Season’s Greetings!

Well Santa has blessed us with great weather the last couple of weeks. There have been a few larger yellowtail models coming off La Jolla. Other than that it has been rock cod, rock cod, rock cod.

The month of November saw no fish weighed in for fish of the month. Let’s get out there and win a reel.

There will be a nice reel raffled off for upcoming Early Bird Membership Registration/Renewal. The deadline for Early Bird is February 1, 2025. Lets get signed up!  The reel will be raffled off at the MBMC Awards Banquet to be held February 15, 2025,  at Tom Ham’s Restaurant.  Mark your calendars!

March 15th, 2025, will be our important Annual Membership Meeting. This will also include a seminar and raffle.  Stay tuned for details and location. The membership meeting will elect new board members. Remember we still need a new president and an additional board member.  We have asked for volunteers before without success. We are at a critical point with the club. We need your help.

This Saturday, December 7th will be our last seminar of the year. This will be a very casual meeting with questions and answers from Kenny Schilling. Kenny has many fishing experiences to share with us. The Seminar will be at Marina Village Dock House Grill (the Deli) on Guivira Way. Food will be served from 1-3 pm. The food will be comped by the MBMC. Ray Fear has put together another great raffle for us. Come join us for some friendship and fish stories.

The Rock Cod tournament will be held April 5th and 6th 2025. The Bay Bass tournament will be held April 26th and 27th 2025. Watch for future flyers with more details.

Don’t forget to purchase your Mission Bay Marlin Club T-Shirts. They make great stocking stuffers.

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Warmest Regards,
Scott Paul
Secretary/social 

Hello MBMC Members!

As water temperatures continue to drop, fishing has shifted to rock codding and harvesting lobsters. Tuna had been seen recently and a few were caught under dolphin, but have not been seen in the last couple of weeks. Swordfish were being caught off the west end of the nine mile bank, but this also seems to have dried up.

The 2024 Jerry & Roy Lively Month Long MarlinTournament winner for this year was Kevin Yamamoto. He released a marlin on 9/11/24 to score 150 points. Paul Himmelberger was runner up with a 122 pound marlin weighed in on 9/24 that was good for 122 points.  Both marlin were caught on Ken Yasuda’s Encounter, making it top boat. On 10/20/24 Dan Muslin released a marlin on his boat ‘To The Limit’ with Ann Thompson at the helm. He was able to land the fish on 20 pound test. Great job!!!

Another notable catch was a 164# swordfish caught on the ‘Hawk’. Micah Anderson was the angler with Captain Pat Holmes and Shaun Kaus. Great job and patience on the deep drop guys! 

Nick Kane captured FOM prize for his 18# yellowfin tuna caught off a pod of dolphin. He won a Daiwa Saltist Reel for his effort. The

Rockcod/Lingcod Tournament scheduled for November 16-17 is cancelled and will be moved to February 2025. Watch oops line for an update on the exact date and time.

December 7th will be our final seminar for 2024. This will be a social gathering with Ken Schilling giving us his experience and knowledge of his fishing adventures. Time will be set aside for Q and A with Ken. This will be held at the Marina Village Deli from 1:00- 5:00. Food will be served from 1-3 only. Burgers, fries and a drink for ten dollars. A raffle will also be held.  RSVP IS NEEDED BY NOVEMBER 30TH. IF WE DO NOT HAVE 20 PEOPLE WE WILL HAVE TO CANCEL.

Early bird membership renewal forms will be going out the first week of December.  FYI – Dana Landing will start purging out all phone numbers that are not current members beginning in March. Don’t forget to renew your membership or your tackle and fuel discounts will no longer be valid.

Save the dates:

• Awards Banquet February 22, 2025 at Tom Ham’s restaurant.
• Annual Membership meeting March 2025.

We still have MBMC Tee Shirts available. These make great stocking stuffers. Please contact Jim at : info@missionbaymarlinclub.org

With winter upon us it’s a good time to check all the safety gear on your boats. Do your maintenance now so when spring fishing begins you’re out on the water and not stuck at the ramp or dock. 

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

Scott Paul
secretary/social

Hello Members!

Heavy fog has been with us close to 3 weeks now. Water temperature had dropped in some areas up to 6 degrees. October has seen some nice yellowfin caught off the dolphin schools.

Ken Yasuda and crew put John White (Dana Tackle manager) on a nice 76# yellowfin off a school of dolphin. A spreader bar was used to entice this fish. Dan Muslin also landed a yellowfin on a Rapala. Paddy fishing is all but over for the season. Coronado Islands still have steady fishing. The rockpile has been putting out some bruisers lately. A lot of these fish are in the 30# class. Small Bluefin are still being caught on iron and live bait at SKR.

