California Fishing Passport Award Winners

The California Fishing Passport program is proud to highlight some of it's most recent award winners:

Ethan Mayes is the first person to achieve Master Ocean Angler status with the California Fishing Passport Program, having documented 50 different saltwater fish species in his California Fishing Passport. Ethan began recording his catches and collecting stamps in his passport in 2014. His passion for the sport has taken him all over southern and central California, fishing from piers, from shore, and from vessels in nearshore and offshore waters. He has shown true versatility and commitment to meeting the California Fishing Passport Challenge!

Azure Cohen (middle left) has been participating in the California Fishing Passport Program since it began. He has now been awarded Accomplished Ocean Angler, Accomplished Coldwater Angler, and Shellfish Expert recognition, along with the Coldwater and Ocean Angler awards and the Shellfish Specialist award. His favorite fishing location is along the San Diego coast, where he is shown in the picture to the left holding two very nice bluefin tuna.

The Halliday brothers, Jack (middle right) and Dylan (lower left), are part of a family of California Fishing Passport champions. They and their father all hold multiple awards from the program. Dylan is shown holding a yellowtail that's nearly as large as he is. He has been fishing for 6 years. Jack, holding a beautiful vermilion rockfish, has been fishing for 7. Both brothers have received Ocean Angler and Shellfish Specialist awards, and love fishing off Catalina Island.

David Shigematsu (lower right) is the only person to achieve Accomplished Warmwater Angler status to date, and is one of the youngest people to reach the Accomplished level in any category. At just 12, he's already been fishing for 7 years and has also earned the Accomplished Coldwater Angler, Shellfish Specialist, and Accomplished Ocean Angler awards. He is also an International Game Fish Association (IGFA) youth pier fishing champion. His favorite fishing spot is the Yolo Wildlife Bypass toe drain.

Warmwater Angler

at least 6 different qualifying fish

• Tim McAroy
  Awarded 2010
• Steven Shailer
  Awarded 2011
• Starr Samsom
  Awarded 2015
• Gregory Berhenke
  Awarded 2016
• Margaret Stooksberry
  Awarded 2016
• Kazunori Okada
  Awarded 2017
• EJ Stowe
  Awarded 2017
• David Shigematsu
  Awarded 2017
• Randy Okuhata
  Awarded 2018
• Aron Brooks
  Awarded 2019
• David Brooks
  Awarded 2019
• Ruby Bryant
  Awarded 2019
• Tyler Lenart
  Awarded 2019
• Andrew Simmons
  Awarded 2019
• Karolina Simmons
  Awarded 2019
• Ben Friedman
  Awarded 2020
• John Cherry
  Awarded 2021

Accomplished Warmwater Angler

at least 12 different qualifying fish

• David Shigematsu*
  Awarded 2017
• Tim McAroy
  Awarded 2010
• Andrew Simmons
  Awarded 2019
• Karolina Simmons
  Awarded 2019
• Ben Friedman
  Awarded 2020

Master Warmwater Angler

at least 25 different qualifying fish

• David Shigematsu
  Awarded 2019

*Angler has also achieved Warmwater Angler status

Coldwater Angler

at least 3 different qualifying fish

• Harold K. Owens Jr.
  Awarded 2009
• Shane Fusier
  Awarded 2011
• Steven Shailer
  Awarded 2011
• Azure Cohen
  Awarded 2012
• Johnathan Leong
  Awarded 2012
• William Evans
  Awarded 2013
• Craig Reimche
  Awarded 2014
• Ed Gomes
  Awarded 2015
• Frank Burr
  Awarded 2015
• Kazunori Okada
  Awarded 2015
• Chris Halliday
  Awarded 2016
• Gregory Berhenke
  Awarded 2016
• Margaret Stooksberry
  Awarded 2016
• David Shigematsu
  Awarded 2017
• Randy Okuhata
  Awarded 2018
• Andrew Simmons
  Awarded 2019
• Karolina Simmons
  Awarded 2019
• James Guth
  Awarded 2020
• Randy Guth
  Awarded 2020

