tauranga Fishing Report 2024

~~9-9-2014

 Good evening from the bridge.  Today was yet another great day out on the water in the yellowfin tuna zone. We were blessed again with some awesome weather. The crew always loves it when we can go up into the mast from 6 am till the sun drops to look for fish and only have to wear some light long sleeves at the most, even driving straight into the wind.   The fishing was pretty good for most of the day today. We were getting on some descent schools this morning and scratching away. The grade was mixed again, some spots had the smaller 15-19 lbers and other brought in the same with some tuna up wards of 30 lbs so you can't complain about that.  The entire afternoon was bird schools galore, but a lot of them were just not the right kind. A lot of birds on kelp paddy's and spots of Skipjack. Instead of hitting every little school and throwing a bunch of bait, we just kept her rolling till we found the right sundowner school.  Rob was sure stoked we found that one since he was able to come in in the bottom of the 9th with his daily jackpot yellowfin of just about 30 lbs. Congrats to you Rob!! All and all we were please to add today into our books as a successful day out to sea.
 Right about the time we called it a day, Chef David rang the dinner bell and sat us down for the evenings cuisine. As he was dishing out the sesame seed crusted seared Ahi (yes, only 24 hours old, as fresh as it comes, so eat your heart out tuna lovers), forikake seasoned steamed rice and snow peas, Robin bust busy popping corks on the wine of the evening. 2013 Justin Sauvignon Blanc was the flavor and it smelled really good! I believe he told me it was a New Zealand white wine, but it really went great with the "catch of the day".  Dessert was a warm fresh peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream sending everyone to bed with nice full bellies once again.
 And  for Robins personal note of the day, he wants to let all of his friends know to make some room in the freezer for some amazing already packaged yellowfin tuna fillets. "I miss you all and want you to know this has been a truly amazing trip in all respects: a bit of heaven. 5 days and nights with the coolest people on the planet. The crew is off the chart and has been very accommodating".
 Thanks so much again Robin and friends for making this trip just fun working for you guys!
 So till this time tomorrow everyone, this is Jed signing off.
 
 Team Supreme

Polaris Supreme Trip Report 07-17-2016 #2 I meant to send this picture of the fathom meter this morning but I forgot about it. This is a screenshot of our fathom meter last night when we hooked the 115 pounder that Jack caught. You can see these Bluefin like to hang between 26 to 40 fathoms. That's pretty darn deep. If you look up towards the upper part of the screen, you will see two flat straight lines. One of them is in the middle of the screen at about 4 fathoms and the other is on the left side at about 11 fathoms. That is somebody under the boat using a live bait sinker rig. Also in the center of the screen you'll see a forward slash. It is light in color and broken up starting at about 4 fathoms going down to 12 fathoms. That is somebody winding a jig up. If you look between 7 to 13 fathoms you'll see a jig someone is dropping down. The point I want to make is that these fish are typically deep and you need to be able to get your bait or jig down into the deeper water columns where these fish are at. Knowing this you should be using those big heavy jigs or heavy torpedo sinker to increase your chances of hooking one of these trophy fish. The tuna did not show up. A couple of us saw schools that did not cooperate at all. We picked up a few yellowtail on kelp patties and a handful yellowfin tuna for the day. We are heading home to regroup. We would like to thank Archie Steele and the gang for joining us we had a great time with the crew and some fantastic fishing the first part of the trip. We will be into the dock early tomorrow morning to pick up Paul Hess and the gang! Thanks for reading, Polaris Supreme

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.

Friday, August 19th, 2011

Hi friends. Just finishing up our day here on the Supreme. Gear is broken down, tackle is stowed top-side, and the boat is scrubbed from bow to butt. We began our day with a blind Bluefin jig strike and managed to land a few bait fish when we started to meter them pretty solid under the boat. After losing the majority of the fish we hooked, the school bailed and we soon followed. The Yellowfin weren't far behind and we managed to put together a really nice day on fish in the 12-25 lb. range with one standout landed by Henry "Blue" Maine. Henry's Yellowfin looks to go about 55 lbs. and no, it was not a Big Eye. Blue's our boy and we're very proud of him. Anyhow, most of our fish came on blind jig strikes and every now and then we'd see a nice sonar school of them and have on-the-corner type fishing. With all the action and chaos, and I do mean chaos, we have a very healthy load of tuna in our holds to compliment our Yellowtail catch from yesterday and our five Albacore from Wednesday. Everyday, things are looking more promising and more promising with Bluefin, Yellowfin, and more reported Albacore being caught, this offshore tuna thing might just be getting started. We'll see but with two straight solid tuna trips in the books, we'll be looking for a third tomorrow when we take off for five days. The weather is a bit rolly but without too much wind to jack things up and as of now (1700), our traveling weather is just fine.

