Due to low water and difficult launching conditions the previously scheduled Lake Lopez Two Day event for June 26th & 27th was moved to the beautiful fertile waters of Lake Piru nestled in the Los Padres National Forest of Ventura County. Lake Piru was created by the construction in 1955 of the Santa Felicia Dam on Piru Creek, which is a tributary of the Santa Clara River.
With all time low water conditions and extreme high air temperatures this two day extravaganza would test the fitness and determination of the twenty elite anglers squaring off in the three period pageant at Piru. The two day event consisted of three Iron Man marathon style weigh-ins on two different days. Saturday’s first period took off at 6:00am-12:00 noon that was overshadowed and highlighted by an awesome lunch break between periods prepared by famous renowned Master Asian chef Kenny Isago. After the good grub the contestants were off for the second period afternoon contest 2:00pm-8:00pm providing a mean ‘ol twelve (12) hour day on the water in sweltering hot conditions well over 100 degrees proving that only the strong would survive. Compared to the previous day the Sunday morning period was a skip in the park that would be short but apparently not too sweet as the third and final period of fishing went 6:00am-12:00 noon that found some of the marathon fisherman unable to cross the finish line.
AND THE WINNER IS:
Congratulations go out to Paul Herber for figuring it out and making it look easy. Paul brought home the CROWN for three periods of combined weigh-ins totaling 33.20lbs of big friken largemouth mamas. Mark Bowman, Andrew Serar and Conrad Apodaca Jr were the Piru pageant runner ups. A special big Basscontender shoutout goes out to CBC guest participants Joe Won, Steve Mesa and Terry J. Guys you better watch out for up and coming angler Joe Won who has been tearing up the leaderboards in every event he enters. Joe weighed in a fat Piru pig largemouth on day two weighing over four (4lbs) pounds that would have easily won the Big Fish award had he already been a full patch member. ‘Big Boat’ honors for both day one and day two go to the team of Mark Bowman and you guessed it Joe Won. The ‘Big Fish’ honors for day one go out to Conrad Apodaca Jr 4.21lbs and Andrew Serar for day two 3.82lbs.
Read ’em and weep boys. The tale of the tape:
Air temp: 66-103 degrees
Water temp: 72-77 degrees
Water clarity: 1′-3′ stained
Wind mph: who cares it was hotter than shit
Evening campground: Budweiser
Place / Name / Fish per weighin / Total weight
1 Paul Herber 5/3/5 33.20
2 Mark Bowman 5/3/3 26.94
3 Andrew Serar 3/3/1 19.24
4 Conrad Apodaca Jr 0/3/3 17.32
5 Randy Estrada MD 1/1/2 12.21
G Joe Won 2/2/2 15.94 (guest)
6 Alfred Vasquez 0/0/4 8.89
7 Conrad Apodaca Sr 2/0/1 7.33
8 Adam Day 1/0/1 6.37
9 Tim Irwin 3/0/0 5.08
10 Richard Hoffman 1/0/0 3.89
11 Gary Boyd 0/0/3 3.65
G Steve Mesa 1/0/0 2.69 (guest)
12 Dan ‘Pops’ Colgan 1/0/0 2.00
13 Joe Serar 1/0/0 1.65
14 Mark Quaternik 1/0/0 1.15
15 Mike Rupp 0/0/0 0.00
16 Brad Hodge 0/0/0 0.00
G Terry J 0/0/0 0.00 (guest)
Big Boat day one: Mark Bowman/Joe Won 31.92lbs
Big Boat day two: Mark Bowman/Joe Won 12.19lbs
Big Fish day one: Conrad Apodaca Jr 4.21lbs
Big Fish day two: Andrew Serar 3.82lbs
See you on the water; Big Ed