The Gaff January 2001

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The Marlin Club

The Gaff Line

Since 1931

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Welcome to the New Year. Now that the Holidays are over and the resolutions have all been broken it is time to remind you, once again, that Dues are due. Hopefully, you have sent in your ballots in voting for new members to the Board of Directors. Ballots must be received by Jan. 31. (Please: no write-ins for Katherine Harris.) Results will be announced at the Awards Dinner (Feb. 3) – pending, of course, appeals to the State Supreme Court. Election of Officers will not be made until the following Board meeting.

And, once again, we would appreciate it very much if dues are sent in a timely fashion. The by-laws require the dues to be in by March 31. Don’t be late – it only takes a click on the computer to drop you from the mailing list – and you don’t want to miss this monthly Pulitzer-near miss do you? Please return the updated information card as well. Here’s your chance to correct all those new 858- numbers. If you wish, you can also use the information outline as noted under the "Membership" link on the MC web site (www.themarlinclub.com).

Actually, last month we were most gratified to see that someone does read our efforts to keep you informed of what is going on at the Club and out on the water. That is, MIKE BINGHAM advises us that he recorded a 41.1 pd. Albacore and JOHN ASHLEY registered a 30 pd. Yellowfin Tuna. We have so amended the Biggest Fish of the Year listings for 2000.

But all the news is not good. Sadly, we must report on the passing of CHUCK GILLAM whose illness we mentioned last month. CHUCK is well remembered on the waterfront from his days as skipper of the sportfisher "Prowler." Later, he spent many a day out there with "Mr. T" (JOHN TANNER) on the "Twin B." During WWII he flew bombers in India and Burma and, later, transports during the Berlin Airlift and fighters in Korea. A lengthy "obit" appeared in the Union Tribune and is on display at the Club.

COMING EVENTS (this is only a partial list but mark your calendar accordingly):

February 3 is the annual Awards Banquet and invitations have been mailed. The affair will be at the Bali Hai Restaurant. This is a good time to meet with your fishing friends, bend a few elbows and kick off the New Year. So plan on joining in on the festivities and honoring the honorees.

Another important date to mark down is March 14. Rick Gaffney, a noted Hawaiian skipper, writer, conservationist, etc will be hosting a seminar titled: "Pacific Game Fishing Hot-Spots." The site and time is to be determined and will be announced next month. This should be a most interesting presentation.

March: Biggest Fish of the Month contest. (Winner gets dues paid for next year)

September 7-8: The Marlin Club Off$hore Invitational (Relea$e) Tournament
(please note that this will be the w/e after Labor Day w/e and will not conflict with the BAC Masters Tournament)

FROM THE CLUB HOUSE: If anyone has not picked up or received their 2000 Year Book/Roster please contact the Club (619-222-8677). And now that the books have been reviewed we wish to present you with the following deletions to be added:

NEW MEMBERS: Lets start out the New Year by welcoming aboard the following new members:

F.Y.I.: The recently received 2000 Billfish Newsletter put out by the Southwest Fisheries Science Center points out that tagging in 1999 in Southern California wasn’t all that great. Wait til they get this past year’s results! But, of interest, is their note regarding Billfish Movements that "recaptures indicate movement from Southern California to Baja, California Sur, but show little or no movement in the reverse direction." We know that many fish are tagged at Cabo and certainly off Mag Bay so – just where do they go? And since they don’t seem to travel back here – where do our fish come from? The records also suggest that there is "no indication of direct movement from Hawaii to the West Coast." But their graphics suggest that many of our local tags have been recovered at the Hawaiian Islands. In addition, these same diagrams show recoveries Southwest of us in the direction of the Marquesas Islands. Is this their ultimate goal before circling back?

This year, as in many a year, the bulk of our fish seem to come in from the Southwest (by way of San Nicholas and Clemente’s West End). Surely, there must be a pool, an area in the Eastern Pacific, where these fish go, circle around and then make it back in this direction. Can this area be in the vicinity of the Marquesas? To the best of our knowledge, the longliners have yet to identify such a migration. Be a hero – take a load of tags and check out this area. The islands are "only" about 5000 kilometers (3,000+ miles?) from San Diego. And don’t forget to take a few extra barrels of fuel.

And, for what it is worth, a number of years ago Jerry Ducharme who spent several summers running Ted Naftzger’s "Hustler" has told me that in early summer they regularly fished in the San Nicholas direction in search of two-finners. He has repeatedly told us that they would regularly see Marlin out in that direction at least a month or so before they would show up locally. And how often has the First Fish of the Year come from Clemente or off Catalina’s East End (a direct shot from San Nicholas past Northwest Harbor)? And many of our early fish show up in the Albacore fleets southwest of us.

Many will point to the extraordinary fishing off Punta Banda three years ago, but I suspect that this was merely an anomaly of a combination of the El Nino effect combined with a fantastic accumulation of bait on the bank – not an indication of a northward migration from the southeast. Those fish were probably brought in by the El Nino currents – from the southwest, of course.

WINTER RECOMMENDATIONS: Those of you without internet access and those with who do not regularly log onto the Marlin Club’s web site are missing some great pictures and information courtesy of DENNIS ALBERT who regularly is updating the site which is generally regarded as the "Best of the West," if not the entire ‘net. His most recent addition of photos of huge fish and information regarding the declining fisheries is not simply "interesting," but most informative. And check out the SWAG link brought to us by another member, HARVEY BEGNOCHE.

And if the Holiday season did not bring you any interesting reading we would like to again recommend the book "Saltwater Gamefishes of the World" by Bob Dunn and Peter Goadby. It is an excellent reference book on the history of Sportfishing with a great bibliography. I suppose it might be called an "Art" book for it would go well on the coffee table. It is generally listed at $85, but Barnes and Nobles has it on their web site (www.bn.com) for $71.96. (No, we don’t get a commission.)

ROCKWELL is currently recovering from major surgery. We send him our best wishes and hopes for a speedy recovery. I suspect that a "get well" card or two will help to brighten his day and help to get him back on the water.