For up-to-date information, look up the fishing report for the water of your choice. Field staff
update the fishing reports each week through the fishing season, reporting on fishing success,
lake levels, water temperatures, and other important information.
You also can get helpful information from the Fishing Forecast.
May 10, 2025 block island Fishing Report
1845
Thursday, July 4th, 2013
Good evening, fellow patriots and happy 4th of July. We will never forget what this holiday means to us on the Polaris Supreme and although we aren't celebrating with fireworks, barbecues, and adult beverages, we here on THE Supreme Team will never forget what this day means to us. It's the day that we defeated the aliens. We will never forget what Bill Pullman, Randy Quaid, Jeff Goldblum and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air did for not only the country of 'Merica but also what they did for the entire world. Welcome to Earth!
How did we spend our Independence Day? Well, for me personally, I had Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" stuck in my head, I nearly froze my bronze off (we on the Supreme call this particular event "fronzing"), I drank two cups of "The Weasel" coffee (thanks RK), and I also managed to gaff Yellowtail, de-hook Calico Bass, and shake mackerel, sardines, and lizardfish into our bait wells. As for our fishing day, it was a little on the scratchy side but we managed to make a day of it multiple coastal species. The trophy of the day goes to Richard "Raider Nation" Miller who landed what looks to be a 50 lb. White Seabass on a dropper loop. He's pumped. Him and Mark think that Raiders are going to be really good this season. We just laugh and pat them on the head and say "we're sure that they will be, son".
Anyhow, we're currently (02:15 hours of the 5th of July) en route to our next bait-making/Yellowtail area and we'll see what we can't gather up for the morning. Depending on what we do, we'll either stay and get nasty or we'll book it for greener offshore pastures. We'll see what happens and we'll report our activities tomorrow. Our weather is just fine and the passengers are all stuffed on Chef Schoolers' Shrimp/Scallop pasta dinner. Heck, Mark even decorated the cheesecake with a 4th of July flair. Impressive for a hillbilly, I know! Good job, Mark. Now stock that beer/pop cooler.
So that is all. We'll hit y'all up manana. Oh yeah, before I go. We'd like to thank our good friend and by far our most handsome and ripped relief team member Joey Freeman for calling us and giving us the Alaska Net Satellite number to the vessel Northwestern. You really screwed up with that one, Joey. Don't think for once second that Drew isn't going to get off this boat in August and drunk dial Sig. Good chatting with you anyways, bud.
Take care, everyone. Be safe and don't do anything that Mark wouldn't do on this glorious holiday. Happy Independence Day from Riddler, Dirty, Zeb, Guns, Hard Hat Boy, Shabba, and myself.
-The Supremes'
May 9, 2025 block island Fishing Report
2196
Wednesday, July 27th, 2011
Hi friends. We enjoyed a nice ride up the line last night and found ourselves in a position to do some rock cod drifts for a couple of hours this morning and we added some color to our fish holds by tagging some quality lingcods and reds. After a couple hours of codding, we busted a move offshore for the remainder of the day and found a few kelp paddies holding some nice Yellowtail and one had some Dorado swimming around on it. No great numbers but the fish we did capture were quality kelp paddy species. We had gorgeous weather all day by means of a flat ocean and sunny skies. It would've been nice to add some tuna to the mix but we're happy with our outcome as a whole.
So that's it. Chef Schooler kicked out a Fillet Oscar (Fillet Mignon topped with crab meat and Hollandaise sauce) dinner and the gang enjoyed the ride up. Our gratitude goes out to Mark Costello and the gang for being a superb group to have on-board and we'll see you in the future. Our ETA tomorrow is around 0700 in the morning and we'll be turning around and welcoming aboard Chappy and friends for another five day. We'll chat with you tomorrow after the turn-around. Take care.
-Team Supreme-
Tuesday, July 26th, 2011
Hi friends. Pretty much a repeat report from yesterday. Very good fishing on 18-25 lb. Yellowtail from 0730 this morning until around noon and then it shut off as did the current. We went looking around and found a couple deals of Yellows and added a few more to our count. With that said, we're finished with the Yellowtail area and we're motoring up the line to gain some latitude and finish up our trip tomorrow a little closer to home. There's not much to report other than the fishing has been outstanding for the past two mornings on quality 'tails and we're sitting fat and happy with our totals.
