Dawn broke through the fog at Lake Cachuma on April 9, a signal flare fired, and hundreds of anglers braved the balmy morning air and got to work—if you call trout fishing work.
It was the start of the fifth Trout Derby for Santa Maria resident Craig Gerfen, who trolled the lake near Bradbury Dam with his stepdaughter, 13-year-old Sophie Brown.
“You know what they say: A bad day fishing is better than the best day working,” Gerfen said after returning to the marina.
It was far from a bad day for Brown, who proudly showed off her prize rainbow trout. She was afraid to handle the fish herself, so Gerfen carried it to the weighing station for her. At 17 5/16 inches, the catch was good enough for second place at the time in the derby’s teen division for size.
Gerfen and Brown were two of about 600 anglers from the Tri-Counties area who vied for cash and prizes at the 16th annual event, competing in a range of separate categories for adults and children.
Anglers employed a variety of strategies, including fly-casting, flat-lining, and trolling, where they drag lines behind a slow-motoring boat. Some participants went the old-fashioned route, dropping lines ending in nightcrawlers in the lake’s shallow waters, hoping for a bite. No particular method seemed better than the rest, and anglers reported the fishing was slow.
Alan Thompson, a fisherman from Diamond Bar, hauled in three trout, each caught in a different fashion.
“It’s basically hit or miss,” Thompson said. “Water temperature, barometric pressure, it all effects fishing. We had a cold front come through, so that probably messed things up, but that’s why they call it fishing, not catching.”
A derby regular, Thompson said he’d participated in every derby but two, though he’d never won a prize.
“As far as I’m concerned, I come out to be outside,” he said. “The fishing is a bonus. Catching is an even bigger bonus.”
Angler Larry Goldberg made the drive from Calabasas for his second derby and narrowly missed getting his name on the leader board with a monster trout measuring nearly 19 inches.
“We used the lead leader, a multicolored line, and I just started leading it out there,” he said. “It hit really quick.”
Anglers had a deadline of noon on April 10 to catch a qualifying trout. Taking home top prizes were Richard Johnson of Santa Maria, who won $2,000 for snagging the highest numbered tagged trout. Bruce Levine of Moorpark won the second prize of $1,000 for the longest trout, measuring 22 5/8 inches. The prize for the oldest angler went to 87-year-old William Massa of Santa Maria.
In the boys’ youth division, Austin Bright, 14, of Arroyo Grande, reeled in the longest trout at 17 5/16 inches, and 11-year-old Lily Cheverez of Santa Maria won the girls’ top prize with an 18 13/16-inch catch. Michael McCanley, a 13-year-old from Santa Maria, earned the prize for shortest trout at 11 1/4 inches. The children won $75 for first place and $25 for second, along with rod-and-reel prizes.
The Trout Derby is the largest annual fundraiser of the year for the Cachuma Lake Nature Center, a nonprofit featuring hands-on exhibits where children and adults can learn about animals, plants, Chumash culture, and local lore.
According to center docent Roger Millikan, local naturalist Neal Taylor asked the Board of Supervisors for a room inside an old ranch house within the park for the center. Instead, they gave him the whole house, and Taylor established the center in 1988.
It was Taylor, an expert fly fisherman, who hatched the idea for the derby as a fundraiser for the center. He passed away on Feb. 15 in Santa Barbara at the age of 78.
“It’s kind of sad, because this is the first derby that we’ve had without him,” said Nature Center volunteer Stephanie Phelps. “For everyone that’s here, it’s kind of a heart-tugging thing.”
Nature Center Executive Director Julie McDonald also shared her memories of the man who could tell where trout could be found by simply feeling the water’s temperature.
“Talk about a fisherman—Neal was the best of the best, and he had such a wonderful way of sharing that love,” McDonald recalled. “He knew exactly what was happening in those creeks and lakes before he even cast.”
According to McDonald, the center’s volunteers are imbued with a passion for carrying on Taylor’s legacy. This year, Taylor’s granddaughter Katie Jackson fired the flare to kick off the derby at 6 a.m. Organizers were concerned about the possibility of snow to start the event, and the colder-than-normal weather, combined with high gas prices, hurt angler participation, McDonald said.
The derby brings in about $30,000 annually for the Nature Center. For this fishing season, 32,000 pounds of trout were planted, and about 90 percent of those will be caught within a year, according to Millikan.
Days prior to the event, volunteers planted about 4,000 pounds of new rainbow trout in the lake, piping them out of tanker trucks from Calaveras Trout Farm in Merced. Derby organizers also dumped 250 tagged trout, with the highest one caught taking the top cash prize.
The anglers weren’t just in it for the money. Prizes included overnight hotel stays, free golf at Monarch Dunes, wining and dining packages, cruises, and fishing gear from Been There, Caught That.
“Almost everybody wins something,” McDonald said. “It’s a really fun family activity for everybody, and I think that’s why they come here every year.”
While parents fished, children participated in games, face painting, and crafts outside the Nature Center. To help carry on Neal Taylor’s legacy, the Center also teaches flycasting year-round and will hold a Kids’ Old Fashioned Fishing Day on Nov. 5. At the event, volunteers drain swimming pools and fill them with lake water and 1,000 trout for children to catch with bamboo poles.
“There’s a lot to learn to be an expert fisherman, but anybody can do it,” Millikan said. “Given a little luck, you’ll catch some fish.”
Staff Writer Jeremy Thomas is the one that got away. Contact him at jthomas@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Apr 14-21, 2011.