Local and visiting perch anglers met last weekend for their yearly surfcasting showdown. The Annual Sand Crab Classic Perch Tournament provides a spot of excitement in the middle of our dreary winter, and proceeds raised from the contest go to support the Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project. This is the fourth year for the derby. Despite blustery conditions, threatening skies and surf that grew from merely big to huge as the day progressed, a good number of fish were brought in for measurement. Some of them were BIG.

The heavy wind and rainstorm held off just long enough for all anglers to meet at the Santa Cruz Yacht Club by 2pm. Once all the fish were measured, it was clear that top honors this year would go to Todd Schallenberger from Watsonville, who used a GULP! Sandworm to catch his 15-inch barred surfperch. Schallenberger fished his 9.6-foot Lamiglas rod paired with a Shimano 2500 Sahara reel in the surfline at 7th Avenue Beach with partner Tom Larimer. Both anglers caught and released limits of perch from the surf, where Larimer also caught two striped bass up to 24 inches. Schallenberger actually took home two trophies this year, first place in the senior division, and a special trophy for biggest fish using GULP! Bait. He also won two new rod and reel combos as part of his prize package.

Santa Cruz local John Blinkenberg who caught a 14-inch barred surfperch from the surf at 26th Avenue, using a Kalin's grub, won the second place trophy. Close behind in third place was Ron Martin from Capitola. Martin fished with GULP! Sandworms in the Rio Del Mar area for a barred surf perch that measured in at 13 13/16-inches, and weighed two pounds. Martin used his hand-made eight-foot graphite perch rod with an Ambassadeur 6500 reel.

The youth division trophy was taken this year by 13-year old Justin Morris from Alameda. A dedicated perch angler, Justin usually fishes the San Francisco Bay but is very familiar with the rocky Pacific Grove area where he pulled in a gorgeous 13.5 inch striped perch. Justin used live pileworm for bait, and relied on his 10-foot Shakespeare surfcasting rig to bring the trophy-winning fish in.