Well boys it was crazy to see that many fly fishermen in the surf. I swore I was on the Owens on opening day. The turn out was incredible. It was way bigger than what Al and I could have imagined. Actually I want to thank Kristina for shooting all of the pictures, since Jorge was fishing the event. She was a trooper getting on her waders, and getting in with the anglers to get the shot. She took some great shots too. We had a few guys still getting their sea legs, but there are a few who could be considered the wet seal of the event. I think everyone made a new friend as I did for sure. It as also great to see friends that we do not get to see too often. That is the best thing about these things is the fellowship and brotherhood that is built (dorky and sappy yes, but true ;)). Now onto the show...
I would like to give a big thank you to the spotters who helped out. Without them this would have been near impossible to run. The spotters did a great job of watching our for joggers and keeping score. It was great that everyone was able to keep space between each other too. That is some great sportsmanship. Lets give a big applause to John Fleisher, Mike Centofani, Matt Warnock, Michelle, and Conway Bowman, Paul Cronin, Steve Peiper, Mike Thompson, Steve Heibert, Bill Smice, Ken F. and the tall guy who I can not remember your name (little did you know you would get recruited. You thought you were just going to take it all in).
Our donors also stepped up big with the goods for the raffle to help raise money for the TU Southern Chapter's steelhead recovery efforts on the San Mateo Creek in San Clemente. This is something that is local that we can all take part in. To imagine a sustainable steelhead run in the OC in the future is still mind boggling. The raffle was able to generate $1295 for the recovery efforts. As I mentioned at the raffle, lets all give a big thank you to the manufactures and tiers when you see them at the fly fishing shows for giving such generous donations. I would like to again personally thank: Abel Reels, Patagonia, Fin Sport, Hareline, Gamakatsu, William Joseph, Drake Fly Fishing Film Tour, WetFly.net, Ken Hanley Pacific Extreme, John William Artist, Outdoor Specialties, Orvis Pasadena, Orvis Fly Lines, Fishermen’s Spot, Dennis Harper of Harper Custom Rods, Outcast, FlyFishingEuphoria.com. Also I would like to thank the fly tiers for giving time to tie such beautiful flies that others may use to great effect: Jay Murikoshi, Dave Valdez, Shane Chung, Andy Koczan, Mike Centofani, Matt Warnock, Paul Cronin, Al Quatrocchi , Gary Bulla.
As a recap of the results; Vaughn Podmore won two categories: first fish caught and most fish caught. The first fish caught was at 7:30 am ( a barred surf perch ) with Craig Crosby following close behind with his caught at 7:36am (a barred surf perch). Vaughn also caught 6 barred surf perch for the most fish. Those fish were caught on a orange and tan checker fly pattern submitted by Daniel Roberts. Rich Kanner won the largest fish caught with a 19.5 corbina, caught on a rootbeer and orange surf worm submitted by Kim Zetterburg ( fly in the picture posted by Al ). The next biggest fish was a 9" barred surf perch also caught by Rich Kanner. Since the fly that won the most fish and first fish were the same, a runner up was chosen for the most fish fly. Even at this point we needed another tie breaker to determine the runner up fly. There were two other anglers who also caught 3 surf perch as well, with Kevin Green and Jim Troyer topping out the list. Kevin beat out Jim' s 7.5" barred surf perch with a 8.5" barred surf perch. The fly fished with by Kevin Green was an orange surf clouser fly ( you can get this fly from (www.fishingeuphoria.com) submitted by Ed Rowlett.
In total we had 62 anglers signed up, with 57 signed in the morning of the 5th to fish. We pulled 2 anglers to help with the spotting (once again thanks Bill S. and Steve P. ). A total of 26 clousers, 7 surf rats, 5 surf worms, 4 shrimp pattens, 4 crab patterns, 3 checker surf flies, 2 razzlers, 2 croacker candies and 5 individual patterns were submitted.
We had 27 barred surf perch caught, 2 walleye surf perch caught and 1 corbina caught. 12 anglers were able to catch one barred surf perch, and 1 angler caught a walleye surf perch. 4 anglers were able to catch 2 barred surf perch and 1 angler caught 6 barred surf perch. Lastly one angler was able to catch the lone corbina. Two baby corbinas were snagged during the event.
This is the baby corbina that took a ride of its life. The barb was wrapped around the belly of the fish behind the pectoral fins. The barb was just barely stuck to the skin. Below are some action shots of a very laid up Huntingon Beach.
Cheers
Shane