So that's it. Our weather is lovely and I'm sorry I don't have an awesome, wordy report to give to you. It's just been good fishing, good weather, and good people. Not much more to it. Pretty simple, just the way we like it. Take care.
-Team Supreme-
Monday, July 25th, 2011
Hello friends. Yellowtail fishing was top notch for us on the Supreme this morning. It started off on the drift for a few quality 'tails and a 45 lb. White Seabass landed by Trampas Costello. We decided to get the anchor down and once we got 'er hung, it was a steady pick on 18-25 lb. fish all the way until after lunch. Really a beautiful grade of fish and we couldn't be happier with our morning score. Once we lost our conditions, we pulled anchor and searched around for a while before we settled back into our "cow zone" and managed to hook a few and land a couple fish in the 35 lb. class before the sunset. Today was a great day of catching quality Yellowtail in the Baja sunshine and we'll be doing it again tomorrow, hoping for the same success. We're currently in the hot night-bite zone, hoping for a bunch more of those gorgeous Seabass and maybe a Yellowtail or two, we'll see. Wish us luck and we'll chat with you tomorrow.
-Team Supreme-
P.S. Leslie - Steve says hi and instead of a cruise, you two are coming out here next year.
Sunday, July 24th, 2011
Good evening everyone. Overall, today was a slow day but we did manage to catch some fish and we didn't go very long without seeing a spot of jumpers, hooking up on the troll, or stopping on a kelp. We caught a few 12 lb. Bluefin and managed to troll up a handful of 15-22 lb. Yellowfin tuna. All throughout the day, we saw Bluefin boilers until the late afternoon when we lost our water conditions so that's an encouraging sign to see so much fish spread out for miles and miles. Same story today for the fleet, slow fishing for most with the exception of a few token vessels getting lucky. One of these days, we'll be the lucky ones.
Although we saw a good amount of life, today was too slow of a pace to keep us around so we're making a move to do some Yellowtail fishing. We'll be there tomorrow morning, our weather is very favorable, and we'll chat with you tomorrow.
-Team Supreme-
Saturday, July 23rd, 2011
Hi friends. The seas are calm, the skies are clear, and the Supreme is back on the path after dropping off Paul Hess's group and picking up Mark Costello and his closest friends. We're loaded up a good supply of bait and when I say loaded, I mean loaded. We'll be giving the Bluefin area a check first thing in the morning as it sounds like that fishing out there is starting to take shape. It sounds like the lucky boats are getting a little bit luckier and the unlucky boats are still gathering up a few to boot. We'll be there to find out tomorrow and we'll make a decision on our next plan based on our morning. We'll chat with you tomorrow.
-Team Supreme-
May 4, 2025 block island Fishing Report
2360
May Luna-Sea Bendo at the Ranch
Afire with neon blue, the marlin shimmied and snaked its way into the wake and the spread, coming in dead off the starboard side. Everyone saw it at once and made noisy note.
"He's gonna eat it!" hollered Ben, holding the rod with the drop back bait, a small jack. It was already 30 feet back.
"He's eatin' it, he's eatin' it!" Ben swung on the fish, winding on the little silver reel, and the black rod bent hard. The marlin headed off right into the sun, back the way he'd come into the spread of trolled baits and lures.
Things got interesting in a hurry, with three men trying to use cameras, two men trying to get the rest of the trolled rigging out of the way before the fish fouled itself, and Ben, who was braced with one leg up on the rail, alternately pulling and winding on the fish.
It was a big cockpit, but at the moment there were traffic jams on both sides of the unused fighting chair. The marlin had disappeared off up past the deckhouse, but the skipper and John Ireland were shouting on the bridge that it had jumped.
When we got the invitation from Jack Nilsen of Accurate to join him at John Ireland's Rancho Leonero to do a product shoot, Paul Sweeney and I packed our cameras and our bags. We traveled light, with little fishing equipment, since I knew Jack would have plenty of reels. I brought a couple of my new Super Seeker rods and a bag of jigs and Mustad hooks for light tackle fishing May 20 to 22.
We taxied from Los Cabos airport, arriving at the beginning of a sweet tropical Sea of Cortez evening to enjoy three days of first-class style angling aboard Ireland's 50-foot Mikelson sportfisher Luna-Sea.
