HARBOUR ROD & REEL CLUB 2002
History Report Submitted by Marilyn Henson, Historian
On January 13, 2002, the Harbour Rod & Reel Club held its Eighth Annual Awards and Installation Brunch at the Huntington Harbour Yacht Club. An impressive attendance of 110 members and guests were greetedby floating fish balloon table decorations and a delicious brunch organized by Marilyn Henson. Katie Ulrich opened the program by singing beautifully “God Bless America”. Outgoing President, John Ulrich said thanks for a great year and Preston King installed incoming President, Doug Bannister.
The Elected Officers and Board Members were installedas follows:
Following the installation, John Thompson and Rob Henson awarded the always popular fish story gag gifts and the trophies to the 2001 top anglers of our club.
January 25th was the annual Chili Cook-offwith the Huntington Harbour Yacht Club. There was a total attendance of 180 members from both clubs. The winners were 15th Place-Elmer Malchow, 2nd Place- Tom Mitchell, 3rd Place-Chris Lester, 4th Place-Joyce Woodard, 5th Place-Lena Monroe and 6th Place-Sharie Nadolski. Way to go!
February 6th was the first seminar of the year hosted by education chairman, John Berner.
March 17th was the annual “Whup Cal Trout Derby” held at the Laguna Niguel Park Lake. 32 anglers from our club tried to catch the big one.
April 3rd was a seminar taught by former member Paul Lepore. Paul spoke about fishing Mexican waters and had a wonderful slide presentation.
April 27th_28th , five club boats set out for the Catalina Raft-Up Week-end. With 25 knot winds and 6 to 10 foot seas, the boats that made it to Cat Harbor had to moor separately on their own cans. Even with the winds, a good time was had by all.
May 11 th our club hosted a very successful and fun Casino Night. Bob and Connie Mandie chaired the event that raised over $9500.00 for our club. Their committee did a wonderful job with the decorations and raffle prizes.
May 16th _20th, 31 members from our club headed off to the Hotel Palmas de Cortez on the East Cape. The fish count for the trip was 31 stripedmarlin (released), 9 sailfish (released), 26 dorado to 50 lbs., 3 roosterfish to 45 lbs., 1 tuna, 1 cabrilla and 2 skipjack.
June 1st and 2nd was the annual Family Fishing Week-end Tournament. Tim and Maria Harding chaired this event and had Supermex catered food and a Laker play-off game for us at the social. The top anglers in the kid’s division were Brent Bannister, Kaitlyn Bannister, Eric Henson, Jessica Sullivan, Matt Zimmerman and Amanda Zimmerman. For the adults, the top anglers were Bill Woodard, Rob Henson, Lee Parker, Mark Lundquist and Bob Hetzler.
June 29th Preston and Merle King graciously opened up their home for a General Meeting and Cocktail Party. Well over 70 members attended and five gallons of Margaritas were missing when everyone left.
July 19th was the always popular Twilight Sand Bass Trip on the “Enterprise”. Lots of sand bass were caught along with several good-sized barracuda. Mike Raemer chaired this event and did a wonderful job.
July 24th found members at the Marlin Seminar which was chaired by John Berner. The first speaker was Rob Petrina, the skipper of the “Go Fish” and “Fin Fever” charter boats. The second presenter was Chris Edman of Pacific Pro.
August 17th, the third annual Annie Get Your Rod Ladies Tournament was held with great success. Five teams fished on The Retriever, Reel Time II, Fish-N-Fun, Finhunter and the Class Sea D m. Maria Harding was the chairwoman and had lots of prizes throughout the day. The surprise catch of the day was the giant squid. The top lady anglers were Cinta Masterton, Amy Jahn and Marky Paugh. Following the day of fishing was a BBQ at the home of Punky and Carol Langston. It was a great day of fishing and fun.
September 13th_15th was the Master Angler’s Billfish Tournament. Dave King chaired this event for our teams. Only ten marlin were caught during the entire tournament. Better luck next year.
October 27th was the family favorite Kid’s In-Harbour Fishing Derby. Mike and Amber Raemer were in charge of getting the live bait and passing out the score sheets and the fishing tackle, which was supplied by Mako Matt, to the kids. Over 20 kids fished in the harbour and afterward Merle King had lunch waiting for the kids at the yacht club. The Harbour Patrol came to the dock and let the kids use the fire hose.
November 10th was the annual Casting Contest and Family Social. There was a terrific turnout for the social and Amber Raemer and Larry Coots out-casted the other members for 1 st Place. Bob Mandie had his ever popular raftle going and Merle King arranged the dinner. It was nice to see so many members at this social.
December 18th was Doug Bannister’s final board meeting where both the outgoing and incoming board members were treated to a wonderful dinner of seafood and appetizers compliments of Doug.
Here are the Top Anglers of 2002. Congratulations to all!
