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PENN
INTERNATIONAL BAJA GRAND SLAM TOURNAMENT
By
Steve Carson
Fishing
Expeditions September 2002
Penn
International ‘Baja Grand Slam’ Tournament scores East
Cape variety
Competitors in last weeks’ Penn International Baja
Grand Slam Tournament scored an impressive variety of large
fish in the event that took place at the Hotel Buena Vista
Beach Resort. Over $10,000 in prizes were awarded to winners
in the various categories by Penn Fishing Tackle and the
hotel.
The event was hosted by the Hotel Buena Vista Beach
Resort, and this writer served as Tournament Director and
Master of Ceremonies. All of the logistics, from fantastic
food, to boat assignments, to the sound system went off
flawlessly. The hotel supplied weighmaster Angelito Ortiz and
a certified scale, while the hotel’s General Manager Esaul
Valdez kept an eye on everything.
The ‘Grand Slam’ format minimizes individual
catches, and rewards anglers with a 100 point bonus for
catching a fish each day in each of the four species
categories: tuna, dorado, roosterfish or billfish, and
miscellaneous fish.
Overall winner Allan Larson of Littleton, Colorado was
the only angler who managed a ‘Grand Slam’ on both days of
the tournament. Larson took the top prize for his versatility,
a return trip to Hotel Buena Vista Beach Resort.
Interestingly, Larson caught all of his fish using flycasting
tackle.
The whopper of the tournament was a 287 pound blue
marlin caught by Randy Johnson of Chico, who fought the beast
for 35 minutes on 50 pound test line. The lunker ate a live
caballito after it was lured up to the boat with a large
teaser.
“The fight felt like an hour and a half”, said
Johnson. “It took one look at the boat and left. It was my
first marlin ever, the adrenaline rush is just draining.”
The big blue came up dead, but all of the other billfish
caught during the tourney were released.
Johnson followed up his catch by releasing a sailfish
on day two. Unfortunately, a weigh-slip mix-up prevented
Johnson from winning the ‘Glamour’ [billfish/roosterfish]
category. Johnson added: “The whole experience was
absolutely complete fun. Everyone at the hotel was incredibly
nice.”
The other qualifying species for the ‘Glamour’
category was roosterfish. Again, all roosters save one that
came in dead were released. All of the roosterfish were
reported caught on live bait near La Ribera or the Las Arenas
lighthouse.
Dorado catches were scored using a wide variety of
techniques. Trolling with marlin jigs, tuna feathers, and even
slow-trolling with strips of skipjack were all successful.
Dorado were reported everywhere from the shallow inshore
roosterfish areas to the offshore marlin grounds.
Most of the dorado were between 10 and 20 pounds, but a
few over 30 pounds were scored, topped by the whopping 52
pound bull that catapulted angler Howell Cullens of Eatonton,
Georgia to victory in the ‘Dorado’ category.
During the ‘pre-fish’ period, 15-year old Derek
Hazard of San Diego caught a 65-pound dorado that surpassed
the existing IGFA record of 61 pounds for a ‘Junior Boy’,
but did not complete the required IGFA paperwork. Young Derek
fished with his grandfather, East Cape veteran Togo Hazard
aboard the Dusty B II.
Although tuna fishing was a little on the slow side,
tackle shop owner Mark Corrie of Chico topped the ‘Tuna’
category with an 11-pound black skipjack he caught using a
4-ounce Mega-Bait jig aboard the “Liliana’ with captains
Marcos and Santiago.
The ‘Miscellaneous’ category was topped by a
17-pound toro [jack crevalle] for Rocky Arola of Watsonville.
Arola was using a small white Gitzit lure on steelhead-type
spinning outfit and just 10 pound test line when the fish
appeared among a school of needlefish about 100 yards offshore
just north of Buena Vista. Notoriously tough fighters, the
toro took Arola 45 minutes to land.
In second place for the miscellaneous category was
Warren Winiecke of Gold Beach, Oregon. Winiecke landed a
15-pound wahoo on a Sevenstrand Tuna Clone, the only wahoo of
the tournament.
Several other wahoo were hooked and lost, including a
very large one hooked by tuna division winner Mark Corrie. He
related: “I was trolling an orange/black Marauder near a
large school of skipjack. I got a hard strike, and the fish
took 200 yards of 80-pound line off my Penn International 50SW
in a big hurry. Then the hooks just pulled out.”
