Recreation

Left to right, Coach Joe Conger; Matteo Merodio, 13; Jeffrey Mulligan, 14; Guy Conger, 18; front row, left to right, Anais Fay, 9; and Sarah Merodio, 11. Photo by Tiffany Fay.

EUREKA – Lake County Channel Cats swimmer Guy Conger stretched his winning streak to 15 consecutive first place finishes at the Humboldt Invitational Swim Meet held here Saturday and Sunday.

Conger competed in eight events, taking first place in all of them.

This was the first swim meet for the Channel Cats since starting their new year-round program. Five swimmers from Lake County’s swim team made the trek to the meet, despite many of them having the flu. They all made new personal best times, according to Coach Joe Conger, Guy’s father.

For the girls, the newest swimmer, 9-year-old Anais Fay competed in her first meet since joining the team in September. She won her heats in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle and had a very strong showing in the 100-yard backstroke, according to Coach Conger.

Sarah Merodio showed the most improvement, taking off more than 15 seconds in some events and contributing 16 team points for her third-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle.

For the boys, Matteo Merodio placed and had personal best times in all his events. He had three firsts, four seconds and one third-place for a total of 144 overall points for the Channel Cats.

Jeffrey Mulligan had best times in all his events and accounted for 166 points for the team. He came in with five firsts, two seconds and two third-place finishes.

Guy Conger’s eight wins added 160 points to the team score. Conger also came away with new A+ Standard times in both the 100 and 50-yard Freestyle.

Coach Joe Conger, said he was overwhelmed with the success of the fledgling team, which has been training four or five days per week, often in chilly weather.

“To successfully compete in swimming you have to practice year-round and swim a lot of yards. These kids went from swimming 2,500 to 3,000 yards last summer to 4,500 to 5,500 yards currently, and the results were obvious in Humboldt,” said Coach Conger.

The Channel Cats finished the meet with over 450 team points, despite the fact several of the kids had the flu.

“Yeah, some of these kids were pretty sick, but you sure couldn’t tell by the way they competed,” Coach Conger said, “these kids showed great sportsmanship and it was great to have our community so well represented at our first-ever winter swim meet.”

The winter swim program has been growing every week and now has more than 30 youth swimmers and about 10 adult swimmers who join the kids for practice or just to swim on their own.

A swimmer races under the water. Photo by Tiffany Fay.

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A quick peek at the lake this morning explains the lack of trailers at the launch ramp. White caps! Lots of ‘em. While that makes the fishing a no-go for today, previous days have been pretty good if you don’t mind the rain. The weekend is supposed to clear up, but the wind is supposed to stick with us until Sunday.

Here’s what I’m hearing about the fishing action …

A good bass bite continues on live bait. Some nice big fish have been reported from 6 to 9 pounds this week. Anglers are finding the fish in deeper water (20 to 30 feet) along primary points. Deep rocks have been productive for anglers fishing jigs and drop shotting worms. Patient anglers are throwing swim baits like the Bait Smith in Blue Ghost or Black Hitch and the Ospreys. You’ll fish hard for a few fish with these, but the payoff can be BIG when it comes time to meet the scale.

If you can tolerate to cold (and sometimes wet), night fishermen are simply killing the big bass. An angler in our store this week brought pictures of last night’s catch – three bass over 10 pounds – caught while fishing in the rain and dark. His secret … Jigs. Oh my …

Crappie anglers are fishing a few key spots. Kono Tayee is getting the most attention. Shag Rock and shoreline locations along Highway 20 north of Clearlake Oaks are too. Word has it that a person could walk from boat to boat without touching the water at the more popular fishing holes.

So a little reminder here … If you’re planning to fish the hot spots, bring your manners and your patience. And plan on fishing in close quarters to other anglers trying to do the same thing you are.

This is also a good time of year to consider cruising to some of the other well-known spots to find your own hot action. Jago Bay, Jones Bay and Konocti have all had on-again, off-again bites. We’ve been checking the popular Four Poles location every couple of days and aren’t seeing any sign yet of a return of the crappie there.

Several of you have been asking for more of the Fin-S Shad lures … We’ve got a fresh supply of them in straight from the folks at Lunker City in Connecticut. We’ve added a new color this year that looks wonderful – Piranha is what they’re calling it, but most of you call it Fourth of July - it is a mostly clear lure with tiny red, blue and silver flakes. You asked for ‘em. We got ‘em!

For catfish, we’re still looking to deeper water (15 to 25 feet) for the best bite. One fellow was telling me Thursday that he’s been doing well fishing near Rattlesnake Island and M&M Campground over in the Oaks. He said that the bite turned off when the weather took a big change on Wednesday. He also noted that the big schools of baitfish – that had been present while he was catching fish – were absent when he wasn’t. So look to this tried and true pattern for cats - look for the birds, find the baitfish, find the whiskerfish. Minnows, mackerel and shrimp were top reported baits this week.

Bob Rider owns Lakeshore Bait & Tackle in Clearlake. Visit his Web site at www.994fish.com or call him at 994-FISH (3474).

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This will prepare you for the Winter Bird Count coming up and give a little refresher from one of the volunteer park naturalists. Recent sightings include a peregrine falcon and pileated woodpeckers.

Wear good walking shoes, warm clothes and meet at the park Visitor Center. Bring binoculars if you have them. No fee is required.

For more information call 279-2267