Happy New Year MBMC club members!

As we roll in to 2021, I would like to introduce myself as your new club president. I know many of you from both on and off the water and am happy to call many of you friends. As your club president, I look forward to getting to know you all. At this point in time we are still looking to fill out the club’s governing board member positions so anyone that would like to participate is encouraged to reach out at this time. In particular, we are hard at work trying to fill a treasurer position to avoid having to outsource the minimal work load at an expense to the club. Rest assured we have a number of veteran board members contributing their time and experience to keep club functions working smoothly as we anticipate returning to normal club operations during the 2021 calendar year. Ken Yasuda, Billy Vitale, and Jarrad Gilbert will all be returning board members although we are still finalizing their specific titles at this time.

A reminder to all members to get your 2021 memberships sent in by Jan 31st to ensure your name is in the hat for the early bird raffle drawing….a Shimano Tranx reel! So far we have received renewals for 35 members along with two additional new members. Let’s extend a warm welcome to Larry Deatherage and his junior member son, Binks. Welcome aboard gentlemen.

We are planning to send out the 2021 membership cards the first week of February and hope to follow up in March with the 2021 Membership directory. Thank you to Ken Suyenaga and Ken Yasuda for their efforts in making this happen.

I would like to take a moment to thank our outgoing president, Shawn Kaus, for his hard work this past year. A special thank you goes out to our outgoing treasurer, Trish Carlin, as well. Trish has been instrumental in helping the club optimize out tax filing status along with maintaining club finances. Also, a special thanks goes out to Larry Oberti for all his work in maintaining our club website and publishing our emails. Our 2020 board members faced many obstacles during trying times to maintain some semblance of normalcy in club functions despite mandated restrictions that we all felt to varying degrees no doubt.

– 2020 Wrap Up    –

Despite all the craziness of 2020, I think we can all agree that the fishing was excellent for the majority of the year. The mild winter and nice weather allowed for lots of opportunities all the way up to the holidays and continues into January. We are so lucky here in Southern California to be able to enjoy time on the water during the winter months. I am hearing reports of Yellowtail and the occasional White Sea Bass being caught in the coastal waters surrounding Mission Bay as we exit 2020 and move into the new year. And let’s not overlook the always popular cod fishing to fill out your winter menu.

Special congrats to Shannon Carpenter for clinching the Dec 2020 Fish of the Month (FOM) with her 9.2 lb Ling Cod aboard the Encounter. Way to wrap up the year Shannon!

In closing, I wanted to let you all know the 2020 awards have been tabulated and I will be following this email soon announcing the winners. Aside from all the great catches of a variety of species over the year, the club also registered a good showing of Marlin catches to claim Oscars for their respective anglers. Billy Vitale is hard at work putting the final touches on all the awards and we look forward to presenting those in the near future. Thank you Billy! Although an official awards banquet taking place any time soon looks bleak at this time, the board members are working to determine the best way to acknowledge all the anglers that claimed an award for the 2020 season. Although we may not be able to work along the regular timeline for an awards banquet, the club is planning to have a banner banquet as soon as restrictions are lifted and we are all able to return to a sense of normalcy.

Wishing you all a safe and prosperous 2021,

Shane Hurt

Over the past year I have been passionately gathering information and purchasing fishing gear for Swordfishing. It requires a commitment both in cost of equipment, rigging, deployment, and time on the water to fish for them. The chances are roughly 1 in 10 trips to be successful, but on every trip hopefully you will learn something that helps the process. 

 We had experienced several slashed baits and smashed up weights during our attempts, but had not connected with a fish. On November 25th my friend Kyle and I got the chance to put all that knowledge to work. Somewhere West of the 9 Mile Bank, out in some Very Deep Water we saw the conditions we were looking for. We set up and deployed 2 baits, one Buoy Rod 100 yds behind the boat and one Tip Rod straight down.

About 2 hours later I noticed the buoy doing something unusual it was floating out of position. A Swordfish had eaten the bait and was calmly swimming away with it and the 8 lbs of Lead.

I began to retrieve the line when the buoy fell over indicating that the fish was swimming the lead up to the surface – we were ON.

We quickly prepared the deck and cleared the other rod. Then the reel slowly caught up to the slack line as the fish was swimming to the surface. It was unnerving that it was not fighting – it never took a foot of line off the reel the entire way up from 1000 feet down, until it got 40 feet below us.

The fish kicked it’s tail hard and in a couple of seconds it breached it’s entire body out of the water slashing it’s bill behind us. It had all it’s energy to beat us up! For the next 30 minutes Kyle was driving the boat to keep the fish off us as it made runs at the boat. The fish never went below 40 feet deep the whole time. It would just slash side to side violently underwater and made 5 more jumps very close to the boat.

As we gained line and were able to bring the fish within 8 feet from the boat I was able to harpoon the fish. (I possess a Commercial California Swordfish Permit as well as Federal Harpoon and Hook and Line Swordfish Permit)

– The harpoon did nothing but make it mad – Kyle used a Flying Gaff in it’s head and cleated it off, I straight gaffed it in the head, then Kyle straight gaff it’s tail trying to tail rope it but it bent out his gaff, he re-gaffed it and was able to tail rope the fish. For the next 10 minutes albeit tied and wearing all that hardware the fish pounded the side of my boat.

