smithers Fishing Report 2025

Monday, August 1st, 2011

Hi friends and happy August to all of you. Our ride last night was a little bit sloppy and we made horrible speed but we checked out a couple of coastal spots anyways. They were dry but we gave it a look and the call was made to break down the gear for the final clean-up. Throughout the day, our ride progressively changed for the better but as of 1900 hours this evening, we're bouncing around a little bit. Nonetheless, the gang are downstairs enjoying their final meal aboard the 2011 Tom Chaparro/Stern Hogs five day trip. We're still making less than normal speed and we'll hopefully make up some speed up the line so that we arrive to Fisherman's Landing on-time tomorrow morning at 0700 hours.

For this evening's report, we'd like to shine the spotlight on Tom Chaparro. As I said last night, this year was his fourteenth year chartering the Polaris Supreme and for the last five years that I've been involved with the Supreme, I feel that I can sum up Tom pretty well and it's pretty simple - Tom Chaparro is the man. Not only being an outstanding fisherman, Tom makes sure that everyone on-board his trip has a great time and does it the right way, the Polaris Supreme way and nobody knows that way better than Tom. It's just Tom's vibe that makes his trip special. Yes, he wants to catch fish more than anybody on the vessel but he still wants people to do things the right way and have an outstanding time. Tom makes you feel like you've been riding his charter since day one, he gives you the respect that he wants back in return and in this day, that is hard to find in some people. Most of Tom's charters are familiar faces year in and year out, and that is a tell-tale sign of Tom's desire for fishing and his desire to make sure that everyone on-board is happy. I could go on for paragraphs about Tom but all I can say is come find out for yourself. His sister Mary is one of the sweetest people you could meet and we were sorry that Tom's son, Thomas, couldn't make it this year. Get well man and we'll see you next year.

So that's all. It's dinner time and like I said, we're trying for a 0700 ETA. Tomorrow, the gang will be departing on the Prigmore four day adventure so look for Tommy's reports to continue tomorrow evening. Take care.

-Team Supreme-

Sunday, July 31st, 2011

Hi friends. We completed our tour of Yellowtail Land this evening the same way that we started this morning by landing a couple of lunkers in the 30 lb. range. Our time in the middle of our day was spent chasing breezers and color spots of Yellowtail with decent success and the size of these fish wasn't bad either with most being in the 15-18 lb. class. We would occasionally hook them on the surface jig's and yo-yo iron's but it was mostly a bait fishery. Fly-lined sardines on 30 lb. test was working with great success and our two days down here at the Yellowtail Grounds was a fine stay once again. Our weather today was awesome with the exception of a little afternoon breeze and the weather we're currently in now as I type this report. We're rockin' and rollin' up the line and depending on our speed, we'll see if we can get a couple hours of coastal fishing time in tomorrow. We'll see.

After Chef Schooler kicked out a Yellowtail dinner with his Polaris Supreme famous lemon-butter-caper sauce, charter-master Tom Chaparro extended his gratitude for 14 years of quality service by teaming up with Herb Yamanaka and presenting the crew with some of Herb's handmade exotic mahogany bowls/pepper grinders and University of Oregon merchandise. We say thank you to Tom and also a big thanks goes out to Herb. Herb normally fishes on Lon Mikkelsen's Ocean Tackle Research ten day trip in the fall but decided to hop on with Mr. Chaparro and his exceptional group. Herb took countless hours of footage on last year's ten day and made an awesome video from last year's OTR trip that is currently on our website and Herb is flat-out one of the nicest guys you will ever meet and we issue many thanks to him. He also tells Donna that he loves you and go Ducks.

Also, Joe Gigliotti, who has been riding with Tom since the beginning of his charter, has an Accurate sponsored 8-day trip leaving October 15th returning October 23rd, limited to 20 anglers, and he's informed me that there are some openings on it. This time slot is prime time Alijos Rocks and Ridge fishing for tuna and wahoo and Joe will have plenty of goodies to hand out as well. Joe is a super cool cat and if you'd like to come join up with him and Accurate, give Susan a call at 619-390-7890 and let's get in on some limited load, early Fall action at it's finest.

So that is all. As I've said before, our weather isn't ideal but we're doing just fine and not rollin' around too much. We'll hopefully get in some fishing time tomorrow and we'll check in with you tomorrow as well. Wish us luck and have a great start to the work week.

