manistee river Fishing Report 2025

Today's trip in fantastic weather has produced trophy lingcod. We dropper loop with a mackerel seems to be doing the job. We will call back with an update later. Our next trip departs on Friday. Don't miss the action.

After 6 months of fishing in the deep end it was nice to shut the main engines off and enjoy the world famous Coronado Islands. I have always felt that it takes 3 days or 3 really good boats to give the islands a proper check. Today was day one of putting the puzzle together. 1 yellowtail, plenty of bonito and rockfish. A 40 lb rod, a few yoyo jigs and an assortment of torpedo sinkers.

Aug 17

We started off early yesterday morning in the hunt for yellowtail unsuccessfully. Great fishing on it the day before but the water dropped 2+ degrees and they were very inactive. We were getting the "should've been here yesterday" vibe so we took off to fish for yellowfin. After a couple hour move and a few hours in the zone, we were getting the "should've been here yesterday" vibe again but shortly after chowing down a big fat cheeseburger the call came down from Gunny. "kelp". It's those black eyes I tell you. Gets um every time. After that we pretty much drifted till dark scratching at 20-40 pound yellowfin with the occasional flurry for 20 or so. In fact right at dark there was about 6 people fishing, all with one on and the 18 other anglers standing around with a cigar and a cocktail in hand.

The weather was choppy and rolly today but it didn't bother us. As long as your catching fish who cares what the weather does. We were all very sore and tired after today and I think we're all ready for a nice pork chop meal and a pillow and blanket. We'll be fishing for yellowtail all day tomorrow then setting us up for our last day of bluefin fishing.

Mama bear- The litluns doing fine. Pretty much had a bent rod all day.

~~Sep 13
 Thank goodness for slow speed.  Even though we got a really good jump yesterday, we weren't going to be getting anywhere down below till late tomorrow.  Our speed was horrible.  1.5 knots below average.  But we sped up this morning.  Yup.  This morning we were only making .75 knots below average.  That all costs a whole lot of time when you're traveling great distances so we decided we'd have to be stopping short.  So that's what we did this afternoon, arriving at 4:30.

 Wow!  It didn't take long before everyone had a tuna on.  And they weren't those 8-14 pounders either.  There were some of those, but the majority of them were those 20-30 pounders.  I say again, "wow".  It bit steady the whole time we which is a couple of hours.  During the stop, I had tied a few hooks and cast a few baits out, you know , like we do, and quite a few times the hook would fall off and I would scratch my head and ask myself, " are my knots failing"?  They weren't.  It took crew member Justin to spot a wahoo flying out of the water to figure it out.

 So we wound them in and threw back the marauders.  Before dark, which wasn't long, we had a little binger for 5 and then one for 1 50 pounder.  Say it with me now.  "Wow"!  We aren't going anywhere tonight.  We'l just kick back and see what the day has to offer.

 My buddy Glen caught the 50 pound wahoo today.  Every year for a while now he has been the last member of the little troll team that I like to call, " the troll of shame"  That's the last few people on board who have not yet caught a wahoo.  He will not be joining that team this year.  Nope.  This year he can join the heckling party.  He get's to see what it's like from the other side.  Way to go Glen.
       

 

The San Diego out of Seaforth Landing in San Diego,CA checked in with us today:

14 yellowtail 150 assorted bottom critters. Couple shots at yellowtail in not so ideal conditions.

Captain Ryan Bostian called in this morning with an update from the Coronado Islands. Yesterday we had 54 California Yellowtail, 47 California Barracuda, 6 Kelp Bass, 3 California Sheephead, 35 Rockfish and 1 Lingcod.The fishing has been very good at the Coronado Islands! The San Diego is online for fishing the Coronado Island everyday. You can book online at www.thesandiego.com or call (619) 224-3383 to get in on the action.

I had such a great time fishing with Captain Ryan Bostian and his crew aboard the San Diego that I couldn't resist jumping aboard again for another shot at some of those big Coronado Island yellows. There are big schools of yellowtail roaming the Coronado Islands and recent fish counts have been ranging anywhere from just a few fish to 70-80 fish per trip. No sense trying to figure it out. Pick a day and go !!! Captain Bostian and the San Diego fish the Coronado Islands everyday, so nobody knows them better or fishes them harder than the Captain and his crew. We looked for and caught a few barracuda along the coast as we made our way down to the Coronados. We worked several areas of both islands looking for a school of yellows that wanted to stay with the boat. We saw plenty of action around the boat and would hook one or two yellows at each spot, but we could never get them to bite aggresively. We landed 10-11 nice yellows highlighted by Aiyana Schwartz's huge jackpot yellow that she hooked on a dropper looped sardine. All in all a great day on the water with an excellent chance at catching a trophy fish. The Coronado Islands are about to break wide open and Captain Bostian and the crew aboard the San Diego will be there. Call Seaforth Landing at 1-619-224-3383 to make a reservation and make sure they are not chartered. The San Diego leaves everyday at 5:30 am. Till next time. Thats' the word on the water. Don. [email protected] for pics.

We departed today with nine anglers on a private 17 day charter. The bait we picked up is ok and the weather is beautiful. We dined on a wonderful roasted veal chop and are excited as the outlook from down below sounds great! Thanks for checking in. We'll keep you updated.