Rejoicing in the warm, light sea breeze, we saw the Ranch was lovely as ever, with improvements since our last visit a year ago. Ireland has renovated much, notably the bar/dining room, which has been opened up to be even more spacious and airy. For the first time, a wide-screen TV hangs on the wall at the far end of the bar, showing off a high-def satellite picture for those who want to keep up with things like the NBA conference finals.
Bartender Jorge and the rest of the staff were still there, so the place felt as homey as ever. A hurricane last year took out a couple of the wall-mounted fish hanging in the dining room, and I noticed the old lion skin was gone. But there was a new covering for part of the dining patio outside, and all the beds had been replaced with fancy new big pillow-top models, making for comfortable, healthy sleeping in the air-conditioned rooms and stone walled thatched bungalows.
There are several resorts at East Cape, and each has its own flavor and style, but I keep coming back to the Ranch because the place is smaller and more relaxed than most (Ireland calls it intimate), and it's set away from the rest of the resorts, up on a small headland that gets sea breeze from two sides. If you've got shade, the breeze keeps you cool at the Ranch, and the view flat out cannot be beat.
Food is good, and varied daily here. Wells tap plenty of cool, clean water, enough to keep the grounds so green the resort looks like a little paradise, where mountains and Baja desert meet miles of white beach and the deep blue waters of the Cortez.
Fishing begins about ten yards from the beach, and you seldom have to ride more than a very few miles before you can find something biting, like marlin, tuna, sailfish, dorado, snapper, roosterfish or two dozen other sporting species.
Jack Nilsen and Ben Secrest, Accurate vice president of sales and marketing, wanted Paul Sweeney and I to get video and stills of some new gear. They had three spinning reels: named 30, 20 and 12, and two-speed Boss conventional reels with them, from the tiny 197 up to the 665 series. They also had a new line of Accurate rods to match the reels, made from light, slender but strong high-modulus graphite. Accurate makes two-speed, (with and without the pre-set drag mechanism) twin-drag reels all the way up to the 130 International size, but for this event the gear was small, light and easy to handle.
Small doesn't mean little in terms of line strength, however. Most of the reels were loaded with 50 to 80-pound Spectra, with a short topshot of mono or fluorocarbon, a leader that could be easily changed to match the targeted species. Our first morning of fishing was spent catching snapper and cabrilla, which were plentiful just a quarter mile from the portable loading pier where anglers board their pangas and cruisers each day around seven a.m.
Several types of snappers are available here, and some get so large they can be a serious challenge on heavy tackle. Snapper are about the only game fish I've caught that are even better at getting into the rocks as yellowtail. On this morning I got a couple on my new 665 F Super Seeker with an 870 N two-speed Accurate and two with the light version of Jack's new spinning outfit.
Fish were thick on this rockpile. We found plenty of Pargo Amarillo, or yellowtail snapper of two to six pounds. They bit best on 20 to 30-pound mono and a 1/0 hook. I like to use a ringed Mustad circle hook for this type of fishing, and with a larger bait, I'd size up the hook. The local guides make their own ringed hooks by tying a loop or perfection knot, which gives the bait a similar mobility.
Pargo and their cabrilla buddies bit well on sardinas. These baitfish look very much like western herring or eastern pilchard, with a single dark spot aft center of the gill plate like the row of spots that run down the sides of sardines. The guides suggest stunning the bait, to make it easier for the snappers to run down. I tried baits both ways, stunned and not stunned, and found the guides knew what they were talking about, though I also caught a couple of snapper on speedy, unimpeded baits.
After we were done with the snapper and cabrilla we moved southward, and Ben and Jack made some deep drops in 200 to 300 feet with knife jigs, which produced whitefish and a bright orange-red popeye catalufa. It could have been a glasseye, but I can't tell the difference. They had outfits set up for the purpose.
We tried slow-trolling mullet for roosterfish next, off the lighthouse at Punta Area. We got one looker but no takers. Two anglers in a skiff showed us a 30-pound yellowfin they said they had caught right there, but we saw no tuna sign. This is a great place to find jack crevalle, but on our days here those fish didn't show. Many shore anglers love this place for its proximity to deep water. A determined beach fisherman might manage to hook a marlin or a tuna here because of the drop-off and the currents circulating up to the sandy spit.