Rock Cod season has begun with nice fish being caught in the deeper waters off the nine. Check all rock cod regulations before you fish. Groundfish Regulation Summary Probably a good idea to print out all the Rockfish ID Flyers on the Species of Concern page to help ID the different species.  Wardens have been pulling these out when checking bag limits. 

Lobster season is in full swing also. Some big bugs coming off the Mission Bay and San Diego Bay jettys.

We would like to welcome our newest member William Lopez and his family member Luke. William fishes out of his 27 Grady White. His boat is at Marina Village slip.

FOM for the month of September went to Chris Bailey on September 1st.  Chris released a Marlin for 130 pts=130 pounds. The August marlin count was 6 marlin and the September count was 3 marlin captured or released by MBMC members.

The Rock Cod/Lingcod Tournament will be November 16th &17th. Mark your calendars. Rules and Entry Form here. This will be our last tournament of the year.
Also watch for our November Seminar/Social date. Kenny Schilling will be back by popular demand.

THE 50TH ANNUAL MARLIN TOURNAMENT

MBMC thanks all our donors who generously contributed to our 50th Annual Marlin Tournament – September 27-29, 2024

Platinum Donors
Dana Landing Market and fuel dock- John White
Everingham Brothers Bait Company
EW Trucking- Jeff and Linda Winters (Una Mass)
John Brudvik (Gratitude)
Ken Yasuda (Encounter)
Bob and Donna Hargraves (Radar)
Diamond Donor
Clint Lively (Lively One)
Gold Donors
Paul and Gloria Himmelberger ( Reel Estate)
Bay Park Fish Co
Silver Donors
Sardina’s Restaurant
Seaforth Sportfishing
Larry Oberti
Offshore Tavern and Grill
Scott Paul (Tri-dent)
Red Marlin Restaurant
Squidco
Lou Hayden

        
The Captains Meeting was held Friday night at Dock House Deli at Marina Village. Lasagna and a salad was served. As always the food and service was excellent. The early bird rod and reel was won by John Kirhoffer. The rod was donated by Fisherman’s Landing. Clint Lively donated the reel. Thank you for the donations!

Saturday’s tournament produced no fish for the 7 boats in the tournament.

Sunday was our banquet which was held on the patio at Sardina’s Italian Restaurant. A wonderful dinner was served consisting of more lasagne , chicken marsala , pasta and antipasto salad. Desert was a red velvet cake which featured an icing decoration of the MBMC burgee.
Since no fish were caught the prizes were awarded via a drawing.

MARLIN
 1st Prize of $1500 – Paul Himmelberger
 2nd Prize of $1000 – Kevin Yamamoto
 3rd Prize of $700 – Mike Plakosh

TUNA
 1st Prize of $750 – Hugh Koller
 2nd Prize of $500 – Mako Ogden

Thanks again to all our donors. A special Thank you to all; the board members that made this tournament special. Thank you Ken, Kevin, Ray, Jim, Paul, Larry.

Christmas is coming. MBMC TEE SHIRTS MAKE A GREAT STOCKING STUFFER. You can contact Jim Kelly online at info@missionbaymarlinclub.org.

Once again it’s been a great year with seminars, socials, and tournaments. We look forward to another exciting year. Please tell your friends about our club.  Stay safe on the water this winter.

Scott Paul
Social/Secretary

Greetings! This month’s OOPsLine contains much information about our club. Please see the attached musings from Ann Thompson regarding the recent Marlin Seminar, a really informative and well received social event.

Recently, members were emailed information about our upcoming annual Marlin Tournament. This is the 50^th year that this tournament has been held. Something worth celebrating!! There is still time to register as an early bird for the Tournament as the deadline has been extended to September 20^th. This is an event that you don’t want to miss. Great fishing, great food, great raffle, great fun! Entry forms were emailed and are also available on our web page –  Marlin Tournament Entry Form and Rules.

Thanks to all of the people who have already donated to this event, which is our major fund raiser for the year. There is still time to donate cash or raffle prizes if you are so inclined.

It is only the 6^th of September so there is plenty of time to enter the Month-Long Marlin Tournament. Fish caught on the 27th will count in both events!! Link to Month-Long Entry Form and Rules.

FISH REPORT

Fishing offshore has been very spotty.  Stingy on the kelps, with even less biting fish.  Coronados have been the hot area.  Yellowtail still popping off well from the Rockpile up to Pukey and all spots in between.  There have even been Marlin hooked / seen in some of the areas holding these yellowtail.  An added plus are the Bluefin breezers that have been down around South Island and the adjacent tuna pens.  The fish have been small footballs up to 50 lbs.  It may take some patience, but they are there and will bite a sardine.  You may get lucky and come across a foamer, but lots of boats will be running over those.   

