captain chucks Fishing Report 2025

Skipper JJ Gerritsen returned with his Apollo to Fisherman's Landing November 21, after an eight-day, ultra-limited trip. The boat's ten passengers fished Guadalupe Island before taking off for Magdalena Bay to fish big tuna on their final day. "All of our long range trips are ultra-limited," said JJ. "It takes away competition factors, we won't do more than ten passengers. We got limits of yellowfin, Guadalupe's been great our last six trips, but we did something different this time; we headed out for a shot at these big ones. All of our fish are kept in refrigerated saltwater, so they still look great." Matt Bowland of Encinitas took home the best tuna; a 224-pound yellowfin that fought "long and hard." Matt used a 6/0 Owner ringed Super Mutu hook, on an 80-pound P-Line topshot, 100-pound Spectra, a Tiagra 30 reel and a Calstar Grafighter 765 H rod. "I butt-hooked the sardine," said Matt. "The fight lasted two and a half hours." Drew Card of San Diego was second with a 196-pound tuna, and Craig Biddick of Rancho Santa Fe was third for a 164-pounder.

Mike Pritchard called in with this wrap up report for the Tribute on their 1.5 Day trip. "We had very good fishing again today. Limits of Yellowfin tuna, limits of Yellowtail and some nice weather to go with it.

"We will be departing on a 1 Day trip tomorrow night. There are still spots available so if you're interested call Seaforth Landing at 619-224-3383."

~~Sep. 22
 We had a slow day.  And there's no sugar coating it.  There's no let's let you decide if it was slow.  It just was, and unfortunately for this trip we don't have another day to make it right.  There was a one hour window where if you were in the right place at that time and found a school you were in for a good bite but that was few and far between and unfortunately we weren't the few.  We scratched a little in the morning, found a dandy school before lunch that let us catch a few handfuls before swimming away, and we found a stretch of and area this afternoon that we thought we were going to make something happen, we found three kelps in a row with tuna on them but they would only boil around and not bite except for a few. 

 On the plus side our weather today was fantastic.  If you're going to have a slow day fishing, it's a whole lot better doing it in good weather than in bad weather.  I also saw alot more of San Clemente Island than I ever have before.  I now know more about the looks of the island itself and the bottom structure of it.  We're headed in now and we're turning around again tomorrow for 2 more days.

 And one last thing.  I'm not going to mention it because I only heard this second hand and I don't want to start a rumor if it's not true but a sport boat out here today caught a wahoo.  Now once again I'm not going to mention it, but one boat, maybe the Prowler caught a wahoo.  I'm not going to start a false rumor so I'm not saying anything.
       

9 yellowtail and plenty of shallow water white meat. Private charter tomorrow then back to open party Tuesday-Thursday.

~~July 16
   
  We had a very very good day today.  Stoked.  We got in the water we were looking for around nine this morning and it wasn't an hour before we found our first school.  We plunked away for a couple hours and when things slowed down, we got the call from our buddy Brian on the American Angler who was drifting a mile or so upswell of us and he was on the boomer school so we went over and gave him a hand.  About an hour later another boat showed up and we took a break.  I sent everyone in for lunch while myself and the crew got the deck under control and fired up another fish hold.  After lunch we went on the hunt again and found another deal, and then another but by that time most of the anglers were now spectators.  An hour before dark we found another good school and we may have had 5 or 6 people fishing all with a bent rod.  That's what we call a very very good day.

  We're off to Cedros Island.  We'll be there prior to daylight and we hope for some good yellowtail action for the next couple of days.
           

We have a 1.5 day trip this weekend aboard the new boat Pride. Berkley,Penn, and other companies will be on the boat with raffles and giveaways for each passenger. Penn with be raffling off a torque reel!! The price is $180.00 includes your mexican permit! Limited load to 16 passengers. Call me at 858-220-1593.

Today we caught 2 yellowfin tuna and did not like what we saw offshore. We are going back to the islands starting tomorrow. Bring a 25 or 30 lb flyline setup and a 40 or 50 lb yoyo setup. Passports required !

Captain Ryan Bostian of The San Diego checked in. Had steady gamefish action all day long. We caught 107 Yellowtail and 98 Bonita!