A wide variety of miscellaneous fish came to the
scales. Species caught included: jack crevalle, wahoo,
amberjack, needlefish, triggerfish, four species of pargo, and
sierra mackerel.
This writer got to fish a little in between my official
duties. I was able to catch 10 different species of fish, but
was not able to ‘notch’ any new species for my list. My
hectic schedule also kept me from pursuing any off-hours surf
fishing, but I noticed several roosterfish boils right in
front of the hotel every evening during the orientation
meetings and awards ceremonies.
On our final day of fishing we got into an almost
‘wide-open’ yo-yo bite that lasted from 7:30 am until
10:00 am, when heavy winds made it impossible to reach the
proper depths. We had a nice mixed bag going of pez fuerte
[amberjack], black skipjack tuna, pargo amarillo, pargo
colorado, pargo de perro [dog snapper], huachinango [spotted
rose snapper], and even a couple of bulitos [bullet tuna].
Television host Ronnie Kovach was on hand with a film
crew, but was also not eligible for the tournament. Kovach was
fishing aboard Captain Victor Garciglia’s ‘Vamanos’
hooked a 50-pound class amberjack while yo-yo’ing a sardine
color 4-ounce Mega-Bait jig on day one, but fate intervened.
Just as the big pez fuerte was about to be gaffed, the
largest bull sea lion this writer has ever seen charged in and
grabbed the fish. Although Kovach tried valiantly, the 1,000
pound ‘lobo’ was not to be denied, and ultimately got to
keep the fish.
Several “Penn International Grand Slam” tournament
events are planned for 2003 in both Alaska and the East Cape
The first will be held at Kingfisher Lodge in Sitka,
Alaska on May 14-18 [call Kingfisher Lodge at 800-727-6136 for
booking information]. Watch this site for exact dates of other
Penn International Grand Slam Tournament events in Baja and
Alaska.
TOURNAMENT
STATISTICS
Total
‘Baja Grand Slams’ scored- 5
Blue
marlin- 3 [largest 287 pounds]
Striped
marlin- 2 [all released]
Sailfish-
2 [all released]
Roosterfish-
14 [largest 42 pounds]
Tuna-
16 [largest 11 pounds]
Dorado-
25 [largest 52 pounds]
Miscellaneous
fish- 25 [largest 17 pounds]
FINAL
STANDINGS
Grand
Prize Winner
Allan
Larson/Littleton, CO- 459 total points- [Return trip to Hotel
Buena Vista Beach Resort]
Glamour
Category [billfish/roosterfish]
1.
Jack Collier/Millbrae, CA- 250 points w/tiebreaker- [Penn
Formula 10KG reel and Sabre rod combination]
2.
Allan Larson/Littleton, CO- 250- [Penn International 975 reel
and Sabre rod combination]
3.
Joe Polance/Huntington Beach, CA- 175- [Penn Senator 4/0 reel
and Sabre rod combination]
Dorado
Category
1.
Howell Cullens/Eatenton, GA- 60- [Penn Formula 10KG reel and
Sabre rod combination]
2.
Chrystie Lange/San Diego, CA- 34- [Penn International 975 reel
and Sabre rod combination]
3.
Mokoto Watanabe/San Mateo, CA- 23- [Penn Senator 4/0 reel and
Sabre rod combination]
Tuna
Category
1.
Mark Corrie/Chico, CA- 11- [Penn Formula 10KG reel and Sabre
rod combination]
2.
Howell Cullens/Eatenton, GA- 9- [Penn International 975 reel
and Sabre rod combination]
3.
Bud Isaacs/Englewood, CO- 8- Penn [Senator 4/0 reel and Sabre
rod combination]
Miscellaneous
Category
1.
Rocky Arola/Watsonville, CA- 17- [Penn International 975 reel
and Sabre rod combination]
2.
Warren Winiecke/Gold Beach, OR- 15 - [Penn Senator 4/0 reel
and Sabre rod combination]
3.
Joe Polance/Huntington Beach, CA- 9- [Penn 500L reel]
Tournament
Director’s Award
Randy
Johnson/Chico, CA- [Penn 500L reel]
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