The 2022 “Kids Day on the Pier” — Marin Rod & Gun Club Pier

Saturday, August 27, saw a large group of volunteers and a large group of kids and parents at the Marin Rod & Gun Club pier for the annual “Kids Day on the Pier” fishing derby.

The Marin Rod and Gun Club and Pier Fishing in California (pierfishing.com) brought free loaner tackle and people to help out at the event while the club provided the free bait. Assistance for the (often) newbie anglers was available as needed.

We had 86 youngsters on the pier with at least that many adults and fish were caught although not too many. The red tide, which unfortunately has negatively affected much of the bay, was making its presence known and only 11 bat rays, 3 leopard sharks, 1 halibut, 1 jacksmelt and 1 surfperch were caught. Typically the list is led by a large number of jacksmelt so I think their absence more than anything else reflected the red tide.

Nevertheless, the atmosphere was upbeat, the kids were smiling, and even the weather cooperated for the most part (although just a tad bit windy).

Bat Ray Time

California Halibut

Once the fishing was completed, every youngster received a free hot dog lunch courtesy of the club followed by the announcement of the age group winners. Each individual age group winner received a 1^st Place trophy and an autographed copy of Pier Fishing in California by Ken Jones of Pier Fishing In California who was making his tenth appearance at the event.

Age Group winners:

5-Year-Old Winner— Eliza Jane Mills

6-Year-Old Winner — Yahir Salanic

7-Year-Old Winner — Zach Mitchell

8-Year-Old Winner — Lily Mitchell

9-Year-Old Winner — Reed Stewart

10-Year-Old Winner — Trevor Selle

11-Year-Old Winner — Brodie Guerraro

12-Year-Old Winner — Thomas Valdez

13-Year-Old Winner — Matthew Morimoto

14-Year-Old Winner— Kaden Choi

15-Year-Old Winner — Kiana Choi

Last but certainly not least was the raffle, which provided rods and reels for EVERY youngster that was in the derby. Al Petrocelli, the club coordinator for the event, raised more than $7,000 in donations that helped pay for the rods and reels.

There were many, many club volunteers to thank, those who assisted with registration, setting up the rods, reels and bait, the judges, and all the cooks and servers for the lunch. Unfortunately I only have three names, the three ladies who registered the youngsters—Jennie Petrocelli, Ann Marie Melanephy, and Katie Shurtz.  But we are thankful for all who helped make the day a successful event.

I also want to thank the Pier Fishing in California crew that showed up—Rita Magdamo (also a club member), Kyle Pease, Dave DeJong, Robert Gardner (Redfish) and Hans Jones. They rigged (and unrigged) rods and reels, helped judge, and took pictures. It was all appreciated.

A special thanks goes to Rich Reano the webmaster for pierfishing.com who flew all the way up from San Diego to film the event. He took so much film he will probably make two films, one of the club and one of the event.

2009 PFIC/UPSAC SoCal Pierfishing Derby #5, Cabrillo Pier — San Pedro

PFIC/UPSAC 2010 SoCal Pierfishing Derby #2 — Oceanside Pier

Eugene getting everything ready

Showing PFIC

Prizes

A thornback ray

2010 PFIC/UPSAC SoCal Pierfishing Derby #6, Cabrillo Pier

Date: September 18, 2010 — To: PFIC Message Board — From: kelpangler — Subject: Results: SoCal Pierfishing Derby, Cabrillo Pier, 9/18

Fishing was terribly slow today and the morning would’ve been forgettable had it not been for the great company! We had 28 participants fishing the outgoing tide, which provided very little current. A handful of fish were caught including smelt, lizardfish, perch, croaker, bat ray, and a turbot (sorry I don’t have the specific species names). A few pinhead anchovies found themselves snagged on a couple Sabikis and we all witnessed the crashing birds in the harbor, but the baitfish just didn’t want to make their way to the pier. Rich provided some excitement in the final hour when his rod went bendo and the line started to peel off his reel, but somehow it came unbuttoned (will wait for him to tell the story). Again, fishing was slow but sharing time with friends made this an enjoyable event.

Today’s winners: 1st – Josh W 2nd — Trevor G  — 3rd – Josh G

Overall winners (through 8 events): 1st — Rich G — 2nd Jose M 3rd — Tomas G

All of our sponsors came through for us again, including a few new ones specifically for today’s event: Vons, Sport Chalet, Foothill Optometry, and Avet Reels. Also, a big thank you to gyozadude for continuing to provide his custom wrapped rods paired with Daiwa Exceler reels. Lastly, thanks to Marty Golden of NOAA who provided pamphlets and goody bags for us. If you have a chance, please, please thank our sponsors for supporting us.

Posted by: Illcatchanything2 —Eugene, I would like to offer my most sincere thanks for taking the time out of your busy life to put these together all year long to benefit UPSAC. You have shown selfless dedication to the project. Glad you guys had a great turnout, sorry about the slow fishing, but like you said, sometimes slow fishing can be counterbalanced by good company….  Brian, ICA2

Posted by odogfish — I must say I did have a good time even tho I didn’t catch a thing … but I don’t expect to catch much at such events , I’m there more just to have fun and that I did … was good to meet some new faces … but some of the old faces … damn y’all are still ugly. To Ken and the UPSAC Krew … great job ! !

Ported by Arcadian  — I had fun, Great Company you guys Keep. Its Was AWESOME!! Too bad it was the last one I was just getting started.

Posted by Dwight Trash — I had a great time yesterday. It was my first fishing derby, and I couldn’t have been more excited to win. I had a huge smile on my face all day. The turbot that I caught was a diamond turbot btw. Thanks to all for making it happen. I hope to do many more in the future.

The highlight of my day was a long talk with Ken Jones. The icing on the cake was winning his book in the raffle and having him autograph it for me. I just started fishing in June, and have been pier fishing for even less time. I consider Ken Jones to be my mentor.

Posted by gordo grande — We all feel that way. Ken is everyone’s mentor! Wow! Oscar (odogfish) showed up! How cool is that, huh?

Posted by cappo5150  — Oh ya he showed up and made everyone know he was there.

Posted by Mahigeer  — I had no idea how “un-handsome” I am until I saw my picture with Oscar standing next to me.  Because we kind of look alike when he has a full beard.

Posted by — Not every one can pull that look off … ya needs to be a man’s man … plus I gots the b…s to pull it off if ya know wat I mean

Posted by Riplee781 — This was a great time, too bad the fish weren’t there for everybody. Trevor ended up giving me the polarized sunglasses. They are great, i might say! Thanks Trevor. Hopefully this wont be the very last one, at least the last one for awhile. Eugene did a great job as always, I know it’s hard to watch people fish when you cant. Thanks to Eugene for making sure we all had a great time and taking the time out of his schedule for us. Its always good to see Hashem as well. To bad Jellyfish didnt show up, thats what he gets for all his late night partying haha.

Posted by Ken Jones — Thanks Eugene, I hadn’t had time to resize and post those pics. BTW, you did a GREAT job setting up and running the derby. And, I believe those were $200+ sunglasses so they should work great. 

Posted by Dwight Trash —   Nice pics! But, you got the Josh’s mixed up. I’m Josh W, you have my pic for third place.

Posted by kelpangler — Sorry about that—fixed! Nice job on the turbot and bat ray.