florida Fishing Report 2023

Tommy Rothery docked his Polaris Supreme at Fisherman's Landing August 22 after the season's best tuna trip to Guadalupe Island. There were 24 anglers aboard the first Dan Heil Memorial trip. "I felt like he was there with us," said son and chartermaster Ron Heil. "He would have really enjoyed this trip." Tuna fishing was excellent for the group, so much so that Rothery was able to give the spot up to Art Taylor and the Searcher. "We had plenty of tuna," said Tom, "all we needed. The sharks got some of them." Steve Patterson of Grants Pass won first place for a 103-pound yellowfin. "My best tuna ever," he said. Patterson used a sardine on a 4/0 ringed Gorilla hook tied to 40-pound P-Line and 65-pound Izorline Spectra backing, on an Avet LX reel and a Rogue Rod of seven feet. "He slaughtered me," added Patterson. "I couldn't get my new rod off the rail. He tore up the cork and the diamond wrap." Don Pieper of Arroyo Grande was second for a 72.6-pounder, and Buddy Bales of Spokane, WA won third place, for a 72.2-pound yellowfin tuna. The season's 12th wahoo from Guadalupe was included in the catch.

Hello everyone, 

fishing down south is on fire right now. Lots of 20-40 lb tuna, Dorado, Wahoo, Yellowtail, and even big Grouper! 

Here is a monster 122 lb Gulf Grouper caught on the last 8 day! It ate a whole skipjack tuna for bait! 

There are only a few more spots open on the remaining 7 and 8 day trips. Jump on while they are biting!

Look forward to seeing you soon, 

Team Supreme

Tuesday, April 9th, 2013

Hi friends. Yes, don't adjust your monitors, it is a live report from the long-range vessel Polaris Supreme. After a good week of maintenance (except for making sure our Sirius radio properly functioned) and cleaning, we departed Fisherman's Landing this morning at 0700 hours for a 17-day excursion with Mr. Tom Pfleger and friends. After loading a couple of hundred scoops of sardines, we cleared the point at 1000 hours and as anyone who knows a thing or two about weather and sea conditions in San Diego -- or any coastal Southern California area -- knows that our ride out this morning was rather sporty. We hadn't even cleared the point and the circus ensued.

The first day of a new season is always comical for us "seasoned" crew members. It's one of the funniest days of the year for me, that's the truth. Eight veteran, long-range mariners stumble and tumble their way about the boat like the time a baby takes its first step - banging into walls, tripping over their own boots and heck, a few of us even fought the urge to vomit. Granted, the weather was less than ideal but this happens on the ride to the bait receivers sometimes, let alone rockin' and rollin' in a confused sea a mile from them. Even with all of the flubs and flounders of the first few hours of being back on the boat, we're alive and if you know us, we're going to be just fine. I never really appreciated such an event before; going back out on our first crazy adventure of the year with my older brothers and that is exactly what we are - a family, and we're all back and ready to do this.

Since I have the time, I'll fill y'all in on the status of my previously mentioned "family" members. Riddler is doing just fine; he's switched from white Air Monarch Nike's to all black Nike's which he sometimes pairs with black socks - which looks amazing, by the way. Drew got married in November and then hurt his thumb in a roller-blading accident. As a few of you whom where at the Fred Hall show might have heard, Gunny's daughter was in a car accident but other than a few "minor" injuries, she's doing just fine and will make a full recovery. Jed didn't hurt himself this winter so we're pumped to have him healthy for a full season - although, we do have some time-in once we complete this trip so there is still time for his fingers to hurt but we're hopeful he'll be just fine come June. Mark only looks three and a half months pregnant rather than his usual eight and a half months preggo and his son was accepted in St. Joseph's law school, so that's dandy. Chefs' Schooler and Shawn are great and yours truly is doing fantastic - here and ready to do some bronzing after my Guatemalan bronze-a-thon a week ago peeled off the other day. Bottom line, we couldn't be better. We're pumped to be back.

Anyhow, today was nothing to write home about other than traveling and napping but we figured that we'd do so anyways. I can't reveal all of our secrets of all the fun we're going to have on this trip but I'll give you just a tiny glimpse of the craziness that we're about to take part in: on-board we have low-carb ice cream, Yellowtail roe, a paddle, a 12-volt motorized reel, and a man by the name of "Cowboy". I'll leave the rest to your wild imaginations. Good night now.

-The Supreme Team

P.S. We miss you, Chugey, and your bicycle-kick wake-ups.

We have four spots available on this weekends 1.5 day trip. The ticket cost is $260 which includes Mexican permit and travel visa this trip departs at 6 PM on Friday the 21st, and returns on Sunday the 23rd in the morning. Please contact Jodie at 858-220-1593, or [email protected]

Today was filled with a lot of action and success. We had a lot of bites but also many shark casualties as well. Our solution pull until the line breaks or the fish is on the boat. In the process we were able to rule out certain 1/0 hooks that were not strong enough for the tuna we are catching and learn how hard we could truly pull on these fish.

From the hustle we were able to boat enough fish to make this our best day thus far, and stream line our gear selection.

Pictured here is Sophie and Windy with two big tuna that were successfully hustled from the sharks on the right gear.

Hopefully tomorrow has similar results!

 

Yesterday morning the fishing was great, but mid-day the fish went down. About 4pm we were back into some great action on the albacore and smaller grade blue fin. We also had some really nice hits on the yellowtail. Our weather yesterday and today is good. Today started slow with only a handful of albacore and bluefin. However the yellowtail fishing is fantastic! Thanks for checking in. Tommy and crew

Today we enjoyed the calm comforts of the island. We scratched all day on nice quality yellowfin tuna. All in the 35-45 lb range. There were larger ones that were hooked but the the great whites had their way with us. Some anglers lost as many as two in the 60lb class due to the toothy critters. It was a good show and pretty impressive to see a 12-16' great white eat a 60 lb tuna in a couple of bites. We also had some pretty impressive bites as our dinner was an excellent Parmesan encrusted yellowtail with rice pilaf and a mixture of zucchini, mushrooms and onions. Tomorrow morning we will give it one more shot here. Thanks! Tommy and crew

14 bluefin 9 yellowfin 1 yellowtail 1 bonito. Saw enough fish to get a big hit but unfortunately they were not in the mood today. We did see more plus sized models in the mix. We recommend 40lb-60lb line for all techniques.