Over 300 surfcasters, family and friends gathered last Saturday at Portuguese Hall for the 12th Annual Sand Crab Classic Perch Derby. This is the biggest tourney on the West Coast for the smallest saltwater gamefish.

Conditions were tough for the competitors this year, with rain, wind and heavy surf in most locations. As expected, there were more than a few “skunks” in the mix. But as usual, a good number of hefty perch were brought to the weigh-in station by the one p.m. deadline. For the second year in a row, the Grand Master trophy was captured by a barred surf perch. The Derby features parallel divisions for the classic BSP surfperch, and the sometimes larger “sea” perch such as black, striped and rubberlips.

Chris Tran from San Jose has attended all 12 of these yearly events. This year was his turn to shine, as no one brought in a fish as big as his two-pound six-ounce BSP. The fish measured 15 ¼ inches, and was caught from a popular southern Santa Cruz County beach. Tran also reported a number of small striped bass caught in the area, and managed to bring in a legal striper himself.

Other top scores on the leaderboard were Richard Gilliam with a 13¾” BSP for first place in the Flyrod Division; Larry Grossi with a 14-inch perch winning Senior BSP Division; Trish McGrath with a 13¾ -inch striped perch in the Women’s Seaperch; Samara Cortazzo 13-inch black perch for Junior Seaperch, and her sister Camille Cortazzo placing first in the Junior BSP Division with a 14 7/16- inch barred surf perch.

Perch Fishing from the beach should continue to be productive all spring and into summer. It is always a great alternative for an easy fishing trip. No boats, motors or expensive equipment needed. Just hit the beach with a spinning rod and find your spot. Keep trying and you will catch them.

As noted above, a good number of small striped bass were caught from various locations around the bay on Saturday. Since then we’ve received reports of stripers from the shore at numerous locations, including Santa Cruz’s West Cliff area, and Monterey’s DelMonte Beach. Most stripers caught Saturday were on bait or artificials while perch fishing. Since then, anglers specifically targeting these bigger fish report success with shrimp bait, SP Minnow jigs and Krokodile lures.