Skill on a Grand Scale : Anglers Battle Rolling Seas Off San Miguel Island in Quest for the Biggest Fish in Finals of First Saltwater Whoppers Derby
It’s serious fishing when:
--Fishermen drive from as far away as 200 miles to board a boat at 2 a.m.
--The boat is rolling through 60 degrees, gunwale to gunwale, but the anglers braced against the rails seem oblivious to all but the subtle sensations of their rods.
--Between drifts, they stand guard over their selected sardines sloshing in the bait tank.
For 16 weeks, nearly 5,000 fishermen ventured out on more than 50 boats from 13 landings between San Diego and Santa Barbara. Those with one of the four largest in any of six categories would qualify for the fish-off of the Sportfishing Assn. of California’s first Saltwater Whoppers Derby.
There they were, the final 22, all geared up for their day on the Condor.
The Condor is an 88-foot sportfishing boat operated by Captain Fred Benko out of Sea Landing in Santa Barbara, with Ron Hart as skipper. It became the boat for the fish-off by qualifying the most top-10 anglers in the six categories: 11, one more than the Island Tak from Cisco’s landing in Oxnard. Cisco’s qualified the most anglers of any landing, with 15 to Sea Landing’s 13.
The Whoppers Derby is the creation of Carl Nettleton, a San Diego communications consultant, and Burt Twilegar and Pat McDonell, publisher and editor, respectively, of Western Outdoor News. With sponsorship by SAC, Shimano, Fenwick and Berkley, prizes ranged from a nine-day saltwater trip for two to big-game rods, and a lot of anglers whose catches would have qualified for the fish-off are kicking themselves for not plunking down the $2 entry fee.
After all, it’s mostly luck, according to several of the finalists.
“It’s 70% luck and 30% skill,” said Kenneth Wong, an insurance salesman from Rowland Heights. “I feel the most important thing is to participate. It takes a lot of stress out of my job.”
There also was a printer from San Diego, a cabinetmaker from Sylmar, a delivery truck driver from Los Angeles and a high school senior from Simi Valley. Although few considered themselves to be extraordinary fishermen, their approach to the sport said otherwise. Most had large tackle boxes neatly organized. Robert Yamane of Canyon Country, whose 49-pound bigeye topped the tuna category, brought eight rods.
“I’ve never fished here before and I didn’t know what to bring, so I brought it all,” he said.
There were only 22 finalists because only three tuna qualified, and Dave Becker of Port Hueneme was a double qualifier with the largest lingcod (25 pounds 8 ounces) and fourth-largest barracuda (8-12). Upon boarding, the anglers all found bunks to await the predawn wake-up call. They had all done this before.
“The idea of this trip is not to fill sacks,” Benko said. “We’re going strictly after big lingcod and halibut.”
They could use whatever live bait was available to all--sardines, anchovies or scampi for halibut, squid or their own favorite lures for lingcod and other, smaller rockfish. Winners would be judged on the largest fish, regardless of species. That’s why Benko disregarded the weather reports of winds up to 35 knots in the Santa Barbara Channel and targeted his favorite fishing grounds off San Miguel Island, the westernmost of the four Channel Islands.
“There’s nothing west of here but China,” Benko said. “What makes San Miguel so good is not only that it’s lightly fished because it’s so far out, but there’s so much (rocky) structure.”
Benko also pointed out the many sea lions on the beaches and in the water.
“This is the largest pinniped rookery in the Northern Hemisphere,” he said. “They live where the fish are.”
The only concession the Condor made to the wind was that rather than heading directly toward the island into the violent southwest swell, it hugged the coast to Point Conception west of Santa Barbara, then turned south to San Miguel, taking the sea off its starboard bow. But the detour took seven hours, instead of the anticipated five for the direct route. When the sky turned red over the mainland, they were still more than an hour from their destination, and the sea looked like saltwater meringue.
As caps blew off and chairs slid around the cabin, Benko announced cheerfully: “Good morning, fishermen, time for breakfast.”
