By Paul Lebowitz

December 21, 2007

CARPINTERIA – To the motorists streaking past on Highway 101, the Carpinteria Salt Marsh doesn’t look like much. It’s left behind in moments, a smear of unassuming brown with just the tiniest tinge of blue.

Anglers know better. The shallow channels that wind their way through the mud flats and grass beds hold the promise of healthier fisheries to come.

“This is the nursery,” United Anglers of Southern California president Tom Raftican said of the marsh, important habitat for the juveniles of a multitude of ocean fishes including highly prized halibut. “If we improve the habitat, we improve the fishery.”

The marsh suffers from siltation – sand chokes the water channels, leading to poor circulation and exacerbating water quality issues.  

UASC TURNS OUT SELF-POWERED ANGLERS TO BENEFIT THE ‘CARP’ MARSH – Pictured are the top three anglers at UASC’s December first annual no-motor fishing tournament. The event was held just offshore of the Carpinteria Salt Marsh, a critical fish nursery suffering from siltation. From left, Mark Pierpont (2nd), Jeff Krieger (1st), and Mark Olson (3rd).

Raftican’s organization is working to identify funding partners for a much-needed dredging project. To raise awareness, on December 15 UASC staged its first annual no-motor tournament in the ocean just offshore.

Intrepid self-powered anglers braved cold water and high tides and fished from the beach, kayaks and float tubes. And although the field caught and released an assortment of calico and sand bass and the odd rockfish, not one halibut was landed.

“With a single rod and reel it takes a lot of fish for us to be successful,” Raftican said, expressing the recreational angler’s universal desire – a healthy ocean teeming with fish. UASC’s top officer sees low-impact non-motorized anglers as part of that equation.

At the Artful Angler, a fly shop located just inland of the marsh, Jeff Krieger claimed the grand prize, a Prowler 13 fishing kayak courtesy of Ocean Kayak. Mark Pierpont was 2nd, followed by Mark Olson in 3rd.