We spent the rest of our time fishing for marlin, so we could document the use of the new light Accurate gear on larger, more powerful fish. That first afternoon, we drew a blank.
The next day, we could sense a change coming, as the breeze picked up a bit earlier, from the east-southeast. It died and then went to the south. We trolled live mullet, rigged dead ballyhoo, and skirted jigs. During the afternoon, we raised two marlin. Both came into the spread, but refused. Just shopping.
On our last day there was a big change. The breeze came up shortly after dawn, and reached 15 or 20 knots, out of the south. The palms around the pool pointed their fronds downwind, and whitecaps danced over a sloshy chop.
"It's going to lay down," predicted both owner John Ireland and foreman Gary Barnes-Webb. We boarded Ireland's Luna-Sea again. Not knowing what to expect, we moved off toward the waters a few miles out from the lighthouse, where we'd come close to billfish the day before.
As predicted, the breeze lay down. But that didn't help the fishing. The water smoothed off, but we couldn't see a fish anywhere, not even the jumpers we'd been watching and chasing the past two days.
Before lunch, the wind suddenly picked up again. Within an hour, the cobalt Cortez was capped with white as far as you could see. The chop got up to three or four feet in a jiffy. If we'd been in a panga it would have been dangerous to fish. In a small cruiser it would have been uncomfortable. On the 50-foot Luna-Sea we weren't much affected, although we sometimes lurched a bit in a head sea. I enjoyed my lunch of a dried beef burrito and a ham and cheese sandwich, with chips, an apple and a diet cola.
The breezy, choppy, sloppy conditions made a marlin miracle. We started seeing tailers, jumpers, even feeders in the white-capped blue waves. It wasn't long before that first one took that dropped-back bait. Ben Secrest worked the fish over while our skipper Gaspar ran the boat to his best advantage. The new Accurate outfit Ben fished with worked just like it should, putting pressure on the striper, picking up any slack with its high-speed gear ratio, while Ben shifted to make the most of any situation.
Paul kept the Sony HD camcorder winding, recording on tape while Ben was winding line, and three cameramen worked around each other on the deck as Jack shot his photos from the bridge. It was only 10 or 12 minutes before Secrest had the marlin whipped enough to get it boatside for a release. We all celebrated, and began to relax; our mission was at least partly accomplished.
We kept seeing marlin tailing and we sidled up to many to show them the goods, but the wind slacked off and they seemed to lose interest accordingly. Then there was a long period, maybe an hour without a sighting. I napped in Ireland's leather-lined salon, on a long sofa-seat at the table.
I awoke to shouting. Another fish had come in for a nibble, but we missed him. I went out on the after deck to see the wind had picked up again. We began to see more marlin, some jumping in the distance, a few feeding and slashing at the choppy surface, and more tailing downwind. We were about out of time, said Ireland, who needed to host at home that evening.
Then we hung another fish. Secrest had it on a lighter outfit, and this one looked to be a bit bigger. It gave us little aerial show, and like the other fish, seemed to want to sidle off up toward the bow, across the wind and chop. Backing into the chop brought water splashes up over the transom, and soon Ben was soaked on his front side, but in control of the fish. A couple of turns by the skipper and Ben's hard pulling had the marlin up to the boat, where all the shooters tried to get a shot before it was released. It was over before I could get in there.
Moments later we got one more bite, and LA County fireman-engineer Wayne Shimabukuro played the fish for a moment before it freed itself. We had what we needed, and it was late in the afternoon. We saw more than 40 marlin. We tried to present to at least eight of them. We had some good looks, a couple of whacks, and Ben got a brace of beaks to the boat. It was a satisfaction.
The ice chest produced cold bottles of Pacifico beer and limes. We toasted our good fortune as skipper Gaspar pointed the big Mikelson downwind and north toward The Ranch. The ride flattened out and the wake wave rose nearly to the height of the transom.
The shadow of the big bridge kept us in the shade as we kicked back to enjoy a smooth ride, thanks to Jack Nilsen and John Ireland, and the end of a good adventure.
Weekly Fishing Reports
Fishing reports for block island are updated each week, usually by
Thursday morning. The reports are compiled by an outside contractor who receives the
information from bait shops, marinas and fishing guides.
