Greetings!

This weekend (March 27th & 28th) the club is holding it’s annual Bay Bass tournament to get the tournament year started. This has always been a favorite for anglers of all ages and is a great way to enjoy a day on the water. So dust off that Bass gear and join your fellow club members at all the secret spots! 

As a reminder the boundary is restricted to Mission Bay only. The following links are to Tournament Rules and Entry Form, also on the MBMC website, or hard copies are also available at Dana Landing Tackle Shop for all your tournament questions.

***RULE CHANGE*** In the interest of attracting more anglers to this year’s tournament, the MBMC Board members have agreed to allow fishing from all access points within Mission Bay. This includes docks, jettys, land……etc.

Good luck and hope to see you on the water!

Shane Hurt

Greetings MBMC members,

I hope this month’s letter finds you well. It would seem life as we know it is gradually returning to normal. As a result, the board members have been working to bring club operations back on line to allow for us all to enjoy events and gatherings. More to come on this below and in the near future…..

I wanted to congratulate our February FOM winner Jim Kelley for his 32.6 lb. Halibut catch. Well done Jim!

I do regret to inform you all that fishing does seem to be a bit slow from what I have heard. With the Yellowtail and White Sea Bass bite being slow at best, we would hope the cod fishing would provide some respite. However, even the cod bite seems to be slow since the opener on March 1^st. Very limited reports did come back from boats looking further south with minimal success on Bluefin Tuna and Yellowtail towards Colonette. It would seem that turning our sights further inshore for Halibut and Bass species may be the best option for now.

With that, I would like to invite you all to join us later this month for the first club tournament of the 2021 year. The Mission Bay Only Bay Bass Tournament is slated to take place the weekend of March 27^th & 28^th the target species being Spotted Bay Bass, Calico Bass, and Sand Bass and based on a catch-photo-release (CPR) format. The entry deadline is set for Friday the 26^th at 6 PM with options for submitting your entry via club email. Refer to the Entry Form and Rules found on the club website. We look forward to seeing a good turnout and we strive to get club functions rolling again.

In closing, I wanted to let you all know that the board is meeting on a weekly basis to plan a casual awards banquet to celebrate last year’s awards winners. This will most likely be combined with our annual membership meeting in an effort to get caught up as the year picks up speed. Details will be coming your way soon!

Wishing you all good health and tight lines,

Shane Hurt

Greetings club members,

It is my pleasure to announce the 2020 MBMC Award Winners to you at this time. Despite a year marked by adversity, the MBMC was able to put some notable catches on the board for an array of species. Congratulations to the winners noted below and well done to all club members!  

Marlin Oscars:

• 1st. Marlin Release for 2020 season, and 
• 1st. Release on 50 lb. Test Line
  • Shane Hurt aboard “CHIQELIN” (8/16/2020)

• 1st. Marlin Captured for 2020 season
  • Jeff Meeker aboard “FIRE ESCAPE” (9/10/2020)

• 1st. Marlin Captured on 80 lb. Test Line (9/26/2020),and
• Largest Marlin of the Season 190.5 (10/24/2020), and
• Last Marlin of the Season (10/24/2020)
  • Steve Milligan aboard “HIGH COUNT“

• Top Boat of the Season – 2020
  • “ENCOUNTER“, Captain Ken Yasuda
  • 2 Captured Marlin, 1 Released Marlin

Largest Species Weighed – 2020:

• Bonito – Brent Hargraves Jr. (1.6 lbs.)
• Spotted Bay Bass – Brent Hargraves Jr. (2.2 lbs.)
• Dorado – Shannon Carpenter (8.5 lbs.)
• Halibut – Bill Vitale (11.3 lbs.)
• Lingcod – Tim Honick (9.8 lbs.)
• Lingcod – Shannon Carpenter (9.2 lbs.)
• Marlin – Steve Milligan (190.5 lbs.)
• Rockfish – Brent Hargraves (3.4 lbs.)
• Rockfish – Kimmy Hughes (4.8 lbs.)
• Rockfish – Brent Hargraves Jr. (4 lbs.)
• Bluefin Tuna – Dan Banks (261 lbs.)
• Yellowtail – Billy Vitale (20 lbs.)

