FISHING : Big Turnout Is Expected for Annual Halibut Derby

The fifth annual Santa Monica Halibut Derby is scheduled for April 13-14 with 2,000 anglers expected to participate.

More than $25,000 in cash and prizes will be awarded. If caught, a special tagged fish is worth $5,000.

Anglers catching the heaviest halibut each derby day will be eligible for cash prizes and anglers catching halibut longer than 23 inches will be eligible for a drawing that includes trips to Alaska and Mexico.

John Bourget, chairman of the annual event, said proceeds from this year’s derby will again be donated to the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Monica Youth Fishing Program and the Department of Fisheries at the Los Angeles National History Museum.

Funds raised from last year’s Derby enabled 800 young people from the South Bay and West Los Angeles to fish the ocean for the first time.

Twenty percent of funding went to the Halibut Hatchery Program, which will soon release 250,000 hatchery-raised halibut.

All eligible halibut must be caught on rod and reel in Santa Monica Bay shoreward of a line drawn between Palos Verdes Point and Point Dume.

The weigh station is located in Burton Chase Park and will be open each derby day from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Entry forms are available at tackle stores and all South Bay Sportfishing Landings.

Information: (213) 450-5131.

The spring’s first catches of barracuda in Santa Monica Bay were reported last week with six-to-nine pound fish being caught aboard Marina del Rey Sportfishing’s Del Mar.

Although bait was in short supply, anglers used jigs and bait with success.

Fishing was cut short because of wind and rain, but most anglers were able to sack a limit.

John Lewis of Redondo Beach was the jackpot winner with a nine-pound barracuda.

Alfanso Melo of Carson returned from a three-day fishing trip to Cabo San Lucas, where he caught and released a 110-pound marlin.

Melo said he also caught several skipjack that weighed up to 10-pounds.

Freshwater Notes: John Gobert of Carson fished Santa Ana Lakes and landed a 7 1/4-pound rainbow trout.

South Bay Catches: Simom Weinfeld of West Los Angeles, fishing aboard the Shogun off Catalina Island, caught a 24 1/2-pound white seabass, the whopper of the week.

Ted Hale of Long Beach, fishing aboard the GW at the rigs, caught a 23-pound lingcod.

Chris Aramo of Palos Verdes, fishing in Santa Monica Bay aboard the Del Mar, caught a 12-pound halibut.

Bob Taylor of Wilmington, fishing aboard the Hitless Miss at horseshoe kelp, caught an 11 1/2-pound white seabass.