220 Anglers Bass Fishing Kayak Fishing Tourney

[PerryC]

We went, we saw, and we fished...

If you live on the Left Coast, or the West Coast as it's proper name is and are into kayak fishing, you have heard of The Plastic Navy. Each year, they hold some kayak fishing tournaments and they have gotten larger year by year.

This year, I decided to join the tourney trail and fish the 6 stop circuit to see what kind of mayhem I could do on some bass. All stops are saltwater and some of the competition is pretty stiff especially with some of the San Diego guys who fish weekly, not to mention guides who fish in it, manufacturer teams who are fishing it, kayak shops who have pro staff teams who are fishing in it and some pretty damn good anglers to boot.

This is my story and I'm sticking to it:

My friend Robert who help on the site here decided to fish in it also, so I went sown to SD after work on Friday night for some eats and last minute strategy. We hit up a Pho restaurant by him for the usual killer Vietnamese chow before doing some last minute bass supply shopping. We didn't find the blades we were looking for, so we decided to head to the homestead and use what we already had. The next morning, we arrived at the sign-in spot at 5:30 thinking we would beat alot of the anglers there because the captains meeting was at 6:30am. We were greeted by anglers already there, already locked and loaded out the wazoo. Can you say oooooppps?

We unloaded the kayaks and proceeded to get rigged up for a full day on the water. At the captains meeting before launch, we learned there was 220 anglers participating in the event, which made it the largest in the country to date .

A distance shot of the Captains Meeting:



A closer shot of the meeting. Drew, who put everything together is the guy with the bullhorn:



Considering there were over 200 kayaks sharing a public launch ramp on a Saturday in San Diego, it went pretty smooth. Either because we were well behaved, or there was just too many of us for power boaters to give us problems like some of them do when were out fishing by ourselves.

Here is a shot of about a third of the kayaks before launch. It was the first bunch lined up ready to rock and roll.



Most of the kayakers did really good on the ramp also. Most of them had the one-two minute launch down pat. Here is a tail end of the first group heading out.



And how was the fishing you may be asking? Well, it was both good news and bad news. The good news is that everyone I talked to caught a few dozen fishing if they had experience saltwater bass fishing. The bad news is alot were under the 13 inch tournament size limit, so alot didn't count. All areas of the bay seemed to be producing fish to some extent, and the locals who fish weekly knew where the larger unit were hiding and went and found them.

The winners were a family team and they won big fish and first place, for about 4.5K in cash and prizes. Alot of the local favorites DNW'd or weighed one legal fish for the day. I managed to eek out the 38th spot with two fish for 3.6lbs and my friend Robert got 75th with 1.65 lbs. Considering I haven't competed in the bay for over 5 years, I'm very happy with how the day went.

Robert and myself easily caught over 2 dozen fish each, but most needed to grow up some more before they would count. We found a few larger units that liked our offerings and we were on the board Next time I'll try for photos after the weigh boat weighs the fish for me. I know I'm not going to long arm a 2lb Spottie and photograph it while it's trying to climb up my arm before it's weighed and in the books.

I also had a chance to see some faces I haven't had the chance to see in a long time like Swampchicken, Defjack, SteveC, Amish Ed, Iceman, Eagle Eye, Hobie Tom, JimS, Cucamonga Keith, Hook1, Yani, Mr. Greenjeans, Bwana, Barb and a few others and the TPN Crew. It was an awesome event put on by some awesome folks. I can't wait to go down there again for some more fishing and competition

On a side note, I got my first look at some glass/composite Sit-On-Top kayaks by Current Designs. Here is my friend Scott Shaw in his, looking happy as a clam.



A very nice day on the water

PerryC.

[gone_fishing]

Perry,
Thanks for the tourney report and pics. 220 anglers. That's not a group of kayak anglers, that's an armada! Must have been a site to behold. What's staggering is the amount of fish that must have been caught if most anglers caught a dozen or so. Sounds like a good time to be had by all. The only question I have is the amount of pressure it puts on the fish population in the bay. Can the bass grow to mature and attain a healthy size and reproduce? Just a thought that popped in my head. I'll take any opinion or answer. Thanks in advance.

