Welcome to the 2015 season.

The Club had the Annual awards banquet Saturday January 24 at Marina Village. It was a nice evening with those that attended. A catered meal was served along with dessert. The year’s awards were presented to members recognizing the accomplishments from the 2014 season.

Thank you all who participated in 2014 and congratulations to the Top anglers and Boats. The 2015 season commenced with our Annual membership meeting and Bingo night February 21. Although the attendance at this important meeting was low, the members that did attend had a fun time with pizza and 10 games of Bingo. Billy Vitale took time out to put together 10 gift bags for each game of Bingo. Each bag contained items that could be used at Home or on the Boat. As an added bonus there were Beanie hats hand knitted and donated by Billy’s Mother who is visiting from Hoboken, New Jersey. 

As part of the meeting there is typically a call for volunteer’s to fill seats on the Board. Currently there are 4 active board members. There should be seven. With seven members it helps the Club run smoothly. With only four Board members the efficiency is impacted and some tasks get delayed or not done. We as a board are doing our best to keep members informed of upcoming events and what is happening each month. The Club needs more members to be involved the help with running the Club business. Volunteers do not need to be Officers of the Board, just people who have time to take on tasks to organize and put together events and such.

Below is a brief description of a few areas we need help in:

1) Social Director
Set up rooms, Food/Drinks and raffle prizes for the monthly Captains meetings. This takes place on Friday a month at Marina Village March-November.

2) Tournament Director
Compile Boat names and anglers for each Tournament. Track entry fees and Side Jackpot fees. Attend Friday Captains meeting for the walk in entries and pick up any mailed in entries. Compile the stats for each tournament. Publish the results with jackpot and points. Track the points of each Tournament for the tournament standings.

3) Heart Tournament Committee
This event takes a few people to properly organize and distribute the tasking so no one participant does too much. It is our Premier event that Donates money to the American Heart Association. This year will be the 41st Year the Club has put this on. The planning consists of sending out invites, setting up the room for Catering, No Host bar, photography. Other tasks include Procuring Donations for the Captains bags and raffle prizes, organizing and prepping the Captains bags for the event and organizing the printing and delivery of the Tournament T-shirts.

4) Participate in the Club Events
We currently have 78 members this season. Thank you to all that rejoined or joined for the first time this season. We understand that time is a premium these day s for people. In order to keep the Club at the level expected we need more participation at the events from members. There are core amount of members that are involved each month. We appreciate these members for the loyalty but, these members amount to approx. 15% of our current membership roster. We would like to see that percentage rise. Please take a look at the Seasons Tournament schedule and pencil in as many Tournaments as your schedule allows and join in and share the passion we all share for fishing and boating.

If any member is able to volunteer to help out contact any current Board Member either by email or at a captains meeting.
John E Pye
jpye@wcac.com
Jerry Lively
gwlively@aol.com
Billy Vitale
hffnj@yahoo.com
Donna Mckee
donnamckee@sbcglobal.net

Jerry Lively and Larry Oberti are currently working on a new and improved website. The intent is to have a website that more user friendly and much easier to navigate and find the information important to you. In the meantime the communication is being sent first and foremost to members email address and the two websites currently accessible to us, The original old website and the link to the new website. We understand that information is key to planning your time. We appreciate your patience in the situation and we hope to launch this real soon.

New Change to Tournaments and Points
The board understands that Life is busy for all of us and Members may not be able to fish all or most of the tournaments. With that said, The Board has decided to adopt the 5 of 9 format for the Tournament points this season. This will be the anglers or boats top 5 point total s from the 9 Tournaments of the season. Top Boat and anglers will be determined from this system. The intent is to help make the season more competitive and allow people to miss a tournament without taking them out of the running for Top Honors. This will start with the March Bay Potpourri and continue through this season.

Thank you all for your time and hope to see you all at the upcoming events and out on the water for what should be a Fantastic fishing season.

Regards,
John E. Pye
President Mission Bay marlin Club