-Team Supreme-

Saturday, July 30th, 2011

Hey folks. Yellowtail fishing was limits today on The Polaris Supreme. We a steller start in the morning a lull to allow everyone a chance to get rested Then back at it in the afternoon. There wasn't a whole lot of times during the day that we weren't pulling on 'tails. Our grade of fish is still very nice with a few 40 pounders to round out our day in style. We caught them using all of the methods that we employ while fishing for Yellowtail and we're hoping for a repeat tomorrow, at the least. We're hanging out in the "premium zone" where we'll hope for a some big ones in the morning. That is our plan for now, Chappy and the gang are having a simply splendid time, and Garth Kubeldis is currently in the lead for the Lizard-fish jackpot (woo-hoo). We're enjoying the goregous weather and we'll be giving it a go bright and early tomorrow morning. Wish us luck and we'll chat with y'all tomorrow.

-Team Supreme-

Friday, July 29th, 2011

Hi friends. Windy offshore conditions made for a tough day but we managed to piece together a couple stops for Bluefin, Yellowfin, Yellowtail, and a couple handful's of Dorado as well. With the kelp paddy scene starting to take shape, we're excited about future ventures down this way. Throughout the day, we continued our southerly trek down to the Yellowtail grounds and we'll be fishing before the sun even rises. As a matter of fact, as of 0458 this morning, Chappy has already boated two 'tails on the dropper loop. We're off to a good start. Wish us luck and happy Friday.

-Team Supreme-

P.S. To Donna - Herb says he loves and misses you and I say - Hello Donna. The Oak floors are going to look marvelous, keep up the good work! Take care.

Thursday, July 28th, 2011

Good evening friends. We arrived at 0700 this morning to unload the Costello group and their catch of beautiful Yellowtail, Bluefin, Yellowfin, Calico Bass, Vermilion Rockfish, Lingcod, and the token White Seabass. Once our turn-around chores were completed, we brought aboard Tom and Mary Chaparro for their annual Stern Hogs five day limited load charter. They've brought along quite a few familiar faces with them, except they forgot "Little Chappy", but we're looking forward to catching up with the crew on-board and catching fish. Our bait is looking OK and we'll be monitoring the situation overnight to ensure that we have healthy bait. When all of the loading, eating, rigging, napping, and seminars were complete, the gang feasted on Prime Rib and hit the racks to prepare for the activities we have planned for them tomorrow.

For tomorrow, we'll be giving the offshore scene a try with the hopes of locating some Yellowfin and Bluefin. If a kelp paddy happens to pop up, we'll try those too as there has been some kelps kicking out some nice Yellowtail. So that is our plan, the weather is quite nice, and we'll get things rolling tomorrow morning. Wish us luck.

-Team Supreme-

~~Sep. 6
 I think I'm going to start naming my reports.  This one is called "We should have stuck with the game plan".  The plan was to start where we did, and if it didn't look good run up 40 miles to the next spot arriving just after lunch when it's bite time there.  Well we started off slow.  Conditions were a little funky.  We saw some fish, but they didn't really bite.  We caught a few yellows and the biggest ling cod I've ever seen brought up on this boat, but it wasn't good enough to stick around.  So we started off sticking with the plan when we left and went north but then we decided to do some radio fishing.  I heard 4th hand and then 3rd hand that a boat had a couple really good dorado kelps the day prior almost in striking distance and then really good yellowtail in the afternoon definitely in striking distance.  Then I saw on my water temp chart that same water just a few hours below us so we made the move.  Obviously by my whining you can tell it didn't work out.  We didn't find much kelp in the good water.  We found one OK kelp but we only caught a handful of flats.  There was a few wahoo swimming around it but we didn't catch any.

 So that's OK.  We're not worried.  We still have yesterdays afternoon yellowtail hot spot to fish.  Not today.  Should have been here yesterday. Maybe that should be the name of the report. We saw some and caught a few but it was nothing good.  So here we sit.  I'm not sure if we stuck with the game plan that it would have worked out.  There already was a boat on the spot we were headed to and it's kind of a one boat spot so maybe we didn't miss anything.

 It's funny.  I haven't written this long of a report in a long time.  If fishing was good today I probably would have written one paragraph.  I needed to rant.  Anyways we're going to stick it out here and regroup and try it again in the morning.  Hopefully we find some yellows to work with but either way we plan on looking for a dorado kelp in the afternoon.  Hopefully I only write one paragraph tomorrow.
       

