2026 Pacific Coast Championship — Saturday October 3rd — San Simeon Campground
All registrations must be completed and the registration fee of $20/diver paid at the competitors’ meeting October 2nd, 2026. This is NOT a Fathomiers event. Sign up is required for all divers.
This is a both a TEAM competition as well as an individual competition. Teams can be formed before or at the registration by interested divers. Individuals may compete solo, their points will not count toward any team totals if not registered with a team.
The meet hosting site will be the San Simeon state campground. You are responsible for your campsite or lodging. There is a MANDATORY competitors’ meeting Friday October 2nd, 2026 in the campground starting at 6:30 pm at the campsite. ALL teams MUST have at least 1 representative at the Competitors’ meeting, ALL entries must be handled by Friday evening. The only reason for a diver missing the meeting would be traffic related. Please be there to go over F&G rules, questions about the meet, CHOOSING a dive site, and for the formation of teams if single divers choose to form a team. Divers must register and check-in Friday evening.
There are trophies for 1-5 individual and 1st place teams. There is a trophy for biggest fish as well. The winning diver gets their name on the Al Schnepperschoff perpetual trophy.
Registration and Entry Fees:
The meet is $20 to participate per diver and the liability waiver must be submitted prior to participating. Please submit the registration waiver to brandhor@usc.edu (you can do this starting now until the day prior to the event). The last chance to submit both will be at the competitors meeting 6:30 pm, Friday 2nd, 2026.
Meet rules:
The meet will be held on Saturday, Oct. 3rd, 2026. Start time will be 8:30 am, there will BE NO TRAVEL TIME. You may enter the water at the staging area prior to the start between 8:00 – 8:30 am. Meet duration is 6 hours, must be in the staging/weigh-in area at 2:30 pm or be disqualified. The weigh-in will be held at the beach as quickly as possible once the diving is concluded.
NO SCOUTING one month prior to the meet (starting September 5th, 2026) from Cayucos Point to Piedras Blancas SMR. BUT scouting is permitted beginning one week prior to the competition day; beginning September 26th, 2026. The SCOUTING boundaries are as follows, from South to North: There is to be no diving between the area known as ‘Windmills’, or Cayucos Point. This is about 1 mile north on Hwy 1 from Cayucos State Beach. This is the southern scouting boundary. The Northern scouting boundary is the Piedras Blancas SMR. Any competitors who are protested PRIOR to the meet for scouting will not be allowed to participate. Please follow these simple rules.
No fish may be taken in the competition zone during the scouting period. Violations of this rule will lead to disqualification from the tournament
The boundaries: The starting location will be randomly chosen at the Competitor’s meeting. We will be omitting the prior years’ location and the related area from this years’ meet unless safety concerns dictate this as a safe location to host the event.
Dive slates are NOT ALLOWED. No note cards.
The vessels allowed are human powered only; no motorized vessels, no wind powered vessels. Kayak, boogie boards, SUP boards, canoes are all acceptable.
This is a 20 fish meet. F&G rules will be met, or exceeded. Any fish that is a violation of STATE rules will be a disqualification. Any LEGAL fish which is short of tournament sizes will not apply toward a diver’s catch, but IS NOT A DISQUALIFYING OFFENSE. The fish, however, WILL count toward your state total of 20 fish, it WILL count toward your 10 fish RCG, or your lingcod limit, etc.
4 fish per species, with the exceptions: Lingcod 2 fish, 24” minimum length. Sheephead, 2 fish, 18” minimum length. Vermillion rockfish, 2 fish. Black rockfish, 3 fish. Cabezon 2 fish, 15” minimum length. WSB 3 fish, 28” minimum length. Changes in F&G may apply and will be discussed at the competitors’ meeting Friday October 2nd, 2026.
All other fish are 4 per species, including assorted perch, rockfish, sculpin, topsmelt, etc. with a minimum length of 14”. The RCG (Rockfish, Cabezon, and Greenling) is 10 fish total. You must NOT possess more than 10 total combined of these species, Cabezon are a maximum of 2, and they do count toward your 10 rockfish limit. Going over the 10 RCG is a disqualification.
Human powered spears only. Polespears, spearguns, roller guns, are allowed. No pneumatics, no powerheads.
Divers must shoot their own fish. There is no team loading of catch allowed. Divers are not to discard fish. No trading up.
PROTESTS:
Any protests regarding divers or teams during the meet MUST be presented immediately before the weigh-in. IF POSSIBLE, the protest will be dealt with immediately at this time before the catch is weighed in. If not practical, it will go to a committee made of the organizers, and the fish will be weighed and counted. The announcement of the winner would have to be postponed. PLEASE; don’t do anything against the rules or the spirit of the meet. We do not enjoy this part. Thank you.