Jercich - iZod
3. Ryan Howell - RHYAK
4. Eli Campos
5. Andy O'Brien - Dogpound
6. Billy Hurst
7. Bob Joslin
8. Kenny Nakamura - KennyKayak
9. Jeff Hopp
10. Eric Tebbets - Surfbrewer
11. Chad Britton - LOpaddler
12. Alan Kupstas
13. John Calvert
14. Robert Marlow - Squawfish
15. William Platte
16. Jesse Poquette - allwet
17. Phil Lopez - Lopezcador
18. Mike Watt
19. Jason Potts
20. Brian Nakamura - Nakatack
21. Kenny Wimer
22. Roy Arnold - Sideroad
23. Bill DuMong - Billydog
24. Nick Lana - Madcat
25. Chad Johnson
26. Justin Vermillion - J_Verm
27. Rendall Reidel
28. Gary Valerio
29. Barton Riggs
30. James Gosciminski
31. Eddie Falch
32. Jeffrey Veteto
33. Dustin McAdon
34. Carney Stuart-Williams
35. John Gonzalez
36. Michael Sapp
37. Corey Hamblin - Cor-Dawg
38. Ricardo Holden - Fisheye Channel
39. Rolland Felton - rfelton
40. Josh Knoll - CenCal-HOW
41. Daniel Mark Fleming
42. Carlos Cantu
43. Scott Kopp - FlyYaker
44. Brian Valenzuela

Morro Bay Perch Derby

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!

New Years halibut video

Here is a video I did of the New Years Eve halibut catch from Cambria, Ca

New Years Eve Halibut Video

Off-Season Maintenance

Here on the west coast the groundfish season, which includes Rockfish, Lingcod, Cabezon, Sheepshead, Ocean Whitefish and others, closes on December 31. It's a time when us saltwater yak guys turn to the shores for some surf and rock fishing and the lakes for some bass and trout fishing. It is also an opportunity to do some much needed and often deferred maintenance on our salt gear. 

During the open season it can be difficult to find the time to do more than a good rinse with fresh water after each use, at least for me. That is why once the season closes I like to do a thorough tear down and cleaning of my gear. Here is the technique that I use and that works for me. 

I do one rod and reel setup at a time, from start to finish. This helps me keep components organized and separate from each other. 

Step 1. Remove the reel from the rod and set aside. 

Step 2. Give the entire rod a good cleaning with warm, soapy water and a gentle scrub brush. Cleaning the rod first, removes built up grime and allows you to see problems during your inspection. 

Step 3. Do a thorough inspection of the rod starting with the grips and working your way to the tip.

Butt Cap - This is the cap at the very bottom of the rod. It protects the butt of the rod and should be 

securely in place.

          

EVA Foam grips - Modern EVA is very durable and requires very little maintenance. I generally just give it a good wash down with warm soapy water and inspect for defects that could cause problems such as looseness on the rod blank, which is rare.

Cork grips - I love the feel of cork and it is a time tested material but it does pick up more contaminants than EVA and is subject to more wear and tear. Again, I check to ensure the grip is secure to the rod blank and that there are no cracks or major defects. Then I wash the grip with warm soapy water and a gentle brush. If you find there is grime that you can not remove with this method try using a small amount of denatured alcohol. 

Reel Seat - Your reel seat keeps your reel solidly in place. If it breaks you are out of service. That is why it is important not to over tighten your seats. I begin by looking at the threads for signs of damage such as flattening or cuts in the threads. When cleaning and inspecting the threads be sure to move the hood all the way up and down to get to all of the threads. I then check the hoods for cracks and damage that may affect their ability to secure the reel. I also make sure the seat is securely attached to the rod blank. You do not want your reel seat coming loose and moving.

Guides, Tip Top, and Wraps - Continue to work your way up the rod checking each of the guides and guide wraps as you go. When inspecting the guides look for physical damage such as loose, bent, or broken 

guides. Then check the guide rings (the inside circle where the line runs) for damage such as cracks, grooves, or nicks in the coating that can damage or cut your fishing line. I like to use a cotton swab and run it around the guide rings to see if the cotton snags on anything. Any defect that the cotton snags on can potentially damage your line causing it to fail at the wrong time. Many of these defects can be removed with a light sanding with a fine sandpaper or steel wool, just don't over do it. As you inspect the guides check the guide wraps and finish on the rod for signs of damage such as frayed or loose threads and cracks in the finish coat.

Undamaged guide frame and wraps

Undamaged guide ring

Crushed guide frame in need of repair

Tip top repairs are fairly simple. Fuji and other companies sale repair kits that come with an assortment of tip sizes and tip top adhesive. If the old tip top is loose but still attached using some heat from a heat gun or hair dryer to soften it enough to remove the old top. Do not use direct flame or hold a heat gun in one spot for too long as you can damage the rod. Once the old tip top is removed, clean the tip of the rod as best as you can and install the new tip top per the kits instructions. For other repairs such as broken or loose guides, broken or loose reel seats, or loose grips you may need to take the rod to a rod builder for repair or scour YouTube for "How-to's" on repairing it yourself.

Undamaged tip top

Rod tip with the tip top removed

Taking care of your equipment doesn't take a lot of time and will help to ensure you don't lose that next personal best fish due to lack of maintenance. Now its time for me to go tackle that reel. 

Before the season closes, get out there and fish! 

Cheers, Tebbs

Hitchin' a ride!

Our friends over at Central Coast Kayak Fishing posted this photo by Scott Williams, of a lingcod hitchhiking on a rocky. Nice shot Scott!