There was hot coffee and French toast, and there would be hefty cheeseburgers for lunch--all of which the anglers consumed as if they were drifting on a pond instead of twisting and turning in four directions at once.
Wong said: “This isn’t rough. Tuna fishing is rough.”
Benko would say later: “We could have hid around the corner (from the wind) where the other boats went, but we were trophy fishing. The decisions you make depend on what kind of group you have. The first thing a skipper does is look at the tackle. This group was a delight. Everybody knew what he was doing. We had experienced fishermen who know that sometimes you have to put up with rough weather to get the fish.”
Rough? Deckhand David Hughes sniffed the wind and scanned the sea.
“This is an average day for San Miguel,” he said. “Ideally, for rock cod you want 12 knots of wind and a six- to eight-foot swell. Then you get a natural bounce off the bottom. Heck, I’ve been out here when waves were breaking over the top of the boat.”
At 7:50 a.m., Benko backed off the throttle, set up a sideways drift over a rockfish area off the west end and announced: “Fishermen, welcome to San Miguel Island. Lines in! Lines in! The derby is under way.”
Over the next hour, three drifts produced no lingcod--only a couple of black and red sheephead and some chucklehead, bocaccio (also known as Pacific red snapper), Johnny bass, blue bass and one 65-pound soupfin shark caught by Ed Vasquez of Redondo Beach. The shark was ineligible for the fish-off, but it did qualify as steaks for Vasquez’s freezer.
Hart moved the Condor to an area farther south, near a kelp bed, and got better results. Half the anglers hooked up lingcod almost immediately. Some, including David Greenleaf of Palmdale, took double catches on single hauls. Jason Uyeda, a senior at Royal High in Simi Valley, caught one weighing 11-4 to take the early lead.
However, there would be larger halibut taken when the Condor moved to the more protected shallow water and sandy bottom at the east end of the island.
Hart maneuvered the boat through emerald-green water to within 25 yards of the beach, where sea lions basked in the sun, unconcerned. “OK, fellas, get them down,” he said.
The strong wind made for fast drifts, but four halibut were caught--two by Art Preston, the driver.
“I was just lucky,” he said. “I had my bait in the right place at the right time. You just take your time. Using light line, you set your drag so if he wants to run, you let him go.”
Preston’s first catch was 17-10. James Duncan, a retiree from Lancaster, followed with a 16-6, but then Rick Naber, the cabinetmaker, hauled in a 24-5.
Preston tried a comeback, hooking a smaller halibut five minutes before Hart announced, at 1:55 p.m.: “Lines out, everybody, lines out. The derby is over.”
The catches were weighed at Sea Landing four hours later, and Naber, who used anchovies, was declared the winner. His secret?
“Stay on the bottom,” he said. “It’s hard to keep it on the bottom.”
None of the anglers were skunked, and only two lost fish they hooked--one in the rocks, “and one guy farmed one,” Hughes said--meaning, he played it badly.
Duncan, who finished third, said, “There’s no skill to it--until you get them hooked. All the skill is getting them in.”
With these anglers, in fair weather or foul, nobody does it better.
The Big Ones
The top 10 catches in the Sportfishing Assn. of California’s first Saltwater Whoppers Derby.
No. Name City Size of catch Catch 1 Rick Naber Sylmar 24 pounds5 ounces halibut 2 Art Preston Los Angeles 17 pounds10 ounces halibut 3 James Duncan Lancaster 16 pounds6 ounces halibut 4 Jason Uyeda Simi Valley 11 pounds4 ounces lingcod 5 David Greenleaf Palmdale 10 pounds5 ounces lingcod 6 Bill Parks San Juan Capistrano 10 pounds0 ounces lingcod 7 David Chadbourne Tustin 9 pounds4 ounces lingcod 8 Manuel Marin San Diego 9 pounds3 ounces lingcod 9 Robert Yamane Canyon Country 7 pounds8 ounces bocaccio 10 Richard Upah Lakeside 6 pounds0 ounces bocaccio
