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Angling for dollars a victim of bad timing
By Ed Zieralski, SAn Diego UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
January 24, 2003
All that economic impact for the city due to the arrival of the Super Bowl throng isn't exactly lighting up the cash registers at the local sportfishing landings.
Away from the water there are golf tournaments with former NFL stars, autograph signings at restaurants, community outreach programs in the barrio and Tijuana and even a sporting clays competition at the Lemon Grove Rod and Gun Club.
But fishing? No hook-ups at all.
Phil Lobred, general manager at H&M Landing and a member of the San Diego Sportfishing Council, said it's not as though the landings didn't want to sponsor something or get involved in the week-long celebration. But it's just bad timing, Lobred said. No worthwhile game fish are biting, and many of the local boats are doing off-season boat work to prepare for next season.
"If this was summertime, we'd take them out and show them some great fishing," Lobred said. "We'd get some good publicity for the city, the port, the landings and the sport boats. But if we went out right now, I'm afraid we'd show our bad side. The last thing we want to do is take some ex-NFL players and others out and get them skunked. They'd leave here and tell everyone they went fishing in San Diego and didn't catch anything."
Lobred said the landings are taking a few more folks out whale watching, the big draw for a small part of the fleet during the winter. And tomorrow night, the Holiday out of Point Loma Sportfishing and the Cherokee Geisha out of H&M Landing will tote passengers out to watch the fireworks display on San Diego Bay. For information, call H&M Landing at (619) 222-1144 or Point Loma Sportfishing at (619) 223-1627.
But that's about it as far as the local fishing community getting involved with the big game. Chuck Taft on the Sea Adventure out of H&M Landing tried to drum up some interest in a Coronado Islands trip tonight, but he canceled that from lack of interest.
And there's nothing Super Bowl-related planned at any of the local lakes, either. We have some of the better bass fishing waters in the country, but it's bad timing there, too. Many of the lakes such as Lower and Upper Otay, Hodges and El Capitan are closed.
B.A.S.S. and ESPN Outdoors actually had some preliminary talks about staging a a bass tournament for some NFL players and network executives and talent, but those discussions didn't go far. San Diego Bay actually would have been a terrific venue for that, but it never materialized.
The bottom line is it's tough to sell this city's great fishing during the off-season. But visitors should know that from late April to November, inshore and offshore ocean fishing here is hard to beat anywhere in the country. And freshwater fishing for largemouth bass up to 20 pounds is world class.
By Ed Zieralski, SAn Diego UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
January 24, 2003
All that economic impact for the city due to the arrival of the Super Bowl throng isn't exactly lighting up the cash registers at the local sportfishing landings.
Away from the water there are golf tournaments with former NFL stars, autograph signings at restaurants, community outreach programs in the barrio and Tijuana and even a sporting clays competition at the Lemon Grove Rod and Gun Club.
But fishing? No hook-ups at all.
Phil Lobred, general manager at H&M Landing and a member of the San Diego Sportfishing Council, said it's not as though the landings didn't want to sponsor something or get involved in the week-long celebration. But it's just bad timing, Lobred said. No worthwhile game fish are biting, and many of the local boats are doing off-season boat work to prepare for next season.
"If this was summertime, we'd take them out and show them some great fishing," Lobred said. "We'd get some good publicity for the city, the port, the landings and the sport boats. But if we went out right now, I'm afraid we'd show our bad side. The last thing we want to do is take some ex-NFL players and others out and get them skunked. They'd leave here and tell everyone they went fishing in San Diego and didn't catch anything."
Lobred said the landings are taking a few more folks out whale watching, the big draw for a small part of the fleet during the winter. And tomorrow night, the Holiday out of Point Loma Sportfishing and the Cherokee Geisha out of H&M Landing will tote passengers out to watch the fireworks display on San Diego Bay. For information, call H&M Landing at (619) 222-1144 or Point Loma Sportfishing at (619) 223-1627.
But that's about it as far as the local fishing community getting involved with the big game. Chuck Taft on the Sea Adventure out of H&M Landing tried to drum up some interest in a Coronado Islands trip tonight, but he canceled that from lack of interest.
And there's nothing Super Bowl-related planned at any of the local lakes, either. We have some of the better bass fishing waters in the country, but it's bad timing there, too. Many of the lakes such as Lower and Upper Otay, Hodges and El Capitan are closed.
B.A.S.S. and ESPN Outdoors actually had some preliminary talks about staging a a bass tournament for some NFL players and network executives and talent, but those discussions didn't go far. San Diego Bay actually would have been a terrific venue for that, but it never materialized.
The bottom line is it's tough to sell this city's great fishing during the off-season. But visitors should know that from late April to November, inshore and offshore ocean fishing here is hard to beat anywhere in the country. And freshwater fishing for largemouth bass up to 20 pounds is world class.
