swan bay Fishing Report 2024

Polaris Supreme docked September 17 at Fisherman's Landing under owner Tom Rothery's hand following an eight-day Gary Roberts charter trip to Alijos Rocks and The Ridge. "It was a good trip," said Roberts, "with lots of fish caught and lots of fish lost." Sizeable tuna were hard to catch at the rocks, said Tom, because the skipjack, small tuna and sharks were all thick and hungry. The tuna were there, however, as were some wahoo. The Ridge got a good lock from the 24 anglers aboard the Supreme. They said there were plenty of yellowtail and lots of grouper and snapper biting there. Rothery said the temperature on The Ridge was very warm, at 81.5 degrees. Tom estimated that his anglers each released about 20 small tuna and four or five yellowtail. Jay Kotsier of Tulare showed off a pink pargo, also known as red snapper. These are excellent eating, especially if they have been kept in refrigerated sea water instead of under a frozen brine spray. Tom, Kroes of Tipton was first, for a 65.2-pound yellowfin tuna he got with a sardine on a 5/0 Mustad hook, 50-pound Big Game line, a TLD 30 reel and a Calstar 7465 rod. Everett Combs of PAZlm Springs was second, for a 62-pounder, and Alan Holleyman of Napa won third place for a 60.6-pound tuna. Bill Kuehl of Poway stood in with the winner, posing with his 50-pound wahoo taken on a Burns Bomb in Christmas colors.

What a great day of fishing. Just couldn't be better. Everyone has had their fill of albacore so we are heading off to do some Island fishing for some of those big yellowtail. We should be there by daybreak tomorrow. Weather is fantastic.

Captain Mike Pritchard called in at 12:24 with an audio update from the Tribute. We have 16 Bluefin Tuna, 1 Yellowfin Tuna and 16 Yellowtail. It's beautiful weather. Very good fishing we have lost a little a few fish too!

A few nice yellowtail and very fun calico bass fishing. Flylined sardines, surface iron and MC Swimbaits.

The Annual SFR charter aboard the Apollo with Captain J.J Gerritsen and crew was a big success !! The Apollo is running out of Sea Landing on beautiful Santa Barbara Harbor, the closest harbor to the outer Channel Islands. Great weather meant an ideal cruise over to San Miguel Island for some of the finest shallow water rockfishing you'll find anywhere. 300 feet down you say, maybe 200, how about 100 feet ? No way. The offshore terrain around San Miguel is so rugged and marked with underwater pinnacles, we spent most of the day fishing in 25 to 90 feet of water. Lighter rigs, jigs, leadheads and swimbaits were the order of the day, and the San Miguel rockfish were in a hungry mood. We started catching fish before daybreak and spent the rest on the trip hauling up huge reds, chuckles and lings, all sporting some of the most vibrant colors I've seen on any fish in a long time. Awesome day!! We limited out on huge rockfish, slammed about 50-60 grumpy whitefish, 5-6 huge goats and 16 or so pre-historic looking lings before calling it a trip. Epic day !!!! The jackpot was a nail biter as Shawn Suhr's huge lingcod and Art Moralez's giant goat battled to a near dead heat. Captain J.J needed to come down and settle the score, with the final vote went going to Shawn's 12-13 pound ling. Great job Shawn. Captain J.J and his crew did an awesome job as always and the Apollo is looking as spotless as ever. The Apollo will be in Santa Barbara till around mid May before moving down to Fisherman's Landing in San Diego. Call Sea Landing at 1-805-963-3564 or log onto www.apollocharters.com for their schedule. Great trip everyone !!!. email me at [email protected] for any photos. Thats the word on the water. Don

Drew Henderson docked Polaris Supreme June 11 after a three-day trip. He fished offshore kelp paddies to find a good catch of small yellowtail, a bluefin tuna and an albacore. Dale Goss of Lakewood got the bluefin and first place, as his tuna weighed 31 pounds. He enticed it with a sardine on a 2/0 Hayabusa hook. He fished with 30-pound Big Game line, a Daiwa H 40 reel and a seven-foot Sabre rod. Manvel Miuasyan of Van Nuys was second, for a 21-pound yellowtail, and Scott Tucker of Riverside was third, for a 17-pound yellow. Josh Evans of San Francisco got the albie. He trolled a cedar plug in natural wood color to land his longfin.

Oct. 1

I have very little to write about today. Everyone just chilled out. It's tough to say that though because it was so hot today. You'll have that when your at a lower latitude then Cabo San Lucas. Today was our last day of travel. You can tell when that day has arrived because Charlie starts to lose his mind. He can keep it together for about 3 days of travel but any longer then that he starts to get a little coo coo. He was sitting in the wheel house today counting the flying fish he saw flying by as the boat spooked them. He also walked about 3 miles around the boat. All this is very necessary to keep Charlie at a sane enough level to keep everyone on board safe so we encourage it. Everyone else did the same old same old. Movies, rigging, cigars, naps and Mark just ate food all day. We arrive to our destination at about 4:00 in the morning and we're all really excited to do so. Tomorrows report will have to do with fishing.

The Polaris Supreme Crew

The fall fishing season is on, as could be seen in the catch brought back from Alijos Rocks and The Ridge by Polaris Supreme owner-skipper Tommy Rothery, who docked his rig at Fisherman's Landing September 16 after an right-day trip. "Wow, what a great day!" wrote Tom on September 13. "We had an awesome morning bite on the Dorado; big bulls and cows. We took a break at lunch and Pedro prepared a Southwestern 10 oz. burger that was delicious. He really nails the menu with his creative spices and herbs. Back out on the deck, we had excellent fishing on the wahoo throughout the whole day. And then to finish up the day we caught some yellowfin tuna. It was just a great, fun day. Dinner tonight was a spicy ginger shrimp curry; another great dish. Our weather all day has been beautiful. I hear it's been crappy up above and hope it lies down before we start up the line." Jeff Theurer of Pismo Beach got the best dorado, a 44-pound whopper that will now be the season's best. "I got it in 15 minutes," he said, "on 40-pound line. This is my best dorado and the best on the boat this trip."
Chris Fitzgerald of Lake Elsinore won first place for a 70.2-pound tuna. He caught it with a sardine, he said, on a 3/0 Mustad hook, 60-pound P-Line on an Avet 5-2 reel and a Seeker Black Steel 6470 rod.
Wayne Campbell of Huntington Beach was second for a 70-pounder, and Bill Vogel of Oceanside won third place for a 62.6-pound Alijos yellowfin tuna. Jeff Camplese of Helena, MT took the best wahoo, a 55.4-pounder, and brought it into the lineup shot.