We had 52 sign ups and raised $1340 for the SD chapter of Heroes on the Water yesterday. We had quite a few sign up knowing they would not be able to attend and some signed up multiple times to donate more. Thank you all! Anglers entered could launch as early as 12:01am, the first person on the water was 1am. We started setting up at Standley Park and had the first fish to weigh before 11am Eric Noonan weighed in a 18.2 yellowtail that stood up to the next few weighed. Steve Orr had a 17.2 YT and Christopher Cary had a 16.2 YT. Robert Huynh brought a 21.8 pound yellowtail to the scale in the final hour and won the yellowtail division. Roby received a Tybee Hooked Paddle donated by OEX Sunset Beach and a custom gaff made by Skrilla, donated by OEX Mission Bay.
Only one halibut made it to the scale and it was a real good one Jim Kelley brought in a 36.4 pounder and won an Ultimate Tank donated by OEX Mission Bay.
The other category was set up for sheephead, lingcod, rockfish and white fish. We neglected to include some "others" such as barracuda and bonito that will be included next year. Jorge Villegas won this division with a 1.8 pound baccacio. Jorge won a palm sculpted fish.
Adi was manning a support boat and had photog Paul Lebowitz along. They handed out donuts and offered to hold on to fish. I got an early text photo from Adi of a monster and even a rumor of another. The monster ended up being the only white seabass weighed, it was caught by Greg Barnicoat. Greg won that division and received a Stohlquist Pisces PFD and a battery box. He also won the over all biggest fish and received the custom wrapped rod donated by Skrilla, Len's Custom Rods.
Mike and Matt, with the help of Matt's wife warmed up beans, cilantro lime rice, tortillas and halibut fillets donated by Tony Park. Tacos were the bomb! Jorge got Coca Cola to donate waters and sodas. Tony and Jorge contributed to more money ending up in HOW's possession. The fundrasing effort was considered a great success capped off with Eric Noonan pledging an additional $3000 from GEO Group.
This will be an annual event falling on the Saturday after Labor Day, so plan for next year! We also will be figuring out the date for the April Mission Bay tournament. Look for the sign up details very soon.
Thank you BWE members for you awesome display of support of our local chapter of Heroes on the Water!
Great community vibe!
