fraser river sturgeon Fishing Report 2025

Friday, May 11, 2012

Hi friends. Our week consisted of us mainly preparing for the final major painting projects to be completed. We completed the necessary steps for the bait tank and bus stop to receive a new paint job. Tomorrow, Jamie and myself will be down at the boat to scuff up the first coat of gloss, wipe down, and hang out as the painters finish up the final coat. We'll have Sunday off and then on Monday, it'll be time to hustle up and get the boat back in the water. A few other chores on the list before we say farewell to Knight & Carver Yacht Center include sanding the rails to be refinished at another time, put the liferafts back on the boat, install all the new zincs and pray the we're back in the water Tuesday or Wednesday. Drew, Tommie, Mark, Jamie and myself are really looking forward to getting the boat back in the water and once back at the docks, our dirtiest chores are pretty much over and all the remains are little "knick knack" cosmetic things, putting the new freezer box on the upper deck, painting the deck, refinishing the rails and a few mechanical repairs. We're starting to see light at the end of the tunnel and it's a beautiful sight.

In other news, Jed went under the knife on Thursday to have his tendon repaired in his thumb and all went well and from what he said, it will be six to eight weeks of recovery time followed by some physical therapy. Jed's doing just fine and here's to a speedy recovery to have him back on the boat sometime in August.

With that, our weekend is looking good for some relaxation, Clippers/Lakers game sevens, Kings/Coyotes hockey and the Gator By the Bay festival at Spanish Landing in San Diego Bay. We hope you all enjoy your weekend as well. Take care everyone!

Fishing was excellent today. Most of the tuna were 70-125 lbs. they started biting in the gray and continued just until dark. We released all of them except Al kept a 197 lb. tuna and Craig kept one that was 187 lbs. We also had a few wahoo mixed in. Weather is gorgeous. We are going to give it a try again tomorrow. Lunch was Chili Colorado, hors d'oeuvres were shrimp, crab claws and sashimi. Dinner was tuna Baja (that's a tuna fillet split and stuffed with avocado and crab meat with a sweet teriyaki ginger sauce to top it off).

Saturday, July 7th, 2012

Hi friends. Nothing like a two-day trip, pulling on 50-75 lb. Bluefin tuna beyond normal two-day ranges. It just goes to show the value of these two-day trips leaving around noon, fishing all day the next day and then arriving back to San Diego in the late morning. Everything worked out for us on this trip and while fishing for the majority of the boats out here was tough (lots of schools were located but did not bite), we got lucky and found a really nice school of those beautiful Bluefin tuna's. We drifted all afternoon on this particular school and if you wanted a chance to hook one of these trophies, it wasn't rocket science to do so. It was some good fishing for a while there and although our casualties were high, we managed a very healthy score on the Bluefin along with a few "Cedros-grade" Yellowtail off of a kelp. We somehow managed to give every angler on-board the experience of a five-day trip in one day. Just going to show everyone, the advantage of these two-day trips.

So that is all. We'll be arriving to San Diego tomorrow around 1100 hours and we'll be taking a few days off before we get back on a couple of short range trips. Be sure to be on the lookout for more of these two-day trips in the near future. Thanks for checking in.

~~Aug 5
 The pressure is off.  We never made it down to any Island today like we planned.  At about 9 am or so the sonar went clunk, clunk and we went sideways for an hour.  It wasn't the best grade but it definitely wasn't the worst.  It was this years middle grade. 8-14 pounds with a sprinkling of 16-22 pounders in the mix.  Like I said, not the best but not the 2-6 pounders either.  But for a stressed out 4 day captain, it was lovely.  They bit good for about an hour and then they backed off.  After that we dedicated ourselves to that zone.  We figured that school of 14-25 pounders was just right over there.  It wasn't.  We didn't see another school of tuna.  However, we did find a nice kelp loaded up with big yellowtail.  They bit really well for a while too.  In fact , they were on the corner like tuna get on the corner for a good 20 minutes and when they backed off the corner, they still bit good for a while.  Other then that though we didn't see much other then the occasional small tuna on the trolling jigs but we're stoked for what we got today.  The pressure is off.

