MBK Derby a success!! Now with Anita's PIX ADDED!!

Today's derby at Monterey Bay Kayaks was very successful..

Thanks to all who participated and especially to those who helped pull it off, notably owner Cass Schrock, and staff Tara, Aaron, and Joel!

As Deva said, "it was FAC out there this morning!"  Low winds and glassy conditions  started the day at 7am when 73 kayak anglers hit the 6" surf on DelMonte Beach.  They scattered far and wide.  Once we got out, we could see there really was a swell, it just doesn't hit in the MBK corner.  Waves were 3-4' boomers past the condo and toward the hotel.

Results were mixed, as usual.  Some were skunked, and some were blessed with big fish.  Bait was scattered, but the diligent could sabiki up sardines, smelt, or mackerel.

Weigh in at noon was a blast with Aaron cooking the "man-dogs" as I weighed fish in.

First in at the weigh table at 11 am was Barret Pruden with a fatty brown ling.  His fish weighed in at 15 pounds even.  Tough to beat!  In fact, impossible to beat as it turned out.

We weighed in about 10 lingcod altogether, though not all made it to the leaderboard.  We also saw some nice rockfish and one beautiful halibut, caught as a personal 1st by Patrick Kuhl (SinCoast).

Winners in order were:

#1:  Barret Pruden, 15-pound ling, caught with whole squid near the Cannery Row Kelp.

#2:  Vik Kumar, 12-pound Blue ling, from the Coast Guard Jetty area with a whole squid.

#3:  Patrick Kuhl, 9.5-pound halibut from the condo area caught on a live sardine.

Barret went home with a brand-new Trident 13 angler edition; Vik has a nice   Aquabound kayak paddle to add to his arsenal, and Pat Kuhl can spot even more fish with  new poloroid sunglasses.  Thanks to OCEAN KAYAKSand MONTEREY BAY KAYAKS  for sponsoring the event and prizes.

Fun day, and I'm looking forward to seeing some of the same faces tomorrow at the Santa Cruz Harbor for YakHopper's contest.


Pix wil be added once I get them from our official photographer.

OK, Anita sent me pix yeaterday, so I'm going to add a bunch..

In order

Guitarzan was in 1st place for 5 minutes.  this ling  caught at the 1st yellow can with a chovie on a 3-way.

Newbie Barret Pruden soon dashed G's hopes as he weighed in his 15-pound liong caught fnear the kelp at Cannery Row with a whole squid.  Viok Kumar also brought in a nice blue Ling for 2d place from the area near the Jetty.  whole squid again if I remember correctly.

3d place was captured by a jubilant Pat Kuhl (SinCoast)with his 1st ever kayak halibut!  WTG Pat!!

Barret looks stoked with his New Yak, I'd say, and Kuhl looks cool in his new shades

The remaining pics document the morning prior to launch, and some great shots of the "ManDog" gathering after weigh-in.  thanks Anita Jones for handling the camera for us this year, and thanks to everyone who attended.  We'll do it again next August for sure!!


Allen

Thanks Allan!
It was worth crying over afterall.....
 Sounds ..er...sounded like a blast!
 Steve

I had a great time out there.  First time fishing Monterey and I wish I would have brought the family but there was no hotel to be had due to the exotic car show in town.  Slow day for me but had fun anyway.

Looks like a Great Time...

 I got sacked with wife needing to work today putting  the final Kabash on me making it....

 ConGrats to All

Thanks for the great report and congrats to all, especially my Man, PK, for hooking up a halibut.  WTG, all.   

I had a blast Allen, thank you.  I dropped about a grand in your shop on rack craddles, PFD's and accessories for my kids.  Very reasonable prices.  We had a tough day fishing, I caught a bunch of small kelp bass, that almost went on a live bait rig, and what several people believe was a white sea bass that got wound up in the kelp and lost!  That would have been the money fish, and a couple guys suggested I dive down and get him!  I am not quite that die hard, but it was a great time.  I have to apologize also for the guy that tagged along and fished separate from the tourney, he made several rude comments and vulgar language on the radio in the morning.  I do not condone his behavior at all, and am very embarrassed, it won't happen again, I promise.  Congrats to all that participated, and especially to those that caught the nice fish, it was tough fishing in anyone's book, and you have accomplished (or got outright lucky!) quite a feet.  Cannot wait until the next one in HMB, wish I could make Davenport, but have my children, and we are going fly fishing.

Rich

Conditions were nice (pic 1), and fishing advice was plentiful for a novice like me. I was one of the lucky ones who caught live bait. My jacksmelt (pic 2) ended up finding my first ever legal ling! 26", 5-1/4 lbs. of toothy grandeur (pic 3). Sadly, others were grander. Also sadly, "the patch" did not prevent repeated chumming on my part, dampening my joy. The man dogs cheered me up, though, making it a good day overall (pic 4). Thanks, MBK, for a good time.

Andy

73 kayak anglers hit the 6" surf on DelMonte Beach. 

73??? Wow, that's awesome. Good to see kayak fishing's alive and well.

Z

Thanks Allen, nice job...

