A week ago I had the pleasure of fishing the Catalina Classic aboard the Growler with Fred Larson and crew. I saw several other Marlin Club boats fishing the tournament as well – maybe we can hear some of their stories. There were 61 hookups, 29 releases and 14 fish weighed in. Top fish was a whopping 196 lbs. We didn’t manage to land the marlin that we hooked up with, but we had a very good time. Better luck next year.

I would like to thank all members for observing the “No Parking in the Lot” during several of the tournaments – it sure helped. Just recently we hosted the “Make A Wish” weigh-in and club member Dennis Hytinen and his boat the Aluminator won the small boat division in the 2003 Make A Wish Tournament– see picture below and check the website for all the details.

At the same time that the Make A Wish was going on we were also hosting the “Luhrs Boat Owners” tournament. They had a great time, a fabulous BBQ and for entertainment a steel drum band playing. They made a generous donation to our “Kids Fishing Fund, as well as purchasing several sweatshirts and t-shirts. Many of the people I talked to were interested in joining the club. We look forward to their company next year.

New Annual Award
Doug Kern of Fisherman’s Landing Tackle is sponsoring a new award for Marlin Club Members.
The award is a Shimano Tiagra 30 reel to the member that releases the most Marlin during the season.  We will start with the 2003 season.  The award will be presented at our annual Award Dinner in February 2004. Thank you, Doug, for helping to promote the release of our valued billfish.

2003 Southern California Marlin Catch

SEPTEMBER TOURNAMENT RESULTS
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MAKE A WISH TUNA CHALLENGE
 Team Aluminator winner of the
Make-A-Wish Small Boat Division



Captain Dennis Hytinen: 40.13 oz Albacore-1st place (Far right)
Richard Hytinen: 37.75 oz Albacore-3rd place (Second Right)
Cory Visser: 36.94 oz Albacore-5th place (Third right)
Leslie Hytinen: 36.63 oz-6th place (Far left)
Small Boat Team winner 151.45 lbs

ILTT
The ILTT had 22 boats/70 anglers participated - 3 fish released. Skete Simmons aboard the Key to the Sea with Richard Kesee, was the big winner (1st fish). Skete also lost a swordfish during the tournament. Way to go Skete. The “Marlin Man”, Trent Hulls, and the “Encounter”, Ken Yasuda, each released a fish to take the new ILTT Perpetual club trophy to the Mission Bay Marlin Club – great job! The trophy will be displayed at their club until next year’s ILTT. We had a great dinner and raffle with over 90 people in attendance. Mark your calendars for next year.

Small Boat
The Small Boat Tournament had 11 boats/33 anglers – No marlin were caught/released.
1st place Tuna: John Crago – 24 lbs, 4 oz
2nd place Tuna: Bob James – 23 lbs
Yellowtail: Bob Woodard Jr. – 12 lbs, 4 oz
Albacore: Joe Rodr Jr. – 34 lbs
The tournament directors, Harold Weimer and Michael Berry were disappointed by the lack of support by our members and are encouraging all members with boats 26’ or less to mark this tournament on your calendars for next year. It will probably be held approx. the same dates.

 COMMENT:  If you are interested in helping us run some of these tournaments – give me a call, we are always looking for new faces and more help. 

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