Recap: 2012 El Cajon Ford San Diego Team Open

[JJCJR]

This for the most part is the article written by Outdoors Writer Ed Zieralski found in Wednesday's edition (8/15/12) of the San Diego Union Tribune that summarizes what happened at this year's El Cajon Ford San Diego Team Open.

SANTEE — Mike Martin is 62. His son is 29. That’s a generation gap until they get in a bass boat.

The father-son team mixed old-school techniques of pitching Texas-rigged, 10-inch chocolate neon blue-vein plastic worms with some modern stuff, a top water Lunker Punker trout imitation, to win Paul Leader’s 14th annual El Cajon Ford San Diego Team Open.

Kevin told the crowd of over 110 anglers, family members and guests (there were 56 teams in the tournament) at the awards ceremony at a jam-packed Landre’s Sports Bar & Grill in Santee that they only missed one of the 14 tournaments and came close in other years (two fifth-place finishes). He said it all came together this year. Their two-day total of 37.42 pounds beat Justin Hanold and Mike Phua’s total of 34.62, good for second and $2,700.

“We didn’t have many bites, just the right bites,” Kevin Martin said.

The Martins earned $5,000 for totaling the most points at El Capitan and Lower Otay in the unique, two-day, two-lake bass tournament. They came in first place on both lakes the days they fished them. The Martins' also went home with $350 for big bass (4.98 pounds) at Lower Otay and $350 for heaviest stringer (18.49 pounds) at El Capitan. Their winning weight 37.42lbs was the highest recorded winning weight in the 14 years the tournament has been run.

Kevin held his arms out wide to show how big the explosion was from the 4.98-pounder fooled with the trout-patterned Punker Lunker that sealed the deal at Lower Otay on Tuesday.

“It was the biggest explosion I’ve ever seen a bass make,” he said. Mike Martin said the win was huge. “This means a lot to win this because we’ve been close so many times,” Mike Martin said.

Josh Rhodes and Spencer Davidson had heaviest bass, a 7.53-pounder, caught Monday at Lower Otay and came in second place overall with a total weight of 34.62 pounds..

Orange County’s Mike Folkestad, an original member of the Pisces Bass Club in San Diego, has been fishing San Diego lakes since 1954. He teamed with his long time friend Al Tatum to take third and won $1,200 for 33.64 pounds. They also earned $1,000 for heaviest one-day stringer, 21.75 at El Capitan. They too got on a great worm bite Texas rigging large worms. In his career as a bass fishing pro, Make has 31 major titles and tournament wins to his credit.

Another father-son team, Jon and Wade Strelic, won tickets to an upcoming Padres-Giants game, courtesy of Leader, an avid Padres fan and season ticket holder, for finishing just ahead of Leader and his fishing partner Rich “Bama” Welch. Also the youngest fisherman in the contest, Jackson Paluczak fishing with his dad Andy, picked up another $350 for a 5.65lb bass caught on by Jackson on Lake El Capitan.

At the awards ceremony held at Landre's Sports Bar in Santee beside all the tournament monies awarded, over $3,000 in gifts and gift certificates were given away to the fishermen in attendance. Laundre put out an outstanding spread of ribs, pulled pork sandwiches, chicken wings and make your own tacos with all the fixing's for the fishermen, their families and friends to feast on.

Companies that offer goods and services in support of the El Cajon Ford Team Open were: Land's End Fishing Rods, The Trolling Motor Doctor, East County Bait & Tackle, Cosmopolitan Hotel and Restaurant, Catalina Offshore Products, Angler's Arsenal, Western Plastics, Rod & Reel Radio and El Cajon Ford.

Mark your 2013 Calendars set aside the days. For the past 14 years, the second Monday and Tuesday of August has been El Cajon Ford San Diego Team Open time. 2013's event should be no different.

Here's how the top 10 teams finished.

Team Points Total Weight Total Winnings

Mike and Kevin Martin 200 37.42 $6,065

Justin Hanold/Mike Phua 196 34.62 $2,700

Al Tatum/Mike Folkestad 193 33.84 $2,500

Mike McLernon/Jerry Hobart 191 29.11 $1,000

Jim Hallauer/Marco Fenelli 190 28.07 $1,250

Ken Davis/ 190 26.96 $ 800

Richard Hernandes

Scott Wingo/Ryan Ramsom 187 27.88 $ 700

Greg Gardner/Bud Brant 187 27.24 $ 600

Ken Kruck/Steve Brecko 187 26.22 $ 500

John Rhodes/ 186 30.69 $2,100

Spencer Davidson

[Pixfish]

Do you know where can I find all of the results for the El Cajon Ford S.D. Team Open?