Unknown in much of the West, the El Cajon Ford, San Diego Team Open typically draws the best bass fishermen in the area, and sometimes even a few of top pros from some distance away.

And it should.

The format of two lakes, with a split field fishing simultaneously on a Monday and Tuesday when other public use is virtually non-existent, allows an 80 boat field the opportunity to use all their skills while they vie for up to a $6000 top prize on a $400 entry fee.

This year, the event will be held Aug. 9-10 on El Capitan and Lower Otay, but the latter could be the pivotal spot, according to Tom Lowery who will be competing again this year. “The bite is very good at El Cap,” he told me Saturday, while he was prefishing at Otay. “This is where the tournament is going to be won.”

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Poway High School student Kirk Pasalich (his parents own Fisherman's Outpost in Poway) along with assistance from National Bass West is hosting a benefit team tournament at Lake Hodges on May 2nd, 2010. Proceeds from the tournament will go toward the medical costs of another Poway High student, 16 year old Alexis Johnson who was recently (March 26th) diagnosed with Osteo Sarcoma, bone cancer.

Twenty-two teams of bass fisherman gathered at El Capitan on Saturday to compete for a cause - each team donating $100 to a single mother battling cancer, Carrol Morrison. The sub-plot was the tournament competition, in which Kevin Norling and Justin Hanold beat 21 other teams on Saturday with a 5 bass limit weighing 16.63 pounds. Their winning bag was topped by the tournament's largest fish, a 5.24 pound "kicker."