BY MIKE STEVENS
DANA POINT— No trips on the Western Outdoor News charter schedule sell out as early as those on the Fury out of Dana Wharf Sportfishing, and the latest mission to San Clemente Island only further illustrated why.
The overnighter yielded 14 yellowtail, including a 23-plus-pound slug that claimed jackpot honors for Fury regular, Dick Haubner, who was the hot stick on this one with four of those yellows and countless calicos that would not leave his Hookup Baits alone. The Fury sacked 41 keeper calicos, another 50 released, five sheephead, a barracuda and 52 whitefish under idyllic conditions.
Captain Sam Rose stepped in for Captain Marcus Bailey who had the night off, and the 8-year veteran on the Fury crushed it with a trip that started on SCI’s back side. His plan was to target pre-greylight yellowtail, but when things didn’t line up there, he pivoted to a nearby calico bass spot, and the charter group piled up both numbers and quality. By early afternoon, Rose had the Fury on the front side of the island where various spots provided a steady-enough pick on yellowtail to stick around and give each an honest look. This included a handul of hooked-and-lost mossbacks that broke off in a reef, got smoked by a seanlion or just came unbuttoned.
Dick Haubner claimed the additional prize haul WON threw down for jackpot which included a pair of high-end FinNor sunglasses, a Plano lure wrap, Okuma towel and P-Line pliers along with the jackpot cash which he gave to the top-notch crew of the Fury. Each passenger received a free WON supply bag containing Gamakatsu hooks, Izorline,and a Cancun Cards voucher for a Mexican vacation. Five Okuma demo outfits were also on board for charter anglers to fish with, and this group took full advantage of that generous addition from WON’s friends at Okuma. After unloading this group at Dana Wharf, the Fury was right back out for a 2-day.
Check out the rest of the WON 2025 charter schedule at WONews.com