I have never seen a fish exhibit so much power. Lots of emotion and a good amount of time before we brought the fish onboard.

As rewarding as this accomplishment may be, It does not qualify for MBMC or IGFA Awards.

Most times these fish are fish with a rod in the rod holder, or the use of electric reels. The use of non approved equipment or techniques would further disqualify a catch.

But that’s not to say it could not be done, I’m confident it can with the right equipment and crew making a deliberate attempt.

 – Maybe on the next one.

Tight Lines

Billy Vitale 

Season’s Greetings to you all!

I hope this message finds you healthy and happy as we enter another Covid lockdown. For the most part, the weather has been outstanding for December with warm days and nice ocean. I know the fishing is still steady for the Bluefin on the outer banks and a few spots west of the Coronados that are hard to get on. Deep dropping for swordfish has been productive for those who put in the time. Rockfish season is here along with the occasional Lingcod being caught.

Membership applications will be sent out soon with anyone who signs up before January 31, 2021 to be entered in a drawing for a nice early bird reel. A special thank you to Ken Yasuda for all he does for the club’s membership duties.

Fish of the Month winner for November is Shannon Carpenter with a 8.5lb Dorado. Shannon joined the club in September and has caught a Marlin and now won the honor of FOM for November. Oh, and I almost forgot to add she is winning December FOM with a 9.2lb Lingcod. Congratulations Shannon!!

The board is navigating through the rough seas that Covid 19 has created for all of us….both on the water and off. We are committed to keeping the club running through this until we return to a new normal. That being said we are delaying any events until that time as restrictions have become tighter than ever. We all look forward to enjoying club events such as the annual award banquet, seminars, the summer luau, the many club tournaments and bingo nights, but as a club we just can’t right now and hope you all understand. We all know that this too shall pass at which time we look forward to returning to club social events bigger than ever. In the meantime, we will continue to push ahead with the Fish of the Month contest and the discounts you receive at the various tackle shops as well as fuel. I hope you can all show your support and stay on board with us because in the end, this is your club.

Board members for next year are still needed so please consider helping out a few minutes each month to make the club better and the work of those who volunteer easier. As always, we welcome your input so please feel free to reach out to us with any ideas or suggestions.

Wishing you all a very Happy Holidays,

Shawn

Happy Holidays Everyone! 

I apologize for the delay in the monthly newsletter but better late than never. I will start off with a fishing report from what I know. The Bluefin are still an option with the boats that make it to the Cortez Bank and I see the San Diego Sportboat caught a 217lb on a kite rig yesterday on the local banks. There have been some Yellowtail caught the past couple weeks at La Jolla and the Deep Drop guys are catching some Swordfish in the local canyons. The Marlin fishing has slowed down but last month there were a few caught right out front. The High Count weighed in the biggest of the year with a 190.5lb marlin with Steve Milligan as the angler. Congratulations!

Fish of the Month for October went to Dan Banks aboard the Tuna Tank with a 261lb Bluefin Tuna caught at the Cortez Bank. I have been in the club since the 90’s and I can’t remember when a 190lb fish lost FOM; especially in October. Congratulations  Dan on an awesome fish!

We are sad to say Goodbye to our Treasurer Trish Carlin. Trish did a great job and is leaving to spend more time with her new grandson. Thank you Trish! We are in NEED of some more board members for next year. Please consider giving a couple hours a month max to making our club better as we all look forward to things returning to normal. If interested, please let one of the board members or myself know….we could use the help trying to make 2021 a banner year for all members. We have been meeting via Zoom until Covid restrictions allow us to meet in person.

Membership for next year will be going out soon with an early bird prize being raffled off to those who sign up before the deadline. 2020 has been a tough year for all members. Despite the many setbacks, the year has provided some excellent fishing for those that were able to spend some time on the water. We all expect 2021 to be more of the same, if not better. 

Covid Restrictions have affected the club like it has everything else and we are doing our best as a board to make the club as safe, lawful and fun as possible. We will discuss how to plan our annual awards banquet and membership meeting and let you know what we come up with as soon as possible.

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving Holiday,

Shawn

Hello club members….as a follow up to the recently distributed email regarding the October 2020  What’s Hot tournament, the MBMC board would like to clarify the rules pertaining to the release of a Striped Marlin (updated Rules link). In the interest of promoting release for those that wish to do so, we have agreed to issuing points for any Marlin released.
 
With that, any Marlin released will count for 150 points.  In comparison, any gamefish weighed (whether it be Marlin or any other qualifying gamefish) will be counted at one point per pound. For example, a 170 pound weighed Marlin or Tuna will be worth 170 points and will beat out a 150 point Marlin release.

 ***Important!!! A qualifying Marlin release MUST be accompanied by the standard photo to include hand on leader with the fish in the background.

All Marlin release catches will be ranked based on time of release. First release will rank higher than subsequent releases and so on down the line.
 
We are hoping to build off the momentum of last month’s Marlin tournament with a good turn out for this last club tournament of the season so looking forward to seeing you all on the water.
 
Feel free to respond to this email or contact a board member with any questions regarding this addendum.
 
 Tight lines and smooth seas,
 Shane