So who is the winner??

[Holty]

Come on Damon :? It is almost my bedtime :P . So who is the winner of the first west coast fish fest??

regards Holty

[Mistress]

Seriously Damon....we want DETAILS! :?

I've been living vicariously all season while putting this new boat together. Now it's YOUR turn to entertain me. :wink:

[Damon]

For the individual catagory:

-1st place went to James on Magic Rod's 26 Express with a 24 lb. 5 oz. Yellowtail 26 Express
-2nd place went to Lyle on Offshoregary's 219 WA (the Kathryn Ann) with a 22 lb. 5 oz. Yellowtail
-3rd place went to Ali on her 246 WA Surly Mermaid with a 21 lb. 1 oz. yellowtail

(note: Ali would have won it if the tournament occured the prior day with a toad Yellowtail caught on her way to San Diego, which I estimate was 26-27 lbs)

For the boat crew with the heaviest 3 fish:

-1st place went to Danny on the Magic Rod
-2nd place went to Gary on the Kathryn Ann
-3rd place went to Ali on the Surly Mermaid

I'll have more details and photos once I get some rest.

[Magic Rod]

Another Note:

Team Magic Rod also had the 3-biggest fish. But due to voting we thought it would be better that only one person from each boat could have won that portion of the event.


Danny

[jcarvour]

That mutant James did not catch the biggest fish - Lisa did! The 2nd place guy missed the 4:30 deadline and should have been disqualified and so what if a fish caught the day before should count for anything? The Fish count was less than one per pole. There were no tuna caught and only a few yellow tail caught with an equal amount of skunk to go around. That was my take. :D

[Scrapper]

Damon, I had a blast! This tournament was great. Even though I didn't win any money I had a lot of fun! This tournament was all about fun from the beginning. I also made new friends and got to put faces on some of the screen names. I'm already looking forward to the next Fishfest! Please keep it light & fun again next year!

Thanks for putting on such a fun time for all! :D

Mike

[Hav'nfun]

The second annual SoCal Fish Fest was an awesome event. 10 boats showed up. The list reads:

1 219 WAC
1 220 WAC
3 246 WAC
1 26 Commercial Pilot House
2 26 HT Cuddy
2 26 Express

San Diego was experiencing a heat wave with temperatures in the high 80's. Bo Palmer, owner of Shamrock and Darren Kinder, National sales manager were on hand to fish and chat. These two men are enjoyable to be around and listen to the input from owners. I believe they came away with several ideas that will be incorporated into future production of various models.

Ali arrived about 1630 Friday during discussions of “where should we go.” She had stopped and fished on the way from Newport Beach, nailing seven hefty yellowtail. The rest of the evening contestants were doing their best to charm the location of her bounty from her. Ali is a tough competitor and wouldn’t give out any numbers.

The big fish were about 100 miles out but Ali showed us there were fish closer. Most boats headed out to the 181 and 182 high spots and started looking for paddies. I had Bo and Darren on my boat and really wanted to show them hot fishing. We found three nice fish, two yellows and a Dorado. Farmed all three. We stopped at a dozen paddies and no love. It was frustrating as we could look into the clear water and see dodo’s and yellows swimming around, checking out our bait. About half the boats entered failed to connect on any fish.

The fishing off the SoCal coast has been strange this year. The tuna have held off about 90 miles south of SD while Albacore are being caught just a few miles off the Oregon and Washington coasts. Usually, one must go offshore 30-40 miles to score albies off those coasts.

Sun Dance Marine, the local Shamrock dealer, was kind and allowed three boats to overnight on their dock. I’m sure Sun Dance will be a much appreciated sponsor next year. Johnston Yacht sales of Newport Beach was also a terrific sponsor. We appreciate the help these dealers provided. I know there were several other sponsors so I'll let Damon post a complete list.

The Dana is located on Mission Bay next door to SeaWorld. The rooms are comfortable with some directly in front of the docks. There are two swimming pools and nice patio for lounging. The place is family friendly so hope we have many more boats next year.

The only thing I would have changed would be to have all the boats on the same dock. Unfortunately, the hotel could not accommodate us and Damon did an incredible job of securing slips, and arranging the FishFest. Some were put off by the slip arrangements but Damon did his best.

One oobservation I had was the number of Shamrock boat owners locally in San Diego and on the West Coast that either aren’t aware of this board or choose not to participate on it. It would be great if we could get word to these owners that there is a great website waiting for them. I wonder if KCS would provide a mailing list from warranty cards?

All but one person had a great time. We also experienced a very rare event Saturday. A Shamrock(!) had to be towed in by seaTow. Seems they broke down about 1130 and weren't able to be towed in until about 5 pm. Everyone was grateful all ended well.

I congratulate Damon for a terrific job. I also wish to thank all the sponsors that provided supplies, prizes and helped make this an event to remember. Thanks also to all who participated in the rendevous. I hope I see you again next year.

Hav'nFun (Tom)

[jcarvour]

Who didnt have fun? Slow fishing in a tournement atmosphere is shity but there was still enough "entertainment" to make it fun. :lol:

[Holty]

I am gonna take a wild guess........Maxwell Smart is the dude that didn't have a good time???

[jcarvour]

If there were no poor sports than victory would not be so sweet! :?