Local kelp beds have been decently consistent.  Calicos bite well some days and are picky the next.  Current and water may be the factor here.  Still yellowtail and white seabass mixed in the same areas.  We have not heard if the Sandbass bite off of Imperial Beach is making a resurgence, but it was biting full speed for a while.  Smaller bonito have showed up in the counts off the coast too.     

There have been several Marlin released / taken this month.

Chris Bailey on Kingpin, released one on August 5th just off Catalina.  He even got the fish SOLO, great job!  There have been good numbers up in this zone. So far he has earned the following Oscar awards for this season:

• 1st Marlin Release of the Season
• 1st Marlin Release on Skiff (23′ & under)
• 1st Marlin Release on 30 lb tackle
• Solo Marlin Release

Can we fit all of these awards on one Oscar Plaque??

A few days later, on August 10^th,  Dan Muslin and Ann Thompson on To The Limit got into them in the same area.  Ann started it off with a 1pm jig fish hookup on 30 lb test.  After she reeled it in, Dan leadered and released it.  After about another hour, Dan came tight to another jig fish on 30 lb test.  While Ann ran the helm, Dan wound in the Marlin and did a clean leader/release on it.  Way to go Kids!  In addition, Ann earns the Oscar for the first Women’s release on 30 lb tackle.  Very nice job!

Fast forward a week and a half.  Ken Yasuda on the Encounter found some sign in the local zone.  He put Paul Himmelberger onto a jig fish on August 21st.  After a 20 min. fight, the crew of Ken Yasuda, Johnny White, & Kevin Yamamoto landed the fish.  It weighed in at 121 lbs at the Dana Landing Tackle Fuel Dock.  This wins Paul the 1st Taken Marlin Flag for 2024.  Congrats!  The fish was processed on the boat and taken by one of the crew who smoked it beautifully using a few different brine recipes.

The following weekend, the Encounter was out again for a look.  Captain Ken Yasuda got into the zone and put the Crew of Kevin Yamamoto, Dan Muslin, & Nick Kane on Marlin again.  Kevin started it off with a drop-back hookup after Nick spotted a feeder that came charging into the jigs.  A few minutes later, Nick cleanly leadered and released Kevin’s fish.  A while later, Nick was tight to a jig fish and wound it to the boat.  Kevin leadered and released that fish. Nice double for the day Guys!

Member Pat Holmes on the Hawk has also been on the Marlin lately.  He’s in the Northern Zone and is up to 4 releases.  Great Job Pat!  

You would think FOM for this month would have been a marlin release with its earned 130 pts = 130 lbs.  But John Brudvik eclipsed this mark with a 146 lb. bluefin tuna out in the Tanner Bank zone.  Congrats on FOM! Great job putting in the time and distance John!

In closing, it seems that this message illustrates what our club is all about: the shared joy of fishing, camaraderie and member participation.  Soo with that!!  Calm seas and good fishing to all.

It is past Labor Day already!

That means the MBMC 50th Annual Marlin Tournament scheduled for September 28 is almost upon us. This year has really passed quickly, probably because marlin have been close in to San Diego, many just 5 miles offshore, and have stayed around longer than in the past few years. The marlin are biting!  At least five have been caught by club members in the last few weeks.

The MBMC Board has been working hard to make this 50th a special event. We have extended the Early Bird Entry Drawing deadline to entry forms that are in our hands by September 20th. Please enter early to be included in the drawing for a marlin caster rod and reel, save a few $$ on entry fees, and help us with planning.  This year we have included a 1st and 2nd place tuna award along with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place for marlin. All prizes will be awarded even if no fish are caught!!

Tournament entrants are included in a Captain’s Meeting on September 27 which includes a great meal at the Marina Village deli.  Festivities conclude with a fantastic tournament Awards Banquet on September 29 to be held at Sardina’s restaurant. In addition to the angling awards, there will be a fantastic raffle of the most sought after fishing gear, gift cards, and other goodies.  Non-anglers and family members are welcome!  See tournament entry form to purchase non-angler banquet tickets and/or tournament T-Shirts.   

Please see attached form for all Entry details and Rules; or click here for 50th Marlin Tournament Entry and Rules.

It is also not too late to get in on the Jerry and Roy Lively Month-Long Marlin Tournament held through this month of September.  Entry Form and Rules can be found here: Month-Long Entry Form and Rules.

We hope to see you all there!