The FIB’ers Christian FIshing Club finally kicked off their fishing season on Wednesday June 17th with an overnight chartered trip on The Fury out of Dana Point!
It was great having long time out-of-town members join us who were Dave Shill from Yuma AZ and Floyd Spangler from Big Bear. Also joining us was Ken and Paula Kunkel’s two grandsons Jack and Luke Vanderyacht (Luke ended up being the “hot stick” on the boat)!!
Around 8:30 pm everyone was on board and quickly got situated finding a spot for their rods/tackle bag and claiming their bunk in the bunkroom below. As CharterMaster, I gathered everyone in the galley for an opening prayer and to go over a few things that would help make my duties as CharterMaster easier like photographing and weighing fish that may be a contender for the BIG Fish award at the end of the year. I also had some nice customized FIB’ers fishing towels and bottle koozies (made by good friend Chris Wheaton) for two lucky people Ken Kunkel and Larry Swift whose number was picked during a draw.
The bait was not exactly what we hoped for as we had pinhead anchovies with a few sardines mixed in but we did have a tank full of small squid that the crew caught the night before. The Fury headed over to San Clemente Island around 9 pm. while most of us tried to sleep and everyone was up and ready to catch fish as soon as we arrived at the fishing grounds.
First angler, to connect with a 27# yellowtail was Ron Withers around 4:30 a.m. He later caught a #30.8 yellow. We had a consistent bite all morning long on nice grade yellowtails including a beautiful 38# White Seabass caught by Luke Vanderyacht. Adam Ho caught a jackpot contender with a nice 38# yellowtail and guest Tim Pfrimmer landed a 12.5# goat sheepshead. During the morning hot bite, I stayed busy photographing/weighing the fish before they were dropped down into the icy fish hold so I didn’t have much time to fish and get in on “the hot bite” but it was fun to see bent rods and watch people land their fish. Here is a list of lucky anglers with the weight of their yellowtail:
Adam Ho – 38.1 #
Dan Shultis – 36.7#
Tom Handzus – 33.7#
David Weeks – 31.8#
Luke Vanderyacht – 31.5# (also caught a 38.1 # WSB)
Ron Withers – 30.8#
Jack Vanderyacht – 21.8
Floyd Spangler -20# ?
Paula Kunkel – 19.5#
Tom Hinmon – 19#
When the yellowtail bite slowed, Capt Marcus Bailey moved around the island all day long finding calicos (mostly released), sheepshead, white fish, sculpin and other bottom fish until it was time to head back so the crew could “turn and burn” and take another group of anglers out that night.
Adam Ho and Luke Vanderyacht were tied for the jackpot (yellowtail vs. white seabass) so the crew brought out the balance beam to determine the winner. It was close but Adam Ho was clearly the winner with his yellowtail. Congratulations Adam!
We appreciate Capt Marcus Bailey and his crew – AJ, Patrick, Chase, Greg “OB” who are always fun and seem to go out of their way to take care of us and our fish on The Fury. On behalf of the FIB’ers, we wish them all the very best and hope the remainder of their fishing season is “Off The Hook”!!
