WON-San Pedro Showdown: inaugural competition scores massive ling and more

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BY BOB SEMERAU

SAN PEDRO— The inaugural Western Out of doors Information San Pedro Showdown had departed from the newly rebuilt docks at Ports O’ Name Village, San Pedro, on the scheduled 5:00 a.m. departure time, giving anglers almost 3-hours to rig up for the motion to come back. Fishing deep water offshore from the Catalina Island’s west finish, your complete contest got here all the way down to the final drop of the day.

As they have been checking-in on the 2 boats within the competitors, anglers obtained swag luggage loaded with a 300-yard spool of Izorline 20-pound mono, Gamakatsu dwell bait hooks, Costa glasses retainers, an Aftco hat, a P-line Laser-Minnow jig, and a nifty new hook keeper gadget from Katch Fishing. WON gave every boat an enormous spool of Berkeley ProSpec Chrome monofilament so everybody had equal footing with free spool-ups of their reels.

Constitution common, Robert Groeber, reported that aboard the 55-foot sportboat, Gail Power, Captain Jared Mallot ran out to Catalina and started drops into some shallower areas to start the day, then moved off to deeper drops for fulfillment.

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Sport King, the 65-foot entry into the WON San Pedro Showdown inaugural occasion, bee-lined out to Catalina as effectively, in line with Jim Fontana, reporting from the decks of the storied sportfisher piloted by Captain Anthony Ortiz.

All 38 anglers have been in rivalry for a passel of prizes, together with a model new Penn Carnage boat rod, together with money prizes for anglers with the highest three heaviest fish.

All through the day’s motion, a number of anglers started to point out their expertise.

Aboard Gail Power, Robert Grober reported that the father-daughter workforce of Don and Isabella Meyer, hailing from La Puente, can be within the combine. Isabella turned in a pleasant sack of fish together with some sizable reds whereas Dad posted a large assortment together with a better-than-average ling. When requested what needs to do, Isabella says, “Let’s go fishing!”

On the rail alongside Isabella and Don have been Paul Kachirski Junior and Senior. The daddy-son workforce introduced out a particular mix of seasoned anglers and luck to handle to complete within the prime three for the Showdown.

It was noon earlier than a ling was added to the combo with Paul Fanning standing on the leaderboard early within the competitors.

One group of anglers from down south known as themselves the Huntington Seaside Fishing Membership. Membership members Pat Carrillo and Gary Fleming are common constitution anglers and sometimes seem within the prime rankings for WON competitions. Fishing collectively as a block, the gang from HB held their very own with loads of motion of bigger sized rockfish, together with Gary’s 10.45-pound ling, the biggest fish for Sport King.

With a 3-hour trip again to the touchdown the decision got here for one more half-hour’s fishing, then it will be time to move for the docks at San Pedro.

Aboard Gail Power that was on a regular basis wanted for some monster ling to hit the deck. With the clock ticking down, Javier Cortez from Cudahy, boated a large ling up within the bow.

“It was dramatic,” reported WON affiliate Robert Groeber. “As Javi dragged his beast all the way down to the strict, getting loads of high-fives alongside the way in which, Paul Kachirski, Jr. known as for a gaff to get his ling aboard, boating a fair bigger buckethead,” defined Groeber.

With two large ling now on the deck of Gail Power, and one other mid-sized already within the bag, angler Charles “Simply-call-me-West” West began a rousing rendition of ‘We’re the Champions’, as all aboard chimed in.

Again on the docks, the scales would inform the story. Gail Power and Sport King tied up, emptying the crew and cargo, together with loads of filleted fish for passengers to take residence. Anglers with the three largest fish from every boat got here up the ramp to the weigh-in, beaming with pleasure.

But it surely was Gail Power that stood quick towards the competitors sweeping all three positions within the course of.

Lovely climate, a terrific group of anglers, and keen biters, made this San Pedro Showdown 2024 inaugural the right begin to a legendary occasion.

RESULTS:

First Place    Gail Power   Paul Kachirski, Jr. 26.32-pound ling

Prize: $190.00 money, Aftco Professional Deal Card valued at $50.00, Jig Rig Bucket, Costa hat, spool of J-Braid, and a spool of Berkley Professional Spec mono, together with the model new Penn Carnage boat rod.

Second Place   Gail Power   Javier Cortez      22.26-pound ling

Prize: $135.00 money, Jig Rig Bucket, Costa hat, spool of J-Braid, and a spool of Berkley Professional Spec mono

Third Place  Gail Power   Paul Fanning         12.14-pound ling

Prize: $35.00 money, Jig Rig Bucket, Costa hat, spool of J-Braid, and a spool of Berkley Professional Spec mono

Particular due to Robert Groeber and Jim Fontana for in-depth reporting and a great deal of nice pictures from aboard Gail Power and Sport King.

Contact:

Gail Power and Sport King

 LAHarbor.web   550 S Harbor Blvd, San Pedro, CA 90731   (310) 844-3814

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