So that's all. We're shooting for a 0630 ETA tomorrow morning. There will be eight long-range boats from all three landings arriving and departing tomorrow so we'll be on the hustle. We'll be dropping off Ryan and friends and picking up Joe Beck and the Bob Vance crew for a five day ocean-going party and we shall welcome them with open arms. We'll chat with you tomorrow. Take care and happy Friday.

-Team Supreme-

Thursday, August 18th, 2011

Hi friends. We arrived to the southern Yellowtail grounds this morning to find that things were not right. We managed a few OK drifts but we didn't see the life that the boats saw in the days prior. No shortage of fish, that's for sure, they were just too scattered out and weren't in the right mode. In the afternoon, we made a run to the northern grounds to find a little bit better sign of fish and we ended our day having a couple decent drifts on some 15-22 lb. 'tails with an occasional cow mixed in. We also caught/released some dandy Calico Bass and tagged one nice Grouper. A little bit better surface iron action today than we've seen all year and our master of ceremonies, Ryan, had himself a good day until Barry broke his favorite surface iron. All in all, it was a fine day of Yellowtail fishing. Our weather was prime all day, excellent bronzing conditions as it was hot and sunny.

So we're currently making way back up to finish our trip up with some tuna. A couple boats started located some actual schools of those Yellowfin tuna and we're hoping to do that tomorrow as well. Our weather is a mild chop with some breeze but we're just fine with it, as long as it doesn't freshen up. We'll chat with you tomorrow.

-Team Supreme-

Wednesday, August 17th, 2011

Good evening everyone. Like I began last trips report, I just wanted to reiterate just how quickly things can change out here on the ocean. The prior Bluefin zone that yielded us and the entire fleet a spectacular catch just a couple days before was absolutely starving for life and we never saw nor caught a Bluefin tuna today. Also, the gorgeous weather that we had been blessed with for the better part of a week was now windy, cold, and a bit choppy. The day was looking very bleak to say the least as it took us hours to land our first fish of the day, a Yellowfin tuna in the 15 lb. class. It was very slow for the morning time and all the way through lunch time. Single jig fish here, single jig fish there and with that, the announcement was made to get the Yellowtail gear ready as we would be traveling southerly for the remainder of the day to be in a position to do some Yellowtail fishing tomorrow morning.

It wasn't too long after we pointed the Supreme on our coastal course that we started getting blind jig strikes on the Yellowfins. We would consistently start jigging up double and triple jig strikes and when we finally hung a few bait fish, things got a little interesting. One of our best stops of the day was for nine Yellowfin and five Watermelons. Watermelons: a little Tommy Rothery terminology for you. These fish have been eluding the fleet for quite some time now and in traditional years, we catch these Watermelons later in the season in August/September. Not the traditional setup to find these fish in, with a Yellowfin school in warm water but for whatever reason, they were there and we managed to land five of these beauties. What is a Watermelon you ask? Albacore tuna in the 30-40 lb. class. That's right, we caught some slug Albacore today. What an awesome surprise and not only caught some, we also metered a few on the fathometer. Could this be the start of something or were they just lost souls hitch-hiking with their Yellowfin counterparts? Who knows but this next week in long-range fishing will be very interesting. Will it tell the tale if it will be the epic, super tardy Albacore season of 2011 or just a nice surprise here or there for the fleet? We'll see. Nonetheless, our first Albacore of the season were a welcome sight. We missed those beautiful specimens and we definitely took a few minutes to stare down the fish on the deck and appreciate what beautiful creatures they are. Hopefully, there are more to come.

Although we scored a decent day jigging up Yellowfin in the 12-18 lb. class, we maintained our course and our gameplan remains the same to fish Yellowtail tomorrow. It's not like we saw school after school after school. All of our jig fish were blind jig strikes and we never saw anything to get us really excited. We did have a couple stops where they rushed the boat and we had chaos on the corner but like I said, it was mostly a troll-fest today. All in all, we had a fine day and we're looking to had some 'tails to go along with our 'fins and we'll try the tuna fishing thing the day after tomorrow. Take care and wish us luck.

