waranga basin Fishing Report 2025

"It was really good fishing wahoo at the bank," said Rothery at the sales. "We stayed there two days and then went in to the southern banks where the big fish were." All the big fish (there were 13 tuna over 200 pounds weighed on the certified scales at Fisherman's) came from the southern banks. There were just as many from 100 to 200 pounds as there were cows, and those were found in both spots. "The Baja tuna were real steady biters," said Rothery. "There were lots of ‚Дтem around, we could see ‚Дтem at the surface and on the meter most of the time." Research biologist Chugey Sepulveda got the big one, related his pal and fellow biologist Scott ("Scootch") Aalbers of San Diego. Chugey wasn't able to be at the weigh-in. The fish weighed 306.2 pounds. Chugey had two more cows, at 220 and 201 pounds. "Scootch" said Chugey got the big one and the others on one of the boat's heavy rigs and the kite. He used two sardines on 6/0 Mustad 7691 hooks, tied to 130-pound P-Line and 130-pound Izorline Spectra, on a Tiagra 50 W reel and a Calstar 655 XXH rod. "He got it on the next to the last day," said Scootch, "about four p.m. He fought it for an hour and 15 minutes, and it wrapped him around the anchor line about 15 times. The crew helped out a lot with the fork." Tom Bass of Newport Beach won second place for a 274.8-pound tuna. He also had a 232 and a 206-pound yellowfin. Tom said he got his fish on a sardine and an 8/0 Eagle Claw hook, pm 100-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon leader of 15 feet, tied to 130-pound Izor Spectra on a Tiagra 50 reel and a Calstar 6460 XXH rod. Hack Bernstein of Valencia bagged a 269.6-pounder. He fished a sardine on an 8/0 Eagle Claw hook tied to 130-pound P-Line and 130-pound Izor Spectra on a boat rig: Tiagra 50 reel and a Calstar 655 XXH rod. Pat Jaeger of Bishop posed with his daughter Maggie, three, and the 268-pound tuna he got with a double sardine rig on the kite. He said he used 100-pound P-Line and 130-pound Izor Spectra on a Penn 50 W reel and a Baja Boomer rod. Ryan Gillette of Orange was another who used a double trouble sardine rig on the boat's rod and reel to take a 246-pounder. Robert Kalatschan found a brace of cows, at 226 and 213 pounds. There were two more cows that appeared at the scales without tags, said Susan Rothery. One weighed 214 pounds and the other went 202.

Polaris Supreme docked at Fisherman's Landing August 3 under skipper Drew Henderson's hand. There were 24 anglers aboard the five-day trip. "We had a good day on the one day the albacore were up," said Drew. "Then we fished kelps for dorado and yellowtail." Ron Chisum of Escondido won first place for a 32.4-pound albacore he got with a sardine on a 3/0 Mustad hook and 30-pound Ande line. He said he used a TLD 15 reel and a Calstar 270 rod. He brought his best dorado, a 25-pounder, into the lineup photo. Steve Taylor of Napa Valley tied for second place with Tom Connors of Escondido. Both had albacore of 31.8 pounds.

Polaris Supreme Trip Report 09-23 to 25-2019 We arrive this morning from our three day trip. We left last Sunday with very high expectations. Only to get them crushed over the next three days. There had been a week straight of fantastic yellowfin tuna and bluefin tuna fishing. It all came tumbling down on Sunday. We definitely hit things on the backside at the very bottom of the bell curve. We managed to scratch up a few nice tuna after getting an early start out on Sunday but all the big hits came that morning. Monday we were able to find one school of good grade yellowfin tuna that stayed with us a while that gave us hopes for the rest of the day being good fishing. It didn't turn out that way though we only picked up another handful of fish throughout of long day of searching. Tuesday we had plenty of action but it was mostly on skipjack in the morning with a mix of smaller grade yellowfin tuna. We hammered out the day until dark with not much luck. As we all know It makes a huge difference on timing when you get out to the fishing grounds we just missed it by a few days. We had a great group of anglers that stuck with us Trying hard all throughout the three days. Thank you to all of you who joined us for this last trip and hopefully our timing is better on the next one. The Polaris Supreme Crew.

Fished for a couple of hours this morning with no signs of larger grade tuna so we left and will be fishing in a different spot tomorrow. Had a Oriental noodle salad this afternoon that was out of this world. Really good. Our weather continues to be in the beautiful category and we are all enjoying that. Wish us luck for some of those bigger fish. We'll check in tomorrow.

Thanks,
Tommy and crew