Fish Stories : Hundreds of Competitors Are Hoping to Reel In Big Bucks, Sharks

Sherman Solaas hung back to conceal his destination as his competitors drove full throttle out of Channel Islands Harbor on Friday for the Fifth Annual Big Bucks Shark Tournament.

Stored in an ice chest, he had his “secret bait,” several dozen barracuda caught two days earlier. At the helm, he was guided by nearly $250,000 of fish-finding equipment. And most importantly, he had his spot mapped out, based on intelligence data secured from an ocean-temperature reporting service.

What Solaas didn’t have at day’s end was a qualifying shark. Though the Whittier contractor and his two boat mates landed 13 blue sharks in the area’s warmest waters, all were returned to the sea, since only makos and threshers qualified.

“We’re lucky we still have two more days to win,” said Solaas, 55, who has fished waters from the Arctic to the tropics.

More than 225 contestants on 62 boats entered the three-day rod-and-reel contest, one of the two largest annual shark-fishing tournaments in Southern California. The entry fee is $550 per boat, which can carry a maximum of four anglers.

The heaviest shark caught by Sunday afternoon will earn a top prize of $10,000. Also, each boat can put $100 and $500 into two daily pools.

Doug Muelder, a 37-year-old heavy equipment contractor from La Canada, landed Friday’s top catch, a 162-pound mako that took 25 minutes to bring in. Muelder won $10,100 in the two daily pools, an amount he said was less than his take from side bets with other anglers.

“I knew we had a contender when it jumped the water the first time,” said Muelder, whose 58-foot sportfishing boat, Industrious I, is based at Ventura Harbor. “But we weren’t too proud to think we had the winner.”

Thursday night, tournament organizers laid out the ground rules at a dinner for 400 at the Lobster Trap in Oxnard. Boats were restricted to a designated 30-by-60-mile grid, and all catches had to be radioed in prior to arrival at the scales.

“We will not weigh a shark in if it has been bit, if it has long line marks or net marks,” Torbin Fredriksen, the tournament’s sergeant-at-arms, said. “And if the fish has glazed-over eyes and freezer burn, don’t bring it in.”

Last year, the largest fish caught was a 225-pound mako.

Bill Jenkins, a 36-year-old janitorial contractor from Thousand Oaks, was seeking to better his finish of last year, when he won $1,000 for the sixth-largest fish, a 101-pound mako.

“Hopefully, we’re in the right place at the right time and don’t screw up,” Jenkins said.

The tournament drew protests from some environmentalists upset at hearing that anglers could shoot their sharks just before bringing them aboard.

“This is a ‘Jaws’ mentality, and not the form of heroism we should teach our children,” said Benjamin Talley, 46, a librarian from Ventura who called the state Department of Fish and Game only to discover the contest was legal.

In their defense, tournament officials said the catch is restricted to makos and thresher sharks, both of which are considered fine eating. And contestants said a bullet in the head is far more humane than the common alternative, clubbing a shark to death.

Ken Butler had no luck at all Friday, catching not even a blue shark. But the 35-year-old masonry contractor from Oxnard was not disturbed by the shutout.

“Positively, tomorrow we’ll get one,” Butler said. “We’re not done yet.”

Muelder landed his mako about four miles off Point Mugu--less than a half-mile from Solaas’ 52-foot boat, Reel Fast. Only after both boats were in did Solaas discover that his skipper, Kyle Dickerson, had shared the recommended fishing spot with Muelder.

Solaas, who lost a $500 side bet to Muelder, jokingly threatened to dock $500 from Dickerson’s pay.

He nonetheless boasted about catching and throwing back a 240-pound blue shark. When someone pointed out that his largest catch was closer to 170 pounds, fishing partner Del Marsh explained the discrepancy.

“That’s what it weighed on the boat,” said Marsh, 61, a retired steelworker from Long Beach who fishes marlin tournaments regularly. “It’ll be 240 pounds in the bar tonight.”