-Team Supreme-

Tuesday, August 16th, 2011

Hi friends. We awoke not-so bright but very early this morning to start our day. Being the 0530 boat getting into the landing, we had to bust it into overdrive so that the Shogun, Searcher, and three 1.5 boats could unload their passengers and fish as well. In a timely manner, the Heil group and their bounty of Bluefin, Yellowfin, Yellowtail, Dorado, Halibut, Calico bass, and Barred Sand bass were successfully unloaded and we bid the boys farewell until next season. Just an awesome trip for those guys, hard to beat if you ask me and we all busted butt to find them some fish and find some fish we did - and then some. Big fish honors go for the top three Bluefin tuna; The one and only Mr. Joe De Marco -- 45.4 lb. BFT. Jim Chivas -- 41.4 lb. BFT. And last but not least, our very own Mark Clark's son, Chace, took third with his 40. 2 pounder. Good going to the gang and to Chase, remember the invaluable advice that you're Uncles' Richie and Drew gave to you. Anyhow, back out for another trip and we welcomed aboard the wildest charter-master known to man, Ryan "Black Cloud" Christianson and his group from Let's Talk Hook-Up.

So four days with the man, the myth, the legend, Ryan and his closest friends. After the tackle seminar, Ryan raffled out some goodies and Mr. Jimmy Houston won the big prize of a Shimano Tyrnos reel. Reports are sounding like a Yellowfin take-over from the previous Bluefin zone and we're going to go see what's shaking down that way and see if we can't locate the Bluefins that were M.I.A. today. If we can't locate the short-fins, we'll stay busy with some of those Yellowfins and decide our next move from that point on. Weather is great, got plenty of bait, and we'll be in the zone tomorrow...early, not late. Take care.

-Team Supreme-

Yesterday we had good fishing on wahoo in the morning and excellent fishing on tuna in the afternoon. The average weight on the tuna ranged from 45-70 lbs. Our weather is still good. Chef Tommy put out some great meals again. Lunch yesterday was yellowtail served over fresh spinach, surrounded by black beans with a spicy avocado cilantro sauce. And dinner was cornish game hens topped with a spicy apricot sauce on wild rice with grilled asparagus on the side. Fishing this morning has started off again with wahoo biting and this afternoon we will fish the tuna again. We still have some open spots on *Sept. 8th* an 8 day trip if you want to come get some of these wahoo. Give Susan a call 619-390-7890.

Saturday, September 8th, 2012

Hi friends. We arrived this morning from our Garry Roberts 9-day trip, wheeled up their gear and fish up to the top of the docks, and got down to business on our turnaround chores. When all was said and done, Robin Gledhill and the Blue/White group was on the boat and we shoved off the docks en route to the receivers. Our bait loading went well and we'll monitor the health of our sardines throughout the trip.

For dinner this evening, instead of prime rib (thank you!) Robin brought us some fresh halibut to play with and Chef Shawn prepared it wonderfully. The wine was flowing too. I had Robin give me a list of the wine that was passed around from table to table and I was going to write about it but there are too many big, fancy words for me to type out. All I can say is that there were plenty of dry, light wines to not overpower the fish, but to accent the flakey, white fish. Perfect. I didn't have any. Sad face.

Anyhow, we'll report back to you tomorrow. Hopefully the fishing is great, the seas are flat, and the sunshine burns us all like lobsters.

-The Supreme Team

P.S. I'd like to give a shout out to the lady and gentlemen at Fisherman's Landing for completing my request of breaking seventy dollars with ten seven dollar bills. They are the bomb and they are my friends.

Also, we'd like to give a shout out to our thumb-sized calico bass, Charlie, that Jed and myself released today in the bay. We've taught him the way and he's been through a lot: transit from San Diego Bay, to Alijos Rocks, and back and he also experienced his first USCG helicopter rescue. He's a G and we wish him well.

P.S.S. Those of you waiting for the pictures of last trip, due to technical difficulties they wont be up till we arrive from this trip on Thursday.

1 yellowtail 31 calico bass 82 whitefish 2 sheepshead. Conditions seem to be improving daily but the fish we see are still in a funk. What we’re seeing as far as water temperature, color and current is “text book” for good fishing, only time will tell.

August 7
    I'm pretty sure I have written a report very similar to this one not too long ago but here we go anyways.  We had a good morning and a good evening today.  It was the in between part that stunk for us.  It was a long afternoon but you always forget about the afternoon when you're pulling on fish into dark.  I don't even remember anymore.  Anyways we ended up with just shy of a hundred tuna for the day and we're going to drift all night and start where we end up in the morning.  We will be drifting because it is fantastic weather and we don't need to put out the sea anchor or idle up and down swell all night because it's good drifting.