illawarra Fishing Report 2024

Good times were had by all on the Skipper Dang annual private charter. Light loads all week.

67 yellowtail. Managed to scratch some yellowtail in between hopscotching spots of Bluefin. We saw tuna from 20lbs to 200+ please come prepared.

Greetings Apollo Anglers,

The first two day trip departs Thursday 9/13 at 9 p.m. fishing Friday 9/14 and Sat. 9/15. This trip is limited to 18 passengers. Cost is $650 per angler and includes food and permits. This is a great opportunity to fish on an ultra limited charter with a great group of people. Please contact Dan H. @ 310.704.1497.

The next two day trip departs Sept. 19 (Wed.).fishing September 20 & 21 (Thurs. & Fri.), also an ultra limited load of 18 anglers. This group has fished together for over 10 years. The cost of the trip is $600 per angler includes food and permits. Contact Charter Master, Dan Freeman at 714.747.0573 or [email protected]

35 bluefin 8 yellowfin. Long “plunker” drifts were the name of the game today. A rubber banded 4-6oz sinker on 40-60lb line got most of our bites.

July 30
    We had a great day.  Of course the morning had us worried.  We started in the day befores hot spot and it was ice cold.  I felt disgusted but what we do in those situations as a group of boats is find them and that's what happened so in the afternoon we had a couple very good drifts on yellowfin tuna.  Our first drift was at 2:00 after lunch and it was a long plunker bite of 1-3 going at a time.  After that we already had a good day and a good trip.  We had the whipped cream and the nuts but I wanted the cherry so after an hour or so of hard looking we found our sun downer school.  It was a little more fast paced this time and it lasted almost until sunset on the yellowfin and well past dark for the 3 bluefin we hooked.  They were 50-80 pounds estimated.  We'll find out at the scale tomorrow.  They'll make jack pot go quickly because I'll only need to weigh 3 fish.
    
    The weather today was fantastic.  We're headed in and we'll be dockside tomorrow at 7:00 in the AM.  I'll be handing the keys over to Tommy and I'm finally going home for the first time this season.  I'm looking forward to getting to know my baby again who will be turning 4 months this Saturday.
                            

~~Oct. 9
 Good evening to everyone at home or wherever you may read this.  After one night dockside we were back to the boat this afternoon.  We headed to the fuel dock and changed oil and fuel filters, filled her all the way up on fuel, grabbed some brine making salt and loaded 2 weeks worth of food.  Shortly after getting back to Fishermans Landing, all our dogs got here.  I'm talking about George, Craig, Charlie, the Jer-bear, the Bry man, Bernie, Scott and the infamous J.C.  Infamous.  That's like really famous. 

 We took our time at the bait receivers to ensure we had the best that bait could offer us.  We're pretty happy with it at the moment.  For the next 4 days we'll be traveling to our destination of the Shamada seamount.  AKA Hurricane Bank.  And speaking of hurricanes, there isn't one at the moment.  Lately they've just been rolling in one after another but for now, none.  It's our destiny to get down below and catch very large yellowfin and wahoo.  Tommy spent a bunch of money and rented a system that allows us to get on the web where ever we are which allows us too look at all our weather web sites to keep track of storms that may be an issue to us.  So worry not.  We won't be anywhere near a low pressure system this trip.  Safe and sound out here as always.

 Anyways, it sure looked to me like everyone had a good afternoon hanging out, getting there cigar on and doing what they do.  We didn't even make it through dinner before the Bry-man and the Jer-bear got on what they call Team Bernard.  It's there thing to talk some smack and make fun of Scott and Bernie and it's hilarious on all sides.  Here we go.

 So for the next few days we'll be getting ready for a week of some hardcore fishing.  Rigging tackle, tuna and wahoo seminars, naps, movies, food, cocktails...  I think the next few reports will read like this paragraph we're on now.
        

 

Tony “Big Delicious” LaDell with 4 of the 50 yellowfin we landed today. We also had 101 skipjack. Still plenty of fish around, all it takes is one stop.

Capt. Mike Pritchard called in with this report for the Tribute. "We're still having very good fishing. We've caught 45 Yellowfin tuna, 10 Dorado & limits of Yellowtail. We're seeing very good signs of fish down here, a lot of Yellowtail.

"We do have a 1.5 Dy trip leaving tomorrow night. Right now we only have 9 people signed up. That trip is a definite go, so if you like fishing on a light load call Seaforth Landing at 619-224-3383."