Happy Fourth of July !

Our June Seminar with Mike “The Beak” Hurt held June 7th at the Bay Park Fish Co. was a huge success and a great time to catch up with several members whom I haven’t seen in a long time combined with a great Taco Bar and another fabulous Ray Fear Raffle made it for a great day and I can’t wait for the next Kenny Schilling Seminar August 23rd @ Bay Park Fish Co. including a free lunch to all members in attendance. Don’t miss it and remember Ray Fear will have several MBMC Logo T Shirts on sale so come and get your shirt size before he runs out. Both Long and Short Sleeve on sale.

June saw slightly warmer ocean temps and with it an invasion of Squid Beds from Pt Loma all the way to Del Mar however the gamefish were slow to locate them and the fishing was comparatively slow; you had to put in your time to get results and that’s what Jim Kelly did as he swept 1st and 2nd Place in our June Halibut/White Sea Bass Tourney with a 41.8 lb WSB and a 30.2 lb Halibut taking home $750 in prize money. THE BFT fishing was on and off again as the full moon shut the bite down and the fish disappeared from the back side of San Clemente Island for a while but fortunately reappeared closer off the Butterfly and moved even closer within 40 miles by the end of the month. Calico Fishing in the kelp beds was off the charts especially if you jigged some squid off the squid beds and took it off Pt Loma and La Jolla. Yellowtail started to show offshore on the kelps and there was a decent bite on 20-30 lb. yellowtail at the islands.

Not to sound like a broken record but the Fish of the Month Winner for June is Jim Kelly again with his 41.8 lb White Sea Bass taken on 6/27 over a squid bed. Please remember to email your weigh slips within 72 hours to info@missionbaymarlinclub.org.

July brings us the Month Long Yellowtail Tourney.  Remember, this tournament is a Members only tournament , free to all current members. You must submit your Tourney Entry Form online before you go fishing. You can add members at any time during the month, but the new revised entry must be submitted before the added angler goes fishing. Largest Yellowtail rewards with Gift Certificates worth $500 for 1st, $250 for 2nd, and $100 for 3rd.  Click for Entry and Rules.

Mark your calendars and save September 12 & 13 for the MBMC Annual Marlin Tournament, our last big meeting for the Club and a chance to win Big Money for captured or released fish and there will still be an optional Tuna Division as in years past. Ray Fear will hold another fabulous MBMC Raffle so don’t miss out as your Club gives back!

2025 Tournament Schedule:

• July 1-31 Yellowtail
• August 1-31 Tuna (Except Skipjack)
• September 1-30 Marlin
• MBMC Marlin Tourney Friday 9/12 Captains Meeting – Saturday 9/13 Lines In – Sunday
• Awards Dinner & Raffle
• November 1-30 Rockcod (With a separate Lingcod Division)

Summer has finally arrived so get those boats out on the water and do what you like to do: GO FISH!

Jeff 

The July tournament for the 2025 season is the MONTH LONG YELLOWTAIL TOURNAMENT, July 1 through July 31.  This tournament is limited to MBMC members only.  Member entry fees have been eliminated for this year. Yes!, the tournament is open to all MBMC Members by just submitting an Entry Form. This is a Largest Fish Prize Tourney; Cash/Gift Card worth $500 for 1^st Place, $250 for 2^nd place, and $100 for 3^rd place. Click here for Entry Form and Rules

Reminder: MBMC will not be accepting membership after July 1, 2025.   You have until July 1, 2025, to renew your membership and be able to fish the tournament.

Greetings! Just a reminder about membership closure.

As stated in the June OopsLine, MBMC will not be accepting membership after July 1, 2025.  We currently have 51 returning members signed up so don’t miss out, get your Membership Renewal sent in before the 7/1/25 deadline.

Since this is the final year of our Club, the Board has decided to reward its supporting members. Current 2025 members get:

• FREE Tournament participation and
• FREE lunches/dinners at most club scheduled events. 
• Fuel Discount @ Dana Landing Fuel Dock.

You have until July 1, 2025, to renew your membership and take advantage of these perks.  Click Here to renew.

