Official Pier Masters Championships

It was a beautiful evening down at the Goleta pier. The sun was shining, the air temperature in the mid 70's, and the surf was calm, all the pickings for a great fishing competition.  Today's anglers are the new up and coming locals at Goleta pier Waldman, and Sheldo.  This evening was the culmination of two previous warm up fishing outing. The competitors were reminded to keep this a fair, clean fish, and not hitting below the bait.

To even out the playing fields each contestant was given, thanks to our sponser KMart, 1 bait jig, snap hook ( for fast, and easy tackle switching ), two 3/4 lbs weight, no knifes, and the kicker you may bring no bait. 
 
So the scene is set and the anglers are all geared up and as the bell rings, you can hear the zing of each cast out over the pier as the competition starts.  Waldman falls to a quick deficit as he manages to hook "the big one" that's right the leg of the pier.  Then the lead goes to Sheldo as he finds someone left over squid bait sitting on the railing, but wait there is not knife to cut it up. Things are defiantly heating up now.  In a bold move Sheldo grabs the pliers and starts ripping off some bait for his string of 5 hooks. Oh and what's this Waldman gets a look of some left-overs and and cons Sheldo into putting a small piece on his center hook.  Both lines hit the water and the wait is on. This is Pier Fishing at its best people.  The crows of kids calling out, "Can I have all the fish you catch?", the anticipation is high. Waldman gets a tug on the line, he quickly draws up the hooks, and wait what's this, YES folks it the first catch EVER in this tournament. It's a huge maybe 4" yellow perch. Sheldo helps dig the hook out of an eye socket, and away the fish goes back out to sea. 
 
Feeling the pressure of being down 1 fish to none, and the sun setting in a mere 35 minutes, Sheldo throws back out his line, and not maybe 5 minutes have past and Bam! Hook line and sinker, the game is tied with Sheldo catching his first fish of the night, another 4" perch.
 
The competition is tight and the seemingly magical squid bait has run out.  With little or no bait the anglers throw into the water one more time.  We can see some strategy starting to play out, as Sheldo seems to be fishing in the top foot of water, and Waldman gambling is going deep, down to the bottom. And Yes folks it pays off with the winning catch of a nice 4" Rock Fish.  Thanks for joining us at the Pier Masters, until next time, keep those lines tight, and hooks baited.