That all-too-familiar Circle K stop
at 3:30 a.m.: customers inside consisting only of cab drivers, cops, and, of course, fishermen. As I went charging through the doors in my deck boots and slickers, the employee behind the counter gave me that look that says “Ah, you just have to be a fisherman.”
While filling my coffee mug, a New-port Beach police officer took one look at my fishing team jacket, cap, and logo-wrapped Tundra parked out front and said, “You better get going. Several boats are already anchored up on the croaker holes underneath the bridge.”
Somewhat surprised, I said, “Yep, snooze-button syndrome: hit the snooze button but fell back asleep. Hopefully our spot will be open and we can catch a couple nice ones on the first tide.”
“Good luck,” said the cop.
As should be expected with a 12:01 a.m. start-fishing time, hardcore anglers competing in the 2008 Lilly Call Tournament had already anchor-ed up on spots below the Lido Island Bridge, hoping for an early shot at croaker and perhaps halibut that lurk on the channel edges. Loading our gear at 3:50 a.m., we were somewhere in the middle of the pack in terms of tournament boats already on the water. A handful of anglers – the same anglers that control the leader board year after year – are always on the water at 12:01 a.m. That said, Pacific Coast Sportfishing challenged me to track down last year’s winners and “high-liners” of the Lilly Call Tournament to coax a few tips and techniques out of the bunch.
Lilly Call Tournament
Anglers competing in the Lilly Call are restricted to four-pound-test tournament line and limited to fishing inside Newport Harbor. That challenge in itself separates the talent from the weekend warriors. Each and every year (unless you’re really lucky) the names at the top represent the best our town has to offer.
Interviews that led to the feature that follows here were heavy on passion and expertise. These anglers were willing to share some very helpful techniques that are specifically geared to-wards the upcoming 2009 tournament; how to win in each of the four categories, which include the croaker, corb- ina, bass, and halibut divisions.
Croaker Calling
Lilly Call’s croaker division has attained a cult-like following. For starters, New-port Bay has a fairly consistent spot-fin croaker fishery, and many anglers target them exclusively during the Lilly Call. Hosted by the Balboa Angling Club (BAC), the Lilly Call Tournament is notorious for dishing out some true monsters during the spring two-day derby. Last year was no different, and BAC board member Bill Markland set a new club record on four-pound test with an eight-pound, nine-ounce spot-fin.
Asked about the details of this particular catch, Bill replied, “Besides pure luck, I was fishing the croaker candy bait – a whole innkeeper worm.” Innkeeper worms and spot-fin croaker go together like squid and seabass. Along the muddy shores of Newport Harbor, these innkeeper worms live in underground tunnels, and they are a favorite food source for croakers, corbina, bass, halibut, and bat rays. Occasionally, a tackle shop will special-order innkeepers for the Lilly Call Tourn- ament; however, more often than not, anglers have to catch their own before the derby.
Catching them is an interesting event. Wading around underneath docks and along the muddy shores of the bay front with a slurp gun at ready, anglers “slurp” up innkeeper worms from their burrows and store them for tournament fishing. Long hours wandering around in the mud is worth it when you consider this bait takes the lion’s share of the winning fish.
Regarding hook rigs, Bill said, “I be-lieve in the circle hook for croaker fishing. We had close to ten spot-fins during the tournament – all on 2/0 light wire red circle hooks.”
Besides hooking these fish in the corner of the mouth, circle hooks work great for the ultra-light tackle. Bill add- ed, “Nice thing about the circle hook when fishing four-pound-test, the fish hook themselves. To set them up, we just reel down on the bite. Line comes tight, and you’re hooked up.”
As for ultra-light tackle rigging tips, Bill says, “When using four-pound-test, it’s critical that anglers use a Bimini twist to the swivel on a Carolina rig. The double line of a Bimini twist protects the main line from the sliding egg sinker and line abrasion. The Bimini also provides a double line and superior knot strength to the swivel.”