Blake

HELLO NCKA!!!!!!!!!- Its me Barret Pruden, But you all can just call me Bear

So i haven't had time to actually sign up on this site just yet but i will, So once again, i am using something borrowed.  First it was his Kayak, now his computer, Thank you Marmite.
Kinda wondering when everyone is going to come together and place all the pictures of that glorious day on the site. i had a great time.

waking up at 3am from my two hours sleep, heading down to MBK with sleep in my eyes i never thought that i would be getting the catch of the day. i even had to re-line my reel as everyone was just heading out to the water.  i took off towards the jetty passing the outsides of the kelps when my rod decided to shake as my bait danced over a ling cod hole.  What great luck.  I never caught a ling before, let alone really seen one up close.  didn't know how big is it was until i got it out of the water. 35 inches 15 pounds.  i wanted to stay out there longer but wanted to come in immediately.  listening to the radio i hear a few catches of the day, that halibut had me scared.  but at weigh in, and by the looks on everyone's faces, i knew that i had probably won.  I was just hoping that anyone who caught something bigger didn't have a watch on and would come in later after the weigh in had closed.

i had a great time out there with all you NCKA'rs.  looking to do a lot more of it. 

My first Fishing tournament, my first ling cod and my first Kayak.
Thank you NCKA,  you all just woke up the Bear
If anyone has pictures of that day could you please send them to my personal email until i can get my name in the roster...    barretpruden@hotmail.com

thanks all!!!!

Another great event, thanx to Allen, Arron and the rest of the MBKers and all the 'yakers. I got into rockfish at the yellow can and kept a few, remembering last years winning fish.... then landed a 26" ling which got me pumped, I heard radio talk of biggies being landed, then saw Pat/Sin Coast with his flattie( And thanx a million for the camp hookup Pat!) I then went for the surf-troll for nada but kelp, in by 11:30 with a stringer-full. One caught on a red creature jig, the rest on frozen chovies. My ling went 5 lbs for 5th. Congrats to the winners, welcome BEAR!!!
We left the truck at MBK and hit the streets. Lots of cool cars, good food, foreign accents ... watched the auctions for a while, saw a strat go for $700 that was signed by Pink Floyd, and another signed By Led Zep, sans Bonzo, for $1700. Just imagine if Bonham was on it??? More in the range of a million. Slept in at Veterans till 9- heaven.
Here's my fishies, and I just love the shot of my girl and Scallen 'hisself.

As Borat would say, "GREAT SUCCESS!"

Thanks for another great event Allen, and MBK. It was cool to see some big fish come in this year, especially after such a poor grade last year.
Props to Barret for winning his 1st yak in a tourney! That is pretty F'n sweet--and just like Alien's story haha! Very cool. Welcome to the madness Bear!

I was on a halibut mission.
Mission accomplished.


Caught it trolling a freshly-jigged sardine outside the surf. Pretty cool way to fish and it was definitely rockin' out there w/some decent sets crashing.
Slowly paddling along, in about 20ft, when my sabiki rod went off and I was stoked to see 3 huge sardines hooked-up...but they were like 10" and totally unmanageable...going nuts on the deck w/a sabiki hook in my leg, total cluster-f.
THEN IT HAPPENS! I hear my drag tick and look up to see my rod doubled-over into the water! Fish On! All the sudden, the twisted-mess-of-sardines and sabiki rig meant nothing and I grabbed the rod and set the hook. Fought the fish to the surface and stupidly tried to net it...jumped completely out of the water to escape my net and dove straight down to the bottom. Nearly crapped my wetsuit! Fortunately, my drag was loose enough to just point the rod and let it run. Worked it back to the surface and stuck it w/my custom EK gaff and hauled it into the boat with one swift move, then gave it the leglock (not just for lingcod anymore!), and secured the gameclip...SUCCESS!!! I was screaming at the top of my lungs in excitement...haven't felt that exhilarated in a long time. It was awesome.

Gave away my spare sardines to the crew and kept trolling outside the surf, hoping for a repeat performance. Also fished the jetty for about an hour, then paddled back in for the weigh-in. Stoked!


I BBQd a filet that afternoon and it was incredible! Going to fry up another filet tonight and make fish tacos. Mmmmmm success...the gift that keeps on giving.  

Handing over the tiara was tough, losing a title is never easy

Bear, you are going to love that yak, and won it with a serious fish as opposed to some who um, like me, one a yak with a dink fish

Pat, so cool to hear you totally stoked on the radio.  I know that sweet feeling and thanks for letting us share it.

MBK, Ocean Kayak, Allen, Aaron, you guys rock

Good stuff guys.  Sorry I missed it - the wife's company party was the culprit.  

Patrick, glad to hear that you were successful in your quest.  What did you end up getting the hali on?  Previously dredged up 'choves or 'dines?  Sounds like quite the battle.  I can't wait until I get my first yak 'but!

WTTM Bear!  It is scary fun!

Michael

Congradulations to all the winners and all participants. Allen sorry i couldnt make it down. It looks as though a blast was had by all. Especially the 1st place dude with his 1st ling ever? Now thats destiny. Congrats Sin on the halibut. That smile of your tells it all . WTG you guys. Oh and Allen, isnt that Anita you are snuggled up against? While Ben was out on the water no less. You old sea dog. Arf Arf