Local Marlin Fishing. 3 Marlin in 3 days fishing!

I was just out the boat Non-Taxing. Great Weekend. The water conditions were terrific for fishing.

On Friday David Fine got a Marlin. It was a long and hard fight and there were some tough moments as it came to gaff. He needed to weigh in for his fish as a “Button Fish” as a new Tuna Club member. But we got it. It was very late in the day by then… So after a quiet and peaceful sleep in Cat Harbor we got up early and on Saturday morning ran down to Avalon to weigh it in on the Green Pier. By that time it weighed in at just 123 lbs.

We ran back up on the inside to return to the fishing grounds near the 152 spot. That afternoon Carl got one in to release on Saturday afternoon in 12 minutes on 20# Dacron line. We spent the night at Santa Barbara Island. We had a dinner of Braised Chicken. David did the prep. work, I did the tending on the built in BBQ. Soy burns very well. Chicken fat burns well. I had to resort to swim mask to take the smoke. LOL.

Sunday we returned to the fishing grounds. We had even better weather. Another guest on board, Bret, got a Marlin on Sunday in just 9 minutes on 20# Dacron line.

That is three fish in just three days out. I'm happy to be able to say I was part of the team. When I was the man in the cockpit and on the spot the fish just did not strike for me.

A hot tip... Zucchini color for the lures. There are Dorado under the paddies and the bait of fresh live mackerel did not get the hot hits we had hoped for. Not on the drop back and not on the tail'ers we tossed too. And I had several marlin that I tossed fresh live bait too. No joy. All three fish were on lures.

Non-Taxing may have earned the First Marlin Flag for MDRA. But not biggest Marlin. Not Last Marlin.

Hopefully I can get one on Ramblin’ in the near future.

Keith L. -<"><

Cat and Avalon Harbors Aug 8-12th

Fishing and Boating report.

We were out for a magical weekend of boating to Catalina this weekend. Started with a fishing tournament at Cat Harbor on the West End of Catalina and then a Sunday night Kenny Loggins concert on the East End in the Casino Ballroom at Avalon Harbor.

On the fishing side... The Ramblin' team of Keith, Tim, Gary and Ryan were part of the Calico Tournament produced by DRYC and for the benefit of the kids of the Two Harbors Little Red School House. Captains dinner was Friday night in Cat Harbor. Fishing event was Saturday Aug 8th, 2008.

We fished hard from the start of 7 am to 4 pm weigh-in. (easy time to start fishing) We fished from Cat Harbor to West Cove. We even tried the Farnsworth bank for a few fun but not big enough Lingcod. Then came over to Ben Westen Pt area. Anchored up on the outside of the Kelp for more hard scratch. Turned out the winning fish was one cove over in that area at 2:30 pm. A 4 pound something Calico. In the end my son Ryan came in 2nd in the youth division with a nice Calico Bass. Hard fishing for other three adults on board what fish we did catch were all throw-backs.
BTW it turned out that the side bet jackpot was a big Ling from Farnsworth earlier in the day. Other MDRA boats were on hand. Big Momma, Balianne, Three Flags etc

Ryan came in 2nd in the youth division in the Cat Harbor Calico Bass Tournament.

Sunday we moved to Avalon and Ryan got a lift home on Balianne. Tim's wife Rosalie and my wife Trisha caught up with us via the Catalina Express. We picked them up and then got a nice mooring. #103 with great views. Tim and Rosalie snorkeled and we relaxed and prepped for the concert. It was a really fun event and a fantastic venue of the Casino Ballroom. Even Carl and Francyne came over to attend the concert. Trish really liked the show and danced most of the second half.

We did troll down to the 277 on Monday and found more than one kelp paddy with lots of life but they would not take the MDR Sardines we had. We did see Dorado and yellowtail. No marlin sighted.

Boat and passengers are all home safe. Two days in Cat Harbor and Two in Avalon Harbor.

Here is a photo of the boat “ Ramblin’ “ in front of the Avalon Casino.

On the ride home we saw a whale that raised it's tail fluke for a nice wave before going down as we passed. Really a nice sight.

Fish Wish Granted. We all had a good time.

Keith <"><

Ramblin’ team did well in CYC Tournament. We won!

Long time MDRA member Randy Sprout put on a little fishing tournament last weekend. Many of the fishermen were old friends from my fishing club Marina Del Rey Anglers. Last Sunday the event was a yacht club challenge. MDR Anglers is not a Yacht Club… I am proud that it was MDRA fishermen that caught many of the fish. The MDRA Boats included were Fortuna, Big Momma and Ramblin’.

We on the Ramblin' did a long and hard day of fishing Sunday. Left the dock at 5 ish and headed for Big Rock and points north. No luck and then kept fishing north. Then at Point Dume we decided to keep going. Went up to Deep Hole. No luck. Fished in tight near the kelp with no luck. Fished out to 80 and 100 feet with no luck.

We even gave some bait to a Kayaker near County Line. We started back down and fished again near a friend on the tip of Point Dume. Good Vibrations was setting up on the Point with the anchor in 50 feet of water. We tucked in near him in 45 feet. We all casted baits to the rocks for just one rock fish and a bunch of snags.

So we gave up on Malibu and headed to Short Banks for a last chance before the 3-4 pm weigh-in deadline. We were happy to see our buddy Michael on the Betty O out there on the anchor. We found some very good looking spots not far from him and put some good fish on board. Salmon Groupers were the fish on the chew. We moved the boat repeatedly to stop and drop on the spot once we found the fish. With 12 and 16 ounce weights we were hard pressed to hold the bottom. Unlike the Betty O we could hot anchor in 270+ feet of water. In moments after stopping we were drifting at 1.4 knots.

With moments to spare we hooked the biggest one of the day. And we did one more quick try before racing in to the weigh-in. We got there just in time. Our friend on Good Vibrations raced around us at the dock to tie up ahead of us at the last moment. LOL. All to no avail. We still had the Biggest Fish of the Day.

Jeff Morris and Tim Sheridan had fish but they were out of the running. Al Varnum had a 2.25 lb fish that got 6th place. He selected a good bait net as his prise and gave it to Tim for use on his boat Reel Lucky. Luckily the big fish was my 3.5 pound fish. A testament that there were not a lot of fish caught. But also we worked it hard all day and fished every spot we could until success.

One thought shared at the party is that after observing the bay full of bait fish and all the wonderful dolphin action we theorized that the bay just has fish that are full and not hungry. We sure did see a lot of sea life. Especially off Zuma Beach and Trancus area.

So to complete the day of observing dolphin playing on the water. My prize was a nice artful trophy of a dolphin swimming over a coral reef. My thanks to CYC and our host/master of ceremonies/event chairman Randy Sprout.

Nice to be in First Place. Fish Wish Granted.

Sincerely,

Keith Lambert
Ramblin'

Results…

CYC Annual Fishing Tournament , Randy Sprout Chairman, Sunday, July 27, 2008

** = MDRA member

1. Keith Lambert** Ramblin’ 3 lb. 5 oz. Salmon Grouper DRYC

2. Bob McLatcher Woprld Headquarters 3 lb. 1 oz. Salmon Grouper DRYC

3. Jorge Carvajal** Fortuna 2 lb. 15 oz. Sand Bass CYC

4. Randy Sprout** Fortuna………2 lb. 14 oz. Calico Bass CYC

5. Susan England Lucky Dog 2 lb. 13 oz. Calico Bass PMYC

6. Al Varnum** Ramblin’ 2 lb. 12 oz. Salmon Grouper DRYC