If targeting croakers, Bill said, “We like fishing in the deeper water, fifteen to eighteen feet, and setting up on
the spots a good hour before the tide change. It’s really important to have both a bow and stern anchor when positioning for the croakers. This prevents the boat from swinging and the baits rolling unnaturally along the bottom.” And I tend to concur with Bill’s anchoring system. That bow-and-stern anchor system keeps the boat stationary so anglers can cast into pockets and croaker holes as the tide pushes through.
Newport Harbor Corbina
Some true monster corbina are lurking around Newport Bay, which I know for a fact because several times through- out the season, while working on my boat (docked along the main channel) I’ve seen huge ones feeding in the shallows, behind the boat in two to three feet of water. Some of the boat owners mistake them for small sharks because these bay corbina have much darker coloration than the ones that patrol the surf line.
For corbina techniques, I called my friend and Newport Bay specialist Bill Seiler. He’s almost always on the leader board for one or many of the Lilly Call species. Bill said, “One of the techniques we used for the Lilly Call Tournament was to go out the afternoon before the tournament and look over the side of every bridge on Newport Bay. We would sneak up really quietly, look down, and see if any schools of corbina were in the area.” This tip from Bill sounds hilarious, but in theory it makes perfect sense. Corbina are a shallows-oriented fish when in the bay and along the surf line. What better way to scout them then to look down on your quarry from the numerous bridges in Newport Bay? Brilliant!
Bay Bass Division
With the popularity of bay bass fishing, the bass division attracts a huge group of Lilly Call anglers that target the bass division exclusively during the two-day event. Two of the most talented anglers in the bay bass division are team Disco Punk anglers Jimmy Decker and lady friend Tracy Viloria.
Tracy won at the most recent SWBA Tournament in Newport Harbor with the largest spotted bay bass of the tournament, a three-pound, one-ounce spottie caught on a three-inch Gulp Shrimp. Asked about the details of that catch, Tracy said, “Jimmy and I typically fish two different baits to find out what pattern is working. At this particular tourn-ament, our first fish were coughing up small ghost shrimp at the boat. So I switched to the new-penny three-inch Gulp Shrimp and fished it low and slow along the bottom.”
While Tracy typically fishes creature baits for winning bay bass, Jimmy puts his faith in the Gulp jerk shads. Jimmy said, “When casting four-pound test, I will use three inches of fifteen-pound Stren Tinted Fluorocarbon and use a uni-to-uni knot to attach the leader. It’s very important to use super sharp, light-wire Owner jig heads with the four-pound for hook penetration. I also custom paint my jig heads in fluorescent orange or chartreuse. Seems to make a difference, especially in off-colored water.”
Since these interviews were about winning the division, not necessarily placing at the top, Jimmy made a good point: “I will start off with the Gulp seven-inch jerk shad for the bay tournaments. While a seven-inch bait seems big for the bay, I would rather have a couple shots at tournament-winning fish on this bait then have to weed through a bunch of small fish on the five-inch jerk shad. Go big, or go home! That’s how I see it.”
According to Balboa Angling Club records, for the last five years, the bass division has been won by anglers troll-ing swimming plugs down the main channel. Decker added, “For the Lilly Call, we will occasionally put out a deep-diving Frenzy or Crystal Minnow and troll with the tide in the main channel from the Pavilion to the harbor entrance. Bass are hunkered down in the eelgrass and drop-offs, facing into the tide, looking for a meal. If you’re trolling against the tide, your plugs are swimming in the wrong direction, and you’re likely to have fewer bites.”
Lilly Call 2009 Tournament
This year’s Lilly Call, unlike tournaments of past years, is not limited to Balboa Angling Club members and their guests. So with a little luck and after perfecting these techniques, just about any fishermen can bring in a winning fish, whether it’s a croaker, corbina, bass, or halibut. And four-pound tackle makes these scrappy game fish fight like no other.
You can get details and registration information by calling the Balboa Angling Club at (949) 673-6316, or visit their Website, www.balboaanglingclub.org.