Sunday, August 4th, 2013

13:53 hours update:

Hi friends. After a brief snafu (spelling?) with the sea anchor, we rolled right into stops on Bluefin tuna with our best drop yielding 35 of those tunas. Most of the fish were in the 14-22 lb. range but we did manage a few whacks on that 40-60 lb. grade as well. Our good friend Travis Donahue decided that throwing a 9'3" Ulua with 40 lb. test was just a stellar idea and managed to hook a dandy of a fish. I'm pretty sure a new style of angling was invented; it was crouching Travis, boot camp deluxe, and an antenna. Travis did his best but Gunny couldn't take it anymore and had to assist little Travis and the battle ensued. Guns had that fish about 2 feet out of the gaff reach of Mark and myself and just like that, sorrow. The Bluefin tuna won this battle and looked to be in the 120 lb. range. Oh brother.

Anyhow, we've been underway for a few hours now, headed to greater points south. Up next on our itinerary is do some Yellowtail fishing. We have a lot of water to cover and we're hoping to be fully engaged in a miracle and stumble upon something this afternoon when we get out of this cooler water and into some of that warm H20. We're hopeful. The gang just enjoyed a spaghetti and meat sauce lunch and Little Chappy just threw on "The Hurt Locker". Everyone is either playing Siskel and Ebert or snoozin'. Our traveling weather is absolutely gorgeous and we'll report back to you tonight with an update of how our afternoon went. Talk to us, Goose. Talk to us...

20:00 hours update:

Well, we never stumbled upon something glorious, or anything for that matter, but we gave it our all and when that failed, the gang had a poker tournament. Anyhow, Chef Shawn and Sweet Dee are preparing some type of shrim and scallop feast and the knock just came under my size 11, not-so-Tuff boots and that means it's dinner time. We'll be to the Yellowtail grounds tomorrow morning and we're hoping for a clobber fest. Take care. Happy Birthday, Zeb.

The team you dream about,

-The Supreme Team

P.S. Hi Drew!

Monday, August 5th, 2013

Hi friends. Different style of reporting from me today. I'm going to give you little segments of information from our day. Before I forget, Travis Donahue would like to say hello to the lovely little flower that is his wife, Jackie, and hello to his lovely little garden that he calls his children. So sweet. Also, Tex wanted me to share with the worldwide web that he is slayin' the yellas. He also shared with us that there is a better vodka out there than Tito's. We're skeptical, because anyone that knows Team Supreme knows that it's Tito's or get out of our houses. You've got 7 bottles to send your boys, Tex. Anyhoo, here is a few short segments of how our day transpired.

-Started the morning off with a nice worklist. Various engine room and upkeep that is needed on a boat to maintain proper working order. Fixing leaks, changing light bulbs, cleaning under mains, and various other little projects. Nice to be sweaty and greasy before breakfast.

-Gunny got the gang into the galley and gave an in-depth dropper loop seminar. How do you dropper loop? You drop your loop and hang on tight. Thanks, Guns.

-Breakfast was baller. Huge breakfast burritos with whatever you desired. I had the works, complete with chorizo, eggs, potatoes, bacon, salsa, queso, and avocado. Oh yeah, get on my level, bro.

-I was off last trip but I came onto the boat to be pleasantly surprised that the boys had dusted off "The Big Banana" after a brief hiatus. Never ceases to amaze me that the only piece of saltwater gear I own is so very popular to passengers and crew alike. We put that thing to use today and The Banana was on fire! As she usually is, we bent the hooks on our surface iron. Yep.

-Mark, after a long dry spell, was issued 10 minutes of hard hat time. His offense was tying a halibut dropper loop, on fluorocarbon, and not only tying it but tying it wrong. Gunny took one look, wrapped the line around his hands and snapped it like a Popsicle stick. Maaaarrrrrk!

***03:54 hours update*** For anyone that knows me, I enjoy me some channel 46 on the Sirius radio. Channel 46 is the Old School Hip Hop station and it plays a certain song that gets me fired up and that song usually comes while I'm typing up a report about a great day of fishing, and right now is no exception. The song is "Today Was A Good Day" by Ice Cube and today was just that, a good day. Riddler just flashed me the "Westside" sign with his fingers from his bunk. Right back at ya, Tommy!

