Central Coast Fishing: Longtime area angler scores SLO County bass tournament win

A veteran angler who wields a mean paint brush in his day job also handles a variety of fishing rods with expertise when it comes to bass competitions.

His identity is Steve Bereda, a Santa Margarita resident who won his second San Luis Obispo County Bass Ambushers night tournament in the past three months. And seeing Bereda’s name brings back a host of memories.

The 65-year-old is a painting contractor who counts Dave Grosz and Andy Brennan among his many clients. Grosz and Brennan usher me back to the late 1960s when they were part of Joe Harper’s Mustang football staff and I was sports information director at Cal Poly. Both men currently reside in the local area.

Bereda is also a longtime friend of local angler Dale Ball. The two met for the first time in the 1970s at Lake San Antonio, where both fished for stripers.

“He taught me how to fish for bass,” Bereda told me in an interview I retrieved from my stash of information gleaned from numerous anglers since delving into the fishing realm in the 1970s.

Over the years, Bereda has teamed with numerous partners including such familiar names as John White, Bobby Doss, Pat Fadely and Ball, of course. In 2010, Ball earned the title of California’s first state bass fishing champion following a series of events climaxing at Clear Lake.

Back to the events of last Saturday night at Lake Nacimiento.

“It was the last 45 minutes of the competition that enabled me to win,” Bereda said. “I had a limit earlier using jigs in 20 feet of water near the bank. Fortunately, I had a limit prior to darkness. The fire near the lake wasn’t a factor because the prevailing wind kept the smoke away from the lake.

“I was able to cull four of my fish late in the 6 o’clock to midnight tournament. I found three of them in a 75-foot stretch of water, then I moved into a small cove where I nailed my big fish (2.62 pounds).”

That catch in the waning minutes of the event proved to be the big fish of the tournament. It gave Bereda a win by a little more than two pounds ahead of Mike Garza — 11.48 pounds to 9.35 pounds.

Erik Zillig handled tournament director duties in the absence of Al Rush, who tended to a family emergency.

SLO County Bass Ambushers Top 10 (number of fish, weight, winnings): 1. Steve Bereda, Santa Margarita, 5, 11.48, $202; 2. Mike Garza, Salinas, 5, 9.35, $121; 3. Mark Hazuka, Atascadero, 5, 9.17, $81; 4. Burt Lund, Atascadero, 5, 8.81; 5. Jerry May, Paso Robles, 5, 8.52; 6. Jim Keeney, Paso Robles, 5, 8.19; 7. Graham Grove, Pismo Beach, 5, 8.17; 8. Erik Zillig, Paso Robles, 5, 7.82; 9. Tom White, King City, 5, 7.64; 10. Craig Zillig, Creston, 1, 1.17.

First Big Fish, 2.62 pounds, Bereda, $60.

Virg’s Landing

Marina manager Bruce Harwood noted in his weekly report that the 19th qualifier for the December Lingcod competition is Las Vegas angler John Galardi. He caught a 19.3-pound lingcod aboard the Princess on a long-range trip to Cape San Martin.

“We had 12 trips last week transporting 369 anglers. The total count was 3,673 fish, including 197 lingcod and 799 red rockfish,” Harwood said.

Other jackpot winners included Bakersfield’s Rick Knight, 16.0 ling; Jordan Scott, Lompoc, 12.0 ling; King Gladney, Oakland, 13.5 ling; Jesse Davis, Atascadero, 12.0 ling; Juan Vargas, Bakersfield, 15.1 ling; Phillip Riordan, Fresno, 9.7 ling; and Jose Sandoval, Tulare, 9.2 ling.

Bakersfield angler David Haffe also landed a 15.8-pound sheepshead last week (pictured) aboard the Rita G.

Virg’s next scheduled two-day trip is Sept. 23-24 and has 10 slots open. These trips have a 24-passenger limit.

Virg’s lingcod count as of Aug. 20 stood at 4,792.

Port San Luis Boatyard

Nineteen white seabass were in last week’s catch by fishermen dispatched from the Sports Launch at Avila. The big one, a 44-pounder, was reeled in last Saturday by James Roesner from Nipomo.

Eighty-eight lingcod, 19 halibut and the seabass were in the catch by fishermen on board 170 launched boats.

Patriot Sportfishing

Thanks to the assistance of Tina Barnes, Patriot staffer, here are last week’s jackpot winners who all caught lingcod:

The leader with a 15-pounder was Dominic Gullusino, Grover Beach, followed by an Arroyo Grande angler named Craig (no last name given) 13.0; Jason Hawthhorne, Santa Ynez, and Michael Pedrali, Fresno, both 12.0; Eric Sparrow, Elk Grove, and Kevin Davies, Fresno, both 11.0; Alan Schulz, Arroyo Grande, Manny Lopez, and Tom Muscio, both Santa Maria, Chris Chandler, Santa Ynez, Jose Ortega, Woodlake, and Eric Bami, Lodi, all 10.0; plus Gilbert Fajardo, Bakersfield, 9.0.

Morro Bay Landing

Given a helping hand by marina staffer Alex Schwend, here are last week’s jackpot winners:

David Furtado, Hanford, 24.5-pound ling; Tim Malone, Atascadero, 20.5 ling; Drey Williams, Madera, 16.0 ling; Bryon Meadows, Bakersfield, 13.1 ling; J.D. Megason, Creston 13.0 ling; Kristine McKinnon, Bakersfield, 9.0 ling; Johnny Roberts, Los Osos and Johnny Roberts, Bakersfield, both 8.0 lings; and Niko Amesch, San Luis Obispo, 5.0 copper rockfish.

Santa Margarita Lake

No report from marina manager Ken Hemer.

Whale Rock

Unfortunately, the results of the few fishermen who even try to snap the season-long absence of fish remains intact. No fish. Two anglers tried. The story has been unchanged since the trout season opened in late April.

This story was originally published August 25, 2016 at 8:50 PM with the headline "Central Coast Fishing: Longtime area angler scores SLO County bass tournament win."