dean river 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

Rolling down on the Ranta trip! Grease calm seas here rolling down on the Ranta 6 day trip. We had a great day of rigging, and are ready for action tomorrow. We may have a little wind this evening but it should subside by about 1 am for us. We start fishing tomorrow. Wish us luck!

Polaris Supreme docked under owner-skipper Tom Rothery's hand June 26, after a five-day trip with 24 anglers for yellowtail and albacore. Tom weighed the fish at the certified scales at Fisherman's Landing, where a 48-pound yellowtail took top honors.
Terry Emmert of Douglas, WY had the first-place winner. "I got him in about 15 minutes," he said. "He just kept pulling and pulling, and he kept getting into a stringer of floating kelp. He's my best yellowtail ever." Emmert said he fished a sardine on the flyline, using a 3/0 Mustad 91450 hook on 40-pound P-Line. He had an Okuma 20 two-speed reel and a Seeker Black Steel 6470 rod, wrapped by Bill Boyce. Michael Giardino of San Pedro was second, for a 43-pound yellowtail, and Mal Wagstaff of Douglas, WY was third, for a 36.2-pound yellowtail. Three generations of Pattersons were aboard, and they posed with their fish. Liam Patterson of San Jose is eight, and he goes to Santa Teresa Elementary School, where he practices karate. Liam caught some big yellowtail, and he also got and posed with a 24.4-pound albacore, which will serve to start off this season's tally for the largest fish of that species.

Liam's dad Lane stood in with the boy, as did John Danis and John Patterson, also of San Jose and from the Patterson family.

13 bluefin(20-80lbs) 3 yellowfin. Locating a school that wanted to stick around the boat was challenging but we managed to scratch a few.]

Capt Ryan Bostain checked in from the San Diego the 3/4 day boat out Seaforth Sportfishing, we just finished up our second trip of the year. And boy was it a good one, we had Mexican limits of 110 Yellowtail for our 22 anglers. Most fish were caught on the yoyo jig, we did get some on the surface irio but you had to wotk hard for the surface bite. To get out with us give us a call at the landing at 619-224-3383 or go to www.seaforthlanding.com and reserve your spots. All the 3/4 day boats down in the zone got limits today. Come on down and get in on the action.

 We are implementing a new satellite buoy tracking system to better assist us with re finding productive kelp patties and other floating debris that may hold fish! 

Check it out:

https://www.facebook.com/longrangefishing/videos/2239378316087165/

Captain Ryan from the SAN Diego checked in. 38 Passengers 131 Yellowtail, 21 Calp Bass, 5 Barracudda. Reel good action right on top.  We fish everyday!

Captain Ryan Bostian called in tonight with an audio update from the San Diego out of Seaforth Sportfishing in Mission Bay, CA. We have been fishing down the beach and the Yellowtail are biting really good on the surface iron and fly-lined baits. Today we had 51 anglers catch 240 Yellowtail (10 to 25 pounds). It's been a fun couple of weeks. Don't miss out on this opportunity. We fish every day and depart at 5:30 AM.