Hank

[Robert]

Originally Posted by gone_fishing

Perry,
Thanks for the tourney report and pics. 220 anglers. That's not a group of kayak anglers, that's an armada! Must have been a site to behold. What's staggering is the amount of fish that must have been caught if most anglers caught a dozen or so. Sounds like a good time to be had by all. The only question I have is the amount of pressure it puts on the fish population in the bay. Can the bass grow to mature and attain a healthy size and reproduce? Just a thought that popped in my head. I'll take any opinion or answer. Thanks in advance.

Hank

The fish will do just fine Hank. Mission Bay is a big place. It swallowed up 220
kayaks like they weren't even there! It might have looked chaotic at the start, but believe me, once you got on the water it wasn't crowded at all.
No place on the West Coast even comes close to San Diego and Mission bays for spotty fishing. I can't tell you how many times I have caught so many
bass that I lost count. Trust me, they are alive and thriving.


Robert



Robert

[seatech]

WOW!!

That is amazing!!

Congrats on your finishes, that is very respectable considering the field size and the many "Top Pros" fishing the contest. Throw in that low which pushed thru this past weekend and you guys done alright!!!

Ed

[seaslug]

I'm supposed to be at San Clemente Island fishing WSB but they cancelled all the boats for the wind.

Thanks for the report Perry.

[swamprat]

AMAZING,
Thanks Perry for the tourney up date.
Ive never tried a tourney? HMMMMMM


swamprat

[gone_fishing]

Did a little homework. Here's a portion from the DFG website. A little bit outdated but worth reading.

Spotted Sand Bass

History of the Fishery

The spotted sand bass (Paralabrax maculatofasciatus)
has quickly gained popularity with nearshore anglers
for its aggressive behavior and ghting ability. Recreational
angling for the spotted sand bass has seen a
dramatic increase in the last 10 years, resulting in angling
tournaments that target spotted sand bass exclusively.
Not considered quality-angling fare in the 1930s and the
early 1940s, the spotted sand bass began to gain in popularity
with shore and bay anglers in the mid-1950s. During
that period, almost all landings were made from shore or
by small skiff anglers shing within the bays of southern
California. Concern regarding the growing pressure on this
little-known resource by sport anglers resulted in the
formulation of conservation measures for the spotted sand
bass. These measures include the restriction on commercial
exploitation of the genus Paralabrax in 1953, and
in 1959, the adoption of a 10-sh bag-limit and a 12-inch
size-limit on kelp bass and barred sand bass, as well as
the spotted sand bass. Unfortunately, early landing data of
spotted sand bass were either lumped in with the other

Paralabrax

landings or not adequately reported. For these

reasons, accurate landings numbers for this species are

difcult to obtain and no substantial data were recorded
until the mid-1970s.
Surveys conducted by the Department of Fish and Game
on skiff shing estimated that the annual catch of spotted
sand bass in southern California waters ranged from 12,790
to 23,933 sh between 1976 and 1981. Additional estimates
of sport catch, based on data from boat and shore shing,
indicated that between 53,000 and 170,000 spotted sand
bass were taken per year from 1980 to 1989. No landing
data were recorded from 1990 to 1993; however, from
1994 to 1999 between 37,000 to 347,000 spotted sand bass
were landed either by shore or small skiff shermen, a
substantial increase from the landings numbers recorded
in the 1980s. This rise in landings can be attributed to
an increased interest in recreational shing in shallow
nearshore waters and consequential increase of angling
pressure on the resource. Additionally, with the introduction
of oat-tube technology and the popularity of ocean
kayaks, the accessibility to spotted sand bass habitat has
opened up dramatically. This accessibility has generated
interest in the spotted sand bass as a challenging recreational
shery.
Although the annual catch of spotted sand bass for the
record keeping period has been considerably lower than
the catches of the kelp bass and the barred sand bass, the
increase in shing pressure and landing numbers is cause
for concern due to their restricted habitat in southern
California waters. Early DFG shore surveys revealed that
due to its restricted bay habitat and geographically localized
populations (San Diego Bay, Mission Bay, Newport
Bay, Anaheim Bay), the spotted sand bass shery may have
been viewed as a less important sport shery by the public.
However, recent increases in landing numbers, indicate that
this view may be changing.

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/Mrd/status/spotted_sand_bass.pdf

Not to discourage anyone from targeting Spotties in the bay, far from it. Just some personal research for my own peice of mind.

Hank