Twenty years ago, I was fortunate enough to share hosting duties on a local fishing radio show here in Santa Cruz on AM 1080 KSCO. It was called “The Let’s Go Fishing Radio Show,” with founder and co-host Mike Baxter.

We took a few months “Winter Break” every year between the end of rockfish season and the salmon opener in spring. Wintertime felt long and grey. Grizzled harbor veterans became more irritable, and a downer mentality was prevalent during those long months of short, dark days.

In a moment of inspiration Baxter asked, “What can we do when there’s nothing to do?”

Always community minded and both of us deeply involved with The Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project, we decided to hold a fishing derby. For surf perch. A benefit for MBSTP that might raise a few hundred bucks for the project. We envisioned the biggest derby in town for the smallest game fish. Now, two decades later, it is the biggest perch derby in the state, if not the world.

Ironic as the idea might have been, the hard-core locals took to it immediately. Serious commercial fishermen, rabid sport salmon chasers and a coterie of accomplished surfcasters bought into the idea. They began to trade challenges and good-natured insults and charged into pre-fishing weeks prior to the contest. Thus the Sand Crab Classic Perch Derby was born.

Our first derby was quite the learning experience. We measured the biggest limit of barred surf perch (at the time, five fish), and fried up all all the donated perch for a taco feast (Imagine slicing hundreds of surf perch for filets…No thank you). We cook chicken and tri-tip these days. That initial celebration was further complicated by horrible rainy weather, including gale force winds blowing up to 60 knots for the outdoor awards ceremony. We hosted about 90 anglers that year, brought a lot of smiles to the community and raised a few bucks for our precious steelhead hatchery. A few years later the Derby was held one day after a tsunami hit Santa Cruz, destroying dozens of boats and docks in the Harbor.

We’ve learned a lot since then. Now it’s the biggest single fish that wins (why kill all those little perch?) We have multiple categories with more than 20 trophies to bestow each year. By Year 10, we settled into a new indoor venue and limited the entry list to “only” the first 300 entrants. The Sand Crab Classic had become insanely popular, with registrants traveling from as far as Arizona and Nevada for the annual benefit. The event is never perfect or seamless, but a dedicated cast of up to 30 volunteers help to hold the raffle and silent auction, operate the wood-fired BBQ and handle check-in and T-shirt handouts.

In 2020, COVID hit. At the very last possible moment, we were forced to postpone the event. We held an online “Virtual Derby” in ’21, but it wasn’t the same. Since 2022, we’re stoked to be able to continue our in-person derby and fiesta each year. Sadly, we cannot take any new entrants. For those who jumped quickly and got an entry in within the first two hours of opening our online registration for 2025, a plethora of prizes and phalanx of golden trophies await. The event survives many due to the patient and loyal derby participants. This year’s derby occurs on March 9.

Allen Bushnell also operates Santa Cruz Surf and Kayak Fishing Guide Service. Please send any reports, pictures or questions to scruzfishing@yahoo.com