Regards;

MBMC Board of Directors

June Tournament

The first tournament of the 2025 season is the MONTH LONG HALIBUT / WHITE SEABASS TOURNAMENT, June 1 through June 30.  MBMC Member entry fees have been eliminated for this year. Yes!, the tournament is open to all MBMC Members by just submitting an Entry Form. This is a Largest Fish Prize Tourney; Cash/Gift Card worth $500 for 1^st Place, $250 for 2^nd place, and $100 for 3^rd place.See attached Entry Form and Rules for details.

This tournament is open to MBMC Members only and all fishing must be from a Member Boat. There should be no excuses not to participate.  You can’t win if you don’t have a bait in the water!

June Seminar

The first seminar features Mike “The Beak” Hurt to be held on June 7, 2025, at Bay Park Fish Company. Often considered the “Godfather” of modern sport fishing in Southern California, Captain Hurt was one of the first captains to consistently catch billfish in his native waters off San Diego before the days of depth sounders and GPS. Today, Hurt continues to shape the industry by sharing the knowledge and experience he has gained from 50 years on the water.

The seminar includes a Taco Bar Lunch FREE to members and $20 fee at the door for non-members. See attached flyer for details. 

Greetings MBMC members!

April hasn’t been the kindest month as far as fishing opportunity goes as the colder than normal sea temps combined with several strong and consistent wind events have kept most boats at the dock or on the trailer save for the avid rock cod angler. There has been no reliable surface action at all other than a rare yellowtail showing off La Jolla and the ocean has been too cold to get the Calico Bass going either. The Lower 9 mile bank has been hot and cold recently with strong underlying currents making it difficult to get your bait down on the right spot on some days.

The Bluefin Tuna came within 1 to 1.5 day range early in the month around the 1010 Trench/295 spot but the fish didn’t really turn on until they moved up to the Butterfly Bank a week later and 2 – 3 day limits on 40-80 pound tuna were common with most fish taken at night on jigs @200-300 feet. A few fish were taken during the day on flyline and sinker rigs however the fish were still hesitant from showing on the surface after being chased and netted by the Mexican Seiner Fleet as the annual quota was increased 80% recently as the Global Fish Councils have determined the Bluefin have rebounded from their previous decline. The American Commercial take has also been increased up to 65% over last years quota however I believe it’s doubtful for them to increase our measly 2 fish daily recreational bluefin limit.

No fish were submitted for the April Fish of the Month.

As Scott mentioned in last month’s OOPSLINE, this will be the final year of the Mission Bay Marlin Club so the Board Member’s primary agenda will be to get the Club’s Financial Records and Non Profit Corporation Status closed out and reported properly while determining the best way to redistribute the existing Club Funds back to the participating members via Club Tournaments,  Free Seminars, and amazing Club raffles including the Grand Raffle as part of the MBMC Marlin Tourney scheduled for September 12-14. 

There will be no reason not to enter any of the 6 proposed tournaments this season as all MBMC Member entry fees are eliminated. Tournaments are open to Members only and all fishing must be from a Member Boat. To spice things up a bit the Board has recommended a $500 largest fish gift card prize, $250 2^nd place, and $100 3^rd place prize. You can’t win if you’re not in. More Tournament Info in an additional email later this month. The 2025 Tournament schedule is as follows and all Tournaments, except the MBMC Marlin Tournament, are of the entire month variety:

• June 1-30                                     Halibut/White Sea Bass
• July 1-31                                      Yellowtail
• August 1-31                                 Tuna (Except Skipjack)
• September 1-30                           Marlin
• MBMC Marlin Tourney                Friday 9/12 Captains Meeting – Saturday 9/13 Lines In –  Sunday                                                                             Awards Dinner & Raffle
• November 1-30                           Rockcod  (With a separate Lingcod Division)

Seminars – So far we have scheduled 2 seminars. The first is with Mike “The Beak” Hurt to be held on June 7, 2025, at Bay Park Fish Company. It will also include a Taco Bar Lunch FREE to members and $20 fee at the door for non-members. See attached flyer for details.  The second seminar will be with Kenny Shilling on August 23, 2025, also at Bay Park Fish Company, with details to follow in future flyers in the OOPSLINE. Just another way your Club has chosen to give back to its members so please take advantage of it!

May your May be filled with many hook ups and few break offs – Let’s get this thing going!

Jeff Meeker