Monterey Bay Salmon & Trout Project

Once again the Salmon returned to the Monterey Bay and we had a very Good turnout for our 8th Annual Big Fish Derby. The winning fish was again a 33.04 lb halibut caught by Albert Dasilva of Pacific Grove. Mr. Dasilva won $1,000.00. The largest salmon, 31.12 lbs was caught by Bob Martin of Modesto. Mr. Martin won $200.00. The largest and only sea bass caught weighed 26.14 lbs. Casey Faneuf caught the sea bass. Mr. Faneuf also won $200.00. There were no tuna turned in this year due to the rough weather. The tuna were out there but no one could get out far enough due to high winds on the outside. Over all we had over 400 fish entered into the derby. The majority of fish turned in were salmon.

We did have some problems with our new format. Under current fish and game rules, commercial fisherman who fish for ground fish or halibut may choose the days they are commercial fishing and the days they are sport fishing. For those of you who saw commercial fishermen turning in fish for weigh in for the derby from boats with commercial licenses, this was legal if they were not commercial fishing on the days of the derby. In addition, they cannot sell the fish caught while sport fishing. Last, they are also required to declare in their log books, they were not commercial fishing on the days in question. Because we were unaware this was legal there was some confusion in the beginning about who could turn fish in and be eligible to win any prizes including the grand prize. A review of fish and game regulations and many discussions with other commercial fishermen Corrected our original opinion and we allowed fish caught by commercial fishermen who were not commercial fishing during the derby. Again, we apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused but we did finally get it right.

We would like to thank all of you who participated in the derby and for all of your generous donations. We raised over $7,000.00, which goes directly to the Monterey Bay Salmon & Trout Project. None of the Directors receive any compensation for their efforts and time spent putting this event on or for any of their time spent working for the hatchery. We appreciate all of your suggestions and ideas for future derbies. Last, we need your help. All our volunteers including myself do our best to make this a fun and successful event. If you love to fish or are just interested in helping us keep this area the best it can be for recreational purposes, please give us a call. There is plenty to do and many other ideas we just don't have the time to complete.

Thanks again,
Larry WolfÂ

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