Accomplished Coldwater Angler

at least 6 different qualifying fish

• Michael K. McVay*
  Awarded 2010
• Jonathan Leong*
  Awarded 2012
• Craig Reimche*
  Awarded 2014
• Kazunori Okada*
  Awarded 2016
• Azure Cohen
  Awarded 2016
• David Shigematsu*
  Awarded 2017
• Frank Burr*
  Awarded 2018
• Andrew Simmons
  Awarded 2019
• Karolina Simmons
  Awarded 2019
• James Guth
  Awarded 2020

Master Coldwater Angler

at least 10 different qualifying fish

• Nicholas Ciani
  Awarded 2018
• Kazunori Okada
  Awarded 2018

*Angler has also achieved Coldwater Angler status

Ocean Angler

at least 10 different qualifying fish

• Erickson Nunes Marques
  Awarded 2009
• Steven Shailer
  Awarded 2010
• Tim McAroy
  Awarded 2010
• Craig Reimche
  Awarded 2011
• Azure Cohen
  Awarded 2011
• Jack Halliday
  Awarded 2013
• Ed Gomes
  Awarded 2015
• Dylan Halliday
  Awarded 2016
• Ethan Mayes
  Awarded 2016
• Margaret Stookksberry
  Awarded 2016
• Kazunori Okada
  Awarded 2017
• David Shigematsu
  Awarded 2017
• Thomas Smith
  Awarded 2018
• Williams Evans
  Awarded 2019
• Tyler Lenart
  Awarded 2019
• Kim Fane Miller, Jr.
  Awarded 2019
• Ben Friedman
  Awarded 2020
• Antonio Ortiz
  Awarded 2021

Accomplished Ocean Angler

at least 25 different qualifying fish

• Azure Cohen*
  Awarded 2012
• Chris Halliday*
  Awarded 2016
• Tim McAroy
  Awarded 2016
• David Shigematsu*
  Awarded 2017
• Kazunori Okada
  Awarded 2018
• Tyler Lenart
  Awarded 2019
• Robert Dengler
  Awarded 2019
• Ben Friedman
  Awarded 2020
• Craig Reimche
  Awarded 2021

Master Ocean Angler

at least 50 different qualifying fish

• Ethan Mayes*
  Awarded 2018
• Azure Cohen
  Awarded 2016
• David Shigematsu
  Awarded 2018
• Kazunori Okada
  Awarded 2018

*Angler has also achieved Ocean Angler/Accomplished Ocean Angler status

Shellfish Specialist

at least 3 different qualifying species

• Chris Halliday
  Awarded 2013
• Timothy McAroy
  Awarded 2010
• Steve Shailer
  Awarded 2010
• Azure Cohen
  Awarded 2011
• Jack Halliday
  Awarded 2016
• Dylan Halliday
  Awarded 2016
• Margaret Stooksberry
  Awarded 2016
• Kazunori Okada
  Awarded 2017
• David Shigematsu
  Awarded 2017
• EJ Stowe
  Awarded 2017
• Thomas Smith
  Awarded 2018
• Robert Dengler
  Awarded 2019
• Aron Brooks
  Awarded 2020

Shellfish Expert

at least 7 different qualifying species

• Steven Shailer*
  Awarded 2010
• Azure Cohen*
  Awarded 2012
• Kazunori Okada
  Awarded 2018
• Robert Dengler
  Awarded 2019
• David Shigematsu
  Awarded 2019

Shellfish Master

at least 15 different qualifying shellfish species

— None at this time —

*Angler has also achieved Shellfish Specialist status

California Supreme Master Angler Award

earned the title of Master Angler in at least two other California Fishing Passport award categories

• Kazunori Okada
  Awarded 2018
• David Shigematsu
  Awarded 2019