Hello to all!
This last month fishing has been hampered by weather, cold, and dirty water. It seems that the only thing going on is rock fish in Mexico. Note: If going to Mexico make sure that you have all required documentation.
Although fishing was way off, the club held the Annual Oscar Awards Banquet on January 27, 2024. It was a great event despite the small number of Oscars won. A summary of the activities is presented below.
Our next meeting is going to be held on April 13 at the Bay Park Fish Co. This will be a combination annual meeting and seminar. The seminar topic will be on catching bass in Mission Bay in preparation for our first tournament of the year. Our Mission Bay Bass Tournament will be held on April 20th and 21st. Stay tuned for a flyer about the meeting and the tournament. After the seminar, Ray Fear will present a mega raffle. A good opportunity to score fishing gear, gift certificates, clothing, and more. We also have a new order of the legacy t-shirts that will be available for purchase.
As of 1 February, we have received 54 membership renewals. This is a great start for 2024. If you haven’t renewed, please do so!
Awards Banquet
On January 27th we held the annual awards banquet for our club. The event was held in a private room at Tom Ham’s Lighthouse restaurant on Shelter Island. The food served was absolutely magnificent and the view extraordinary. Fortunately, there was exceptionally clear air and every light seen over the bay to downtown and the Coronado bridge was crystal clear over the mirror like bay. Photos below courtesy of Dennis and Mako Ogden.
Our top awards are the Marlin Oscars. This year only two Oscar qualifying marlin were caught (and released). The Oscars were awarded to:
- Herman Sumpena for the first marlin of the year caught aboard the Encounter skippered by Ken Yasuda.
- Kevin Yamamoto for the first marlin on 50 lb tackle aboard the Encounter skippered by Ken Yasuda.
- Ken Yasuda took home the Oscar for top Marlin Boat, with two releases.
A third marlin was caught by Mark Mealiff aboard the Joint Venture skippered by Dave Eisman.
A fourth marlin was caught and released by Pat Holmes. It was not eligible for an award because released marlin must be documented according to our angling rules. Pat was solo when the fish was caught and was unable to get the pictures. A solo marlin is a great feat in itself.
Other awards were as follows:
- Jim Kelley took the 1st flag honors for the first tuna caught by a club member,
- Randall Norris was the winner of a Fathom Reel awarded by a drawing in which all the early bird renewals were entered.
- Rob Lackrone won a gift certificate for being drawn as the winner from the largest species entrants.
There were only two successful Tournaments this past year. One was the Bay Bass Tournament. The Men’s division was won by Bob Hargraves on Radar with Ken Yasuda coming in second while fishing on a plastic sled. Donna Hargraves took the Women’s category and Brent Hargraves Jr. took the Junior Division.
The MBMC Marlin Tournament was a good outing with 8 Teams and 24 Anglers. No marlin were caught/released in the tournament this year. The Tuna Pot was won by Tom Patton on the SeaBGB captained by Hugh Kollar with a 47.6 lb Bluefin. . . on his first cast! Dan Karstans also had a 39 lb Bluefin and Dave Gregg scored a 31.4 lb Yellowfin.
Other memorable catches that were recognized:
- Dave Eisman on Joint Venture caught a 88 lb Swordfish… Great Job.
- Heidi McBride released a 300 lb blue Marlin while representing MBMC in the HIBT. This put them in third place overall. The fish was tagged and the tag recovered 152 days later after a journey of 2,615 miles southwest of Hawaii toward Pitcairn Island.
FOM (fish of the month) Winners for 2023 was as follows:
- April Jim Kelley 28 lb Bluefin
- May Lou Hayden 30.2 lb Halibut
- June Rob Lackrone 61.4 lb Bluefin
- August Jim Kelley 42.6 lb Yellowtail
- October Kevin Yamamoto 15.4 lb Lingcod
- December Chris Bailey 42.8 lb Yellowtail
As you can see many FOM months went unclaimed but this year will be different.
January 2024 FOM – Coming into the end of January Scott Paul was in the lead with a 5.9 lb Vermillion rock fish. Encounter and crew went out on January 30th. The competition on board was fierce! Kevin Yamamoto and Ken Yasuda kept trading top place all day. Me, I just fished for the meat, Reds! At the end of the day Kevin weighed in a 7 lb salmon grouper to claim January FOM. This type of camaraderie is just, well, FUN! If asked I will tell you about the time my wife beat out Ken with a 14 lb ling that the Encounter tried hard to top. Special for this year…FOM winner receives a Daiwa Saltist Reel! Congratulations Kevin!
Good fishing, but more importantly, HAVE FUN!
Paul Himmelberger
Vice President