lake erie perch Fishing Report 2024

82 yellowtail 40 bonito 3 calico bass. Few good shots on yo-yo jigs, bait and surface iron.

~~Sep. 21
 Well, as promised we left on another trip today.  This one being an LA Rod and Reel Club long range 2 day trip.  We got a nice jump on things.  We were done getting bait and leaving the harbor by 11:00 this morning which allowed us to get to the tuna grounds by 5:00 this evening which allowed us to find a school of yellowfin before dark which allowed for most of the anglers on board to catch at least one which allowed me to feel satisfied about our day today.  Catching fish on a departure day.  Those fish were free.  Tomorrows the true day.  That's when we get real nasty.  So right now we're anchored up in the cove of an island and I couldn't be happier about it.  For the last week at night this boat has been running.  We've always been traveling somewhere so it feels real nice to be on anchor with the engines off.  It's even better that we're in a protected cove.  It's like being in the bay.  I can't speak for everyone on board but I'm pretty sure I'll be sleeping with my thumb in my mouth tonight.  Until tomorrow....
        
 

~~Aug 17
 We figured it out.  The Cortes Bank isn't good right now for bait, or game fish.  Somebody had to be the guinea pigs.  Why not the boat full of fish already.  Check that off the list of places not to go for a while.  One thing I can say about that place is the weather there was fantastic.  Such a smooth ride around the area.  Not a common thing for that place.  If you aren't going to catch much you might as well do it in good weather.  But if you've been keeping up, we've had a great trip.  We're rolling in fat and happy.

 It sounds like they're having a tough time keeping good bait in the receivers as of late so we're going to get next to the harbor early morning and try and catch a tank of mackerel for our next trip leaving tomorrow.  4 days.  See you then.
     

An 81-pound bigeye tuna that came out of a school of albacore was the first tuna of its kind to come in on a long range boat this season, and it won the Polaris Supreme jackpot for rookie angler Carl Geosana of Whittier at Fisherman's Landing July 14.

Drew Henderson skippered the five-day trip with 24 anglers, and was the beneficiary of a tip from Doug Reed and the Renegade that put him on the albacore, which have staged a badly needed re-bite at about 90 miles from San Diego.

Henderson said a second bigeye, a fish in the 120-pound class was hooked.

"Everybody on the crew pulled on it," said Henderson, "for over an hour. We had it close enough to bring out a gaff once, but it took off again, and finally busted the 30-pound line it was hooked on."

Geosana said he spent an hour and 15 minutes on the 81-pounder.

"I almost went overboard when he bit," said Carl. "He went down, and then he pulled me up to the bow, and I had to get over the anchor there at least ten times. He kept making runs, until the reel got red hot."

Carl said he fished a sardine on a 3/o Eagle Claw hook, and used 30-popund Big Game line, a Penn 500 reel and a seven-foot Ugly Stick rod.

Greg Hannond of Huntington Beach was second, for a 42.6-pound albacore, and Brad Hall of San Diego won third place for a 42.4-pound albie. Skipper Henderson said his anglers had a very good catch of yellowtail and some bluefin tuna and were "‚Д¶just short of limits of the albacore. At least half the guys did get limits."

Today we went out with 15 anglers. We started our trip this morning by searching the area where we caught our yellowtail yesterday. After a couple hours of looking without success, we decided to put the sinkers on and go rock fishing. Our rock fishing efforts were rewarded with 30 reds and 58 miscellaneous rockcod. With only a few hours left in our trip we decided to go looking for yellowtail again. At approximately 1:30 p.m. we located a very nice school of yellowtail along the bottom. This school responded very well to our chum, every sardine that hit the water was desperately swimming for his life creating a very impressive show of boiling yellowtail. After a chaotic 15 minute drift we had two 25 lb. yellowtail.

Weather kept us new shore today, so we targeted Vermillion Rockfish. Worked out just fine.!

TERRIFIC OVERNITE TRIP!! APOLLO went with 15 passengers scored 75 Yellowfin, 8 Dorado, & 3 Yellows. Check out their next open party trip. Call Fisherman's Landing @ (619)221-8500

The Apollo will be running an open party over night trip out of Santa Barbara. This trip will depart on Friday night March 27th at 9pm for fishing Sat. This will be a freelance trip hoping for squid and sea bass, with rock fish. If you are interested the cost will be $140 and you will need to contact Sea Landing at (805) 568-0460. to make a reservation.