FOM 2020:

• Jan    –Tim Honick (9.8 lb Ling Cod)
• Feb   – Bill Vitale (11.3 lb Ling Cod)
• Mar   – Trish Carlin (7 lb Ling Cod)
• Apr   – Elaine Bailey Hughes (MBMC Drawing)
• May  – Jeff Zachary (174 lb BFT)
• June – John Brudvick (225.4 lb BFT)
• July  –  Jarad Gilbert (46.7 lb BFT)
• Aug  –  Dan Banks (32.3 lb BFT)
• Sept – Steve Milligan (158 lb Striped Marlin)
• Oct   – Dan Banks (261 lb BFT)
• Nov  – Shannon Carpenter (8.5 lb Dorado)
• Dec  – Shannon Carpenter (9.2 lb Ling Cod)

As previously mentioned, the club is looking forward to a formal awards presentation banquet as soon as Covid restrictions permit. We look forward to getting together with you all to celebrate the winners above and share some long overdue comradery. More to come in the near future…..

Sincerely,

Shane Hurt

Greetings MBMC club members,

As we roll another month into 2021, I hope this letter finds you all well and healthy. We have been fortunate to enjoy a considerably mild winter that has provided many unseasonably nice days outdoors and on the water. I hope you have been able to make the most of it where possible. 

2021 MBMC Board Members:

To begin I would like to introduce the 2021 MBMC board members….their names should be familiar to most, if not all of you.

President & Secretary – Shane Hurt

Vice President & Membership – Ken Yasuda

Weighmaster – Billy Vitale

Tournament Director – Jarad Gilbert

Treasurer – TBD

….thank you to all the others working behind the scenes to make the club function throughout the year. Member participation is the only way we can keep the MBMC we all love to continue. As noted above, we are still looking for someone to wear the Treasurer’s hat so please let us know if you can spare some time to help out.

The bite:

I would not say the fishing has been on fire but there has been a steady show of Yellowtail in some of the standard locations along the coast. In fact, the January 2021 FOM honors were taken by fellow member Hugh Kollar with his sizable 35 lb Yellowtail! Well done Hugh! The occasional and always elusive White Sea Bass have also been reported from the La Jolla area. The bottom fishing for cod continued to produce for those willing to put in the time.

2020 Awards:

The awards for qualifying 2020 catches are nearing completion thanks to the hard work contributed by members Billy Vitale, Jarad Gilbert, and Jerry Lively. A special thanks goes out to these members for making these great looking awards happen! 

Membership:

A special congratulations goes out to our early bird membership raffle winner….Gina Galvas! Congratulations on your new Shimano Tranx 400 reel! Way to start off the year! We had a great turnout for the early bird membership and I would like to thank all those that sent in their renewals early….I believe we are up to around 60 members so far! Just a reminder, if you haven’t sent in your membership, Feb 28th is the cutoff for those that wish to be included in the 2021 MBMC member directory so get those renewals sent in. 

Upcoming events:

We are looking to kick off the 2021 MBMC club tournament series with the Bay Bass tournament. Your tournament director will be leading the way on how we best ease back into the tournaments we all know and love. Currently the date is slated for March 27th & 28th so be sure to check the club website for updates and entry forms. I believe there will also be entry forms available at Dana Landing Tackle center. As a reminder, any guest anglers will need to be signed up under a club member.

We are also working to hold a 2021 Membership meeting. Unless any drastic changes occur in the near future, we will most likely be holding this meeting via a Zoom call format. More details to come soon!

Reminders:

As we all come out of winter hibernation, I wanted to throw out a quick reminder to all those entered in Fish of the Month (FOM). Please be sure to let your weighmaster know if you have weighed a qualifying catch for FOM within 3 days of weighing in. This will ensure that your catch is followed up on and the proper paperwork is obtained by the weighmaster.

I think that about covers it for now. Wishing you all health, prosperity and tight lines.

Sincerely,

Shane Hurt

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