WATSONVILLE — For the past two months, the California Delta, the expansive river that flows through Sacramento and San Joaquin in Northern California, has been a second home for Michael Alaga.
After finishing in the middle of the pack at last year’s Student Angler Federation (SAF) California Open on the Delta, Alaga spent several weekends fishing there getting ready for the second go-around.
He took several notes — both written and mental — about the subtle but important changes in the Delta’s flow that happen every day. He zeroed in on spots where he and teammate Clayton Galassi, who fished with Alaga during last year’s California Open, could catch some “keepers” and where they could go for some prize-sized bass.
Those weekends made a world of difference.
Alaga, and Galassi, best friends and fishing buddies since the ages of 11 and 14, respectively, finished fifth at this year’s California Open on May 14 to qualify for the SAF Bass Fishing National Championships at Pickwick Lake in Florence, Alabama later this month.
“We had high hopes last year,” Galassi said. “Obviously we wanted to win it but…”
Chimed in Alaga: “We didn’t have that Delta experience that you need…We did this time.”
Accompanied by their fathers, Bob Alaga and Arrin Galassi, the two will road trip across the country with their 21-foot Ranger to the southeastern state for June 27’s National Championships, where a $10,000 scholarship will be up for grabs.
Galassi and Alaga, still riding the wave of emotions three weeks after qualifying, said they have big plans for the National Championship.
“We want to win it,” Galassi said.
The National Championship is a three-day competition. Wednesday and Thursday serve as the preliminary stages that will whittle down the field of teams to 10. The finalists will compete on Friday for the $10,000 scholarship — $5,000 for each team member – to the school of their choice.
Those 10 finalists will also automatically qualify for Saturday’s High School Fishing World Finals.
Galassi started fishing seven years ago. Arrin took him to Loch Lomond in the Santa Cruz Mountains for a father-son trip where he caught his first bass. It was love at first catch.
Alaga, meanwhile, started fishing in open water when he was 4 but first picked up the rod when he was 2, playing in the family’s ground-level hot tub that was repurposed into a backyard pond.
Alaga remembers catching his first fish at the age of 4 — a blue gill at McApline Lake in San Benito County — and, like Galassi, he said he was hooked soon after. Bob saw the spark and said he would take Alaga out to the lake and watch him catch 20 fish during every outing, none of which were less than five pounds.
“It’s easier to get addicted to fishing if you catch something your first time out,” Bob said.
Bob and Arrin were more “acquaintances” than friends, graduating from Watsonville High in 1987 and ’91, respectively. But the two families grew closer as the kids started spending more time together. Galassi and Alaga would camp out on the shores of Kelly Lake in Watsonville and spend the weekend fishing. The two quickly became inseparable.
Galassi and Alaga started competing in float tube fishing before convincing their parents to buy a boat so they could compete in SAF tournaments. Two years ago, they found a home with the Delta Teen Team, an SAF-recognized team based out of Oakley, and have been competing in bass fishing tournaments ever since.
Bob and Arrin said having their kids join the team has helped them understand the finer points of fishing. What lures to use in each situation and, among other things, how to approach different types of fishes. They’ve learned that fishing in about confidence and that it’s both an art and a science.
It’s made the monthly two-hour drive up north for team meetings palatable. Both fathers said they did not introduce their sons to fishing with plans of having them compete.
“We just showed them the path,” Bob said. “This is something that you want to do on your own.”
Galassi and Alaga said they don’t like to boast about their fishing accomplishments to their friends back at school. Galassi is a junior at Watsonville and Alaga is a freshman at Anzar High.
Galassi said he’s told his teammates on the baseball team that he’s going to be on the grandest stage in all of high school bass fishing but “they don’t understand it.”
“They think I’m just going to Alabama to go fish,” Galassi explained. “They don’t understand how hard it is to qualify for it. I don’t like to brag to my friends about it anyways.”
Arrin quipped: “You don’t? Shoot, I’ve been bragging to all mine.”
Galassi and Alaga say their relationship is not of the Batman-and-Robin variety. They like to think of themselves as Batman and Superman, equals.
“If one catches the fish the other is right there with the net,” said Bob, who drives the boat during competitions. “It’s definitely a team.”
Nothing has been able to separate the two since they started fishing together. Not even prom.
On the Saturday before the California Open, Galassi attended his prom in San Francisco and did not get home until 3:45 a.m. the next morning.
Arrin had the truck loaded up and the moment Galassi arrived home the two took off to meet the Alagas, whom had spent the previous two days fishing the Delta.
The Galassis arrived at 6 a.m. and the competition got going at 7 a.m. Galassi said he got a couple of minutes of sleep on the drive up.
“But that was it,” he said.
It didn’t matter. He and Alaga did just enough to qualify for Nationals.
Neither has ever fished in Alabama, where the weather is expected to reach triple digits during the SAF National Championships, so they’ve resorted to reading the daily fishing reports and watching YouTube videos of pro fishers and their approach at Pickwick Lake.
Galassi has watched so many YouTube videos that Arrin had to cave-in and upgrade their cell phone plan to unlimited data.
“That’s all I do,” Galassi said. “Whenever I have spare time, I’m watching fishing videos.”
In a sports landscape dominated by football, basketball, soccer and baseball, both said fishing was their passion.
Why? Simple: “After you catch your first fish, there’s no going back,” Alaga said. “There’s nothing else like it.”
Editor’s Note: To help the families with cost for nationals visit gofundme.com/clayton-michael-state-nationals.
