Slam Down
 

Any reports yet?

Didn't win but had a great time. The Blues were on the chew big time and tough to get your lures to the bottom at times. There was a red tide that had to be dealt with. Conditions could have not been better as far as wind and swell. The launch at Leffingwell was easy with about 6 inch waves to deal with. The pot luck was awesome as usual. They raffled off a bunch of stuff and had some cool items to select from. I highly recommend this tournament to anyone and is in a great area to explore and enjoy. The coast line is beautiful. Morro Bay & Cambria are great little towns to stroll around in if you take the wife. Hearst Castle is also in the area for some sight seeing. Already looking forward to next year and hope to see you there.

Yes - Mako Bob didn't bother to show up... :mad:









...Shotgun Launch at 6:45am, Conditions were awesome and Bites were often enough to keep it interesting all day. Limited out on rockfish, lost count of all the Blue Bass I caught - maybe 25 or 30. Tried throwing a big 7" swimbait for a lingcod, but it was not to be - did catch the biggest kelp bass I've ever caught on it though. Didn't catch any of the target species that got the points for the tournament, the locals pretty much cleaned up in that respect. All day long we heard whales making blows and just milling around feeding. Outside the kelp there was literal tons of bait fish top to bottom - in places the fish finder could not even meter the bottom it was so thick - all feeding on the red tide. Water was cleaner inside where we were fishing though, yet still a little bit brown from whatever plankton was in bloom. The cookout was fantastic, and I had my usual success in the raffle (big fat zero to show for my 100 bucks, but it all goes to charity so no worries there). Wife had a great time golfing next door at Dairy Creek Golf Course, and walking the shops in Cambria.

Wanted to thank Robert and Serop for lending me tackle that works and allowing me to tag along. It was great hanging out at camp too - it was nice having the trailers back-to-back..

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Conditions were amazing, we pushed out a little late at 715. Went immediately north while most of the group went south near Cambria rock. At first we were just fishing dropper loops with frozen bait. Pulling up blues and gophers every time. My brother talked to one of the locals (if you are reading this we owe you a beer or 6) and switched to a swim bait with a chuck of mackerel that he would drop to the bottom and give a tug every 5 to 10 secs. He was rewarded at about 10 as he started hooking up with some pretty good sized fish. 2 nice sized lings and 2 reds. One of the reds was huge.

At about noon we started getting pushed in toward shore pretty quick with the swell and the wind so we started heading back stopping to check a few spots but again nothing but blues.

We also screwed up and didn't read the rules close enough on the fact that you needed three species. I think my bro could have placed even if he picked up a small surf perch or anything else on the way back in. But hey isn't that how it goes.

Potluck was amazing, a really great group of people all together. I got lucky and was able to get one of the kayaks off a $10 raffle ticket. No more using my brothers back up kayak when I come down to SD, you guys will see me on my own set up now.

That Mango IPA was tasty, congrats on the kayak

Nice! Congrats on the kayak!!

I enjoyed fishing up there so much that before I left I was already talking to Mr. Puka Shell and Serop about making a trip up again to find other areas to fish and mark spots on the finder. Actually might be great to also bring up the solo skiff to speed up the scouting process. I also need to brush up on my rock fishing skills.

Can't wait to do it again next year!

1st place went to Dan Fleming which caught a 24.5 inch Lingcod, a 19.75 inch Cabezon and topped it off with a 22 inch Rockfish with a total of 468 points who took home $1900

2nd Place went to Russell Villers which caught a 27.5 inch Lingcod, a 17.5 inch Cabezon and a 20.5 inch Rockfish with 455 pointstook home $1100

3rd place went to Anthony Bracket caught a 27.25 inch Lingcod a 17.5 inch Cabezon and a 19.5 inch Rockfish with 445 points which was able to bring $800 home for Anthony.

These top three anglers were pretty much less than an inch away from each other either direction from switching places.

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4th place went to Barton Riggs with 418 pts
5th place went to Mark Hawley with 409 pts
6th place went to Andy O’Brien with 402 pts
7th place went to Ren Reidel with 378 pts
8th place went to Wilson Riggs with 375 pts
9th place went to Mikey Rijavec with 360 pts
10th place went to Robert Marlow with 328 pts


Big Lingcod was 35 inches by Sean Harvell
Big Rockfish was 23 inches by Mikey Rijavec
Big Cabezon was 20.75 inches by sabel Maguire
Big Halibut was 26 inches by Russ Thomas
Big Greenling was 14.5 inches by Barton Riggs.
Big Flounder was 11 inches by Mark Hawley
Big Perch was 9.5 inches by Andy Obrien

Huge Thank You to Central Coast Autism Spectrum Center for everything that they do.

Thank all of you for coming out you guys were able to raise over $4000 for them...

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Brett Lee won the Hobie Outback Thanks to Morro Bay Landing and Hobie Kayaks...


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Thank you to Kayak Obsessions and Malibu Kayaks for throwing in this brand new X-Factor for the raffle

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Welcome to the Captains meeting
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Leffingwell Landing
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These two had a blast being pulled around
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Some food was cooked that was for sure...

Food on the Grill
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Our Fry Masters getting it done
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After 6
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Good Beer was shared thanks to Barrel House for making that happen again this year...

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Some awesome prizes raffled off....

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Couple Phenix Rods raffled off as well. Thanks Been There Caught That
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Thanks Phenix Rods
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Sounds like an awesome event! Congrats on the turnout!

I tell you folks this is one heck of a tournament. The ventral coast is beautiful and a great fishery. Plan on Slam Down 7 next year, you won't be disappointed. Thanks again Ryan and Mary for an excellent time

Slamdown 2017 Video
 

Here's a video I put together from this year's Central Coast Slamdown.

https://youtu.be/AcvpuOYd5LE

Thank you Ryan for organizing an epic event. The central coast is a beautiful area to fish with really cool people. A nice break from La Jolla and the opportunity to land some giant rockfish and lingcod. Just wish it wasn't so far from San Diego.

The way I look at it - It is the exact same drive time from San Diego to fish Cambria, as it is to fish Gonzaga...

And I can't wait to get back up there and do it again!