dead lake Fishing Report 2025

The Annual SFR charter aboard the Apollo with Captain J.J Gerritsen and crew was a big success !! The Apollo is running out of Sea Landing on beautiful Santa Barbara Harbor, the closest harbor to the outer Channel Islands. Great weather meant an ideal cruise over to San Miguel Island for some of the finest shallow water rockfishing you'll find anywhere. 300 feet down you say, maybe 200, how about 100 feet ? No way. The offshore terrain around San Miguel is so rugged and marked with underwater pinnacles, we spent most of the day fishing in 25 to 90 feet of water. Lighter rigs, jigs, leadheads and swimbaits were the order of the day, and the San Miguel rockfish were in a hungry mood. We started catching fish before daybreak and spent the rest on the trip hauling up huge reds, chuckles and lings, all sporting some of the most vibrant colors I've seen on any fish in a long time. Awesome day!! We limited out on huge rockfish, slammed about 50-60 grumpy whitefish, 5-6 huge goats and 16 or so pre-historic looking lings before calling it a trip. Epic day !!!! The jackpot was a nail biter as Shawn Suhr's huge lingcod and Art Moralez's giant goat battled to a near dead heat. Captain J.J needed to come down and settle the score, with the final vote went going to Shawn's 12-13 pound ling. Great job Shawn. Captain J.J and his crew did an awesome job as always and the Apollo is looking as spotless as ever. The Apollo will be in Santa Barbara till around mid May before moving down to Fisherman's Landing in San Diego. Call Sea Landing at 1-805-963-3564 or log onto www.apollocharters.com for their schedule. Great trip everyone !!!. email me at [email protected] for any photos. Thats the word on the water. Don

~~July 17
  We had another great day today.  Stoked.  Things didn't start off so great though.  Nope.  Before 11:00 am things weren't so hot  We only had a few fish on board.  Things have been different at this place everyday.  We just needed to figure it out.  And we did.  We figured it out.  For the next few hours we picked away.  One here, two there kind of thing with an occasional flury.  Around two though things got busy.  For the next few hours we were pulling on 14-25 pound yellows with 5-6 going all the time.  I was just sitting up here in the wheel house with crew member Justin and we were reflecting on how much fun it was.  We had a good day.  Fish hold number 2 is full now. 

  We're going to hang tight on the anchor tonight and start off here in the morning.  We wouldn't mind getting another taste of this before we see what other shananagans(still haven't found the spell check on here) we can get into next.  We're thinking we"ll hunt for trophies and make Halibut drifts in the afternoon.  Trophies being the 40-50 pound model yellowtails.  I'll tell you about it tomorrow.
         

We departed today on the "Let's Talk Hook-up" charter with Rock Cod Rick and 21 anglers. Things sound very promising on the albacore grounds so that is where we are headed. The weather is sloppy and we are hoping it will lay down. Tune in tomorrow for an update.

Captain Mike Pritchard just checked in to report that Captain Jake found a school of Bluefin Tuna off the bank and they are up to 18 fish right now. Stay tuned ...

The day started in the dark with some great fishing on quality yellowtail. After daybreak we still had good fishing on the school grade yellowtail with an 18 lb. average until noontime. And then the afternoon took a powder and we couldn't find anything to catch. The weather offshore is rough but we are hiding behind an island and are in good weather. Dinner was a tasty Cornish game hen, fresh veggies, wild rice and a really good hot brownie pudding cake. Thanks for checking in. Tommy and crew

The guys have called in with 11 bluefin from 40-80 lbs for 24 anglers . They still have plenty of time to fish. Stay tuned.

Good morning everyone, Just finished off loading our bounty from our beck five day charter, and man what a trip! I would like to thank Joe Beck for again putting together another successful trip. Year after year we always look forward to taking you guys out! Today we depart on our Sadie Hawkins 3 day trip. A great 3 day filled with many great fisherman and lady anglers. We just cleared the point and are excited to get fishing! Will report tonight, Team Supreme

Tommy Rothery docked Polaris Supreme at Fisherman's Landing October 5 following a five-day trip. "We had full speed fishing today offshore on kelp patties," read the report from the boat for October 4. "However for the most part, the yellowtail and dorado we were catching were small. So we released all but a few. We did however get some nice grade yellowfin. No big hits, but good action as we picked away at 30 lb. yellowfin. Jeff prepared a great Cajun chicken with avocado, mozzarella and fresh salsa for lunch. And as we head in tonight he is serving us steak and lobster. We will hit the dock tomorrow morning at 8:00 am. "If you are thinking of coming out fishing we still have some open spots with Larry Brown on his 10-day departing October 25th. Highly sponsored with lots of raffles and giveaways. Give Susan a call at 619-390-7890." Jackpot winner Kenny Pole of Lakeside had a dandy 45-pound tuna for first place. He said it came on a sardine, a 2/0 ringed Super Mutu hook, 50-pound Yo-Zuri line on a TLD 30 reel and a six-foot rod of unknown make. Pole said the fish fought for 45 minutes.