1st Saltwater Kayak Fishing World Championship Event

[Redfish12]

It’s taken me awhile to post this but back in June I won the OC Fish & Paddle slot for Team USA and a chance to compete in the 1st saltwater kayak fishing world championship in Valencia Spain in October. It was a lot of fun getting to know the USA team and the other teams from Ireland, Italy, Spain, and Portugal.

Overall, it was a great experience but the fishery there made me miss our white perch! Lots of different species but all very small. I caught amberjack, sea bream, dentex, porgy, and what we called small grouper but I’m pretty sure that’s not the right name. The weather unfortunately did not cooperate to allow us to really compete. Hard to complain though when there was such tragedy in Valencia and the surrounding areas from the flooding.

I had the chance to fish with Robert in Los Buzos so it was cool getting to fish with him again on the team. He makes great content so check out the videos!

Part 1

Part 2

[J.A. Veil]

Michael - That was a great opportunity. It is a shame that the heavy storms disrupted the event as well as causing major damage to the local region. I have snorkled off the shore at various spots along the Mediterranean coast. It was really obvious that very few large or even medium fish can be found close to shore. I saw hundreds of little fish. The commercial fishing in those areas over thousands of years wiped out most of the larger fish.

[Slobber Bob]

I was wondering how this went for you. An unfortunate turn of events. Sorry to hear.

What comes of your participation going forward? Are you still on the team for other competitions?

[Redfish12]

Brian, yeah I am going to get to fish in La Paz Mexico this March. Not sure how it will go after that as the next world championship event is in Italy and I am not sure how they will decide who “makes the cut”. I assume they will give a spot to the OC winner next year. Just be warned, they do not have any major sponsors yet so it’s a pay your own way kind of thing.