-For all of my nonsense in my report thus far, our morning wasn't all that sweet, considering the boats here in the previous two days absolutely clobbered the Yellowtail. We scratched a few handfuls of 'tail in the 15-22 lb. range but it was nothing to write home about. We fished hard and then the lunch call was given. Per request of Tom, we do a custom sandwich station on table 3 complete with all the various ingredients to build yourself a baller sandwich. While we were making some sammies, Riddles put us on a nice drift and they came up boilin' right next to the boat real nice and we had a decent drift some 'tail. I saw a few sandwiches go flyin' but the beauty of our setup was that you could just go make another one when the bite was over. Fantastic. I made myself a deli quadruple, all the fixins, and a pickle.

-A couple hours after our lunch drift, we got on the mother lode. For the next few hours, the Yellows were snappin' real nice. As wide upen as you could ask for on the fly-lined sardines and jigs and an excellent grade to boot with most being in the 18-25 lb. category. We were busy, busy, busy. Fun times! The sun was shinning, the weather was great, and the staple guns were firing. Just what the doctor ordered. The gang had a blast.

-During the melee, Chef Shawn rocked out a Bluefin poki, Tequila Lime chicken wings, and white rice for an afternoon snack. I managed to sneak in and eat 14 bowls of poki and rice. Wowza! Good job, Shawn, now get out on deck on help us out!

-Throughout the day, I was designated "camera guy" so I got to play Austin Powers and snap away. Hope y'all enjoy the photos. Not going to lie, we were so busy that it was hard to find the time. We were also so busy, that we forget to write down one of our box drops into the RSW. For the life of us, we couldn't remember if we had missed one. We got things squared away and our count looked plenty better. We had a fantastic afternoon!

-We tried for squid and seabass at dark but no dice. I got showered up and served a fabulous dinner that Chef Shawn and Sweet D prepared. I had to take photos and write down what the heck we were eating. Sesame and spicy seared Bluefin tuna, with a Sriracha vinaigrette and ginger/carrot sauce, wasabi mashed potatoes, and sesame stir-fried green beans and edamame. It was bananas. For dessert, Mama D gave us plenty of choices but most chose her "brownie delight" that we enjoyed a couple nights prior, I know I did. Great job, Team Galley.

So that is all! A lengthy report for just a dandy of a day. It was truly a lot of fun and a really nice change of pace for the gang. We're currently headed up the line to drop a few lines on some coastal high spots to hopefully load up on some reds and lingcod. We'll only have a very limited time frame to get down but we'll be at it first thing in the morning. In closing, our weather is OK, our day was splendid, and judging by my food intake today, I am now a diabetic. See ya. Wrap-up report tomorrow. Take care.

-The Supreme Team

P.S. Hi again, Drew! I have to go prime the watermaker. My bad!

~~Sep. 11
 Hello all and welcome back.  Or welcome me back or... you know what I mean.  I'm back.  5 days off and I'm back on the water and reporting to you.  I met the boat at the dock at 6:30 in the morning and was pleased to see the stern deck loaded up with tuna.  A good catch they had.  Well we off loaded everything and everyone, went and changed oil and put enough fuel on board to last us a while and left on our Bogart construction 2 day charter.  We got a good enough jump to fish a few hours before dark in the latest hot tuna zone but hot it was not.  The fishing there in the morning was good but it took a dump late morning and on.  We wound up catching 3 tuna before dark.  Obviously we're hoping for a good morning tomorrow and we're also hoping the bite stays on for longer then it did today.
       
 

Polaris Supreme Trip Update 11-3-2012 Report

The last travel day of the trip. Yes we get in tomorrow morning at 8 am. The boat will have one night in and then we're off with the O.T.R. group on a 10 day trip. Last night we stopped and played a game called flying fish. Myself, Matty and Mark got down. I live for competition. Your parents always teach you it doesn't matter if you win or lose as long as you tried your best. That's a bunch of crap. Winning is everything. I scored 18 points with 1 assist taking the trophy. Yup Lon, we got you some flyers for the kite. Today's just like the rest of travel days. There's a movie going, people hanging out outside in this nice weather and some zzz's going down as well. Jeremy's vacation is over today. He just got cell phone reception so income the texts so he's staying busy.

See You All Tomorrow. Drew