Calico trournament at Cat Harbor

Hosted by DRYC this was a Charity event where the Calico Bass has to be released alive in order to count. Charity event for the benefit of the Two Harbors community.

Many local MDR clubs compete. This year there were boats from about 5 different clubs. DRYC, MDRA, CYC, PMYC. And I forget the other one.

I was helping a friend with his boat and anchoring system tryout run when it became apparent that he needed another hand and I was not going. Matter of fact the DRYC Calico event was not on my radar at all. My focus was on the bigger fish shoing up in the counts down south just a 1 & 3/4 day run out of San Diego for a full freezer of quality fish. Richard asked me to go with him. So I saved my big boat trip for later and decided to go on this "fun" little trip. (not that the big fish are not fun too)

The boat the Wavelength is fast and a sweet ride. I was happy to be aboard. I was happy to pull the mooring and run deck runs. We had a young boy on board that was the same age as my son. 12 years old. I took to calling him Gillie and teaching him all the deck hand tasks that a boy can learn. Knots etc.

Here we are at departure. And we gave Matthew a welcome noogie to make him feel welcome.

Out at the island Friday night was a dinner and captains meeting at the DRYC shore facility in Cat Harbor. It was very cool to see many old fishing club friends. Many of them I've known via MDRAnglers for a lot of years. Boat loads from Bait-n-Switch, Bali Anne, Big Momma for example.

On Saturday morning our third man aboard switched to his fishing ride and even lightened our load of some Live Bait for his boat Three Flags. That live bait could have come in handy for us. Many boats ran out this day.

On the day of fishing we headed out to the area between Ben Weston point and Little Harbor and made a few anchoring attempts to get set just outside the kelp line. It was a hard set as there was a strong uphill current that sometimes put us in the trough and pushed us sideways to the kelp line. A bit frustrating. We stuck with it all day long. A few fish came and went. A big bat ray for excitement. A big shovel nose shark for Matt. And then a really nice halibut for Richard. I opened the swim step door and as Richard brought the fish in softly ... Was able to do a smooth gaff job and land the big flatty with no problems. One smooth swoosh.

This was a good money fish for the side bet that we all put in the extra $5 for. With Richard as the winner it could not have gone to a nicer gentleman fisherman. Shortly after that when we were nearing our "do we go home now" stage I casted out up current a bit further than usual and got a big bite. A really nice 3# calico bass. He looked like a contender in the target species to me. (having be so few caught) So not I had a maybe in the running fish. Not first be maybe a 2nd or 3rd. Especially since the fishing had been slow.

We pulled the hook and ran fro Cat Harbor. Hoping that the fish did not die from the bendz as it did not like being up on the surface after I pulled him out of 70+ feet of water.

Then wrangled to get our fish weighed ASAP and released. it swam down fast once over the side. But it was only 2.8 lbs on the events scale. On the other hand it gave a reading of 26# for the big halibut. It was big enough that it could have weighed much more. It was skinny. But still enough to win the Jackpot side bet handily.

The event was keeping the participants in the dark as to the winning fish to build drama for the dinner party and awards ceremony. The event was catered and we ate mightily. But in the end the true winner was Team Big Momma with Wayne Pecot having weighed in a massive 8 lb bass!

We had a very pleasant trip back home after a little morning fishing at west cove. It sure is nice to have a boat the blasts across at 22.8 knots!

Thank you to Richard. The Halibut was delicious. We shared it with friends and had a fiesta. With a little help from Jeffery on the grill we fed a bunch of ladies having a fun time making a party of it. Fed eight of us!