 We're going to stick with the plan and spend tomorrow at an Island hopefully drifting for hours.  The weather has finally backed off after a couple weeks of blowing.  Hopefully we get some descent weather for a nice long stretch and can get back to fishing where we please when we please.
     

~~
July 11
 The morning started off so promisingly. We had plans to haul butt down to the lower grounds where there had been some good kelping but we got stopped short. The setup was epic. We had a 1-2 degree water temp break, and we were instantly catching fish. They were mostly small yellowfin. There was a sprinkling of 15-20+ pound tuna in there but most were throwbacks. But it felt like the school of straight bigs was right off the bow. We found a nice kelp and caught a dozen nice yellows and some more of that small tuna with a sprinkle, and again, we felt like it was soon coming. It never came. We stayed very busy but unfortunately it was mostly that throwback yellowfin. Eventually we gave up on what we thought was our honey hole and we never found much else the rest of the day. The lower zone produced enough for the couple boats that were down there so we're going to start down there tomorrow.

 

 

 

The weather was great most of the day. It got a bit breezy late but hopefully that comes down tomorrow.
 

Hello everyone, Today was the last day of our SImpatico 5 day charter. We decided to try our hand again at these Bluefin Tuna. The weather was choppy and it was uncomfortable for everyone. We only scratched up a couple of small tuna during the day. It wasn't until the evening that we found a school that wanted to play. We got our shot right before dark on a school right at the buzzard, at the end of the day. The fish were from 25 to 80 lbs, a nice mixed school to bring aboard and save the day! We had a great drift until dark, and we were excited to get the action in. What a great way to finish a great trip! An unbelievable variety on this trip including White Seabass, Halibut, Yellowtail, Dorado, Yellowfin Tuna, and even a 141lb Bluefin Tuna! Also I would like to thank Charter master Vernon Burke for putting together such a fun charter with a great group of guys! Always look forward to the trip and cant wait till next year! Out again for a 2 day tomorrow. Wish us luck, Team Supreme

Capt Mike Pritchard called in for the Tribute, absolutely excellent Bluefin Tuna fishing again today. We ended the day with 136 Bluefin Tuna, 36 Yellowtail and 82 giant Bonito, we had very success with the kite today. We are going to continue with our trips as long as these fish are around, we can let it go! We are changing some of our weekend trips and now will be headed out to either Cortez Banks or Tanner Banks where ever the Bluefin are. You can go to our website at www.seaforthsportfishing.com or call the landing at 619-224-3383. You can also go to www.tributesportfishing.com and sign up. Please check out Facebook page at Tribute Sportfishing and see the pictures from recent trips. Lets keep this going!

Thursday, October 4th, 2012

Hi friends. I don't know what's going on with me, it's like the fish just elude us in the morning time and around lunchtime, people start to get very down about our fishing day, myself included. We had a horrible morning. A boat just a few miles from us got on a kelp and had good fishing on bluefin, yellowfin, and dorado. Okay, maybe that means that we're in the right area. Nope. We went in all kinds of different directions only to find a boat already on a kelp catching fish or a boat already working the area. Very frustrating. Around lunch time, the mood on deck was starting to sour and the mood in the wheelhouse was the exact opposite of laughing babies, sunflowers, and Labrador puppies. It was straight death. I was pretty sure that I was about to lose my turkey caesar salad all over the dash and that would've been the highlight of my day up to that point. Yep, it was that bad. But as our boss's old boss, Steve Loomis, used to say, "west is best."

So I made the decision -- we're going to head west all day until we don't see a boat on the radar or we fall off the earth. As I was checking my water temperature charts, looking at the next area where I was sure that I was going to go and find another boat or non-biting fish, it happened. Not the sound of a single fish popping on the sonar or the mast-man yelling at me to rotate trollers, but the sound of a school -- a gigantic school -- on the sonar. I flipped from the computer screen to the sonar screen, throttled back the mains, and spun the wheel hard to starboard. In the excitement of the moment, I managed to tangle up the chord for the gyros in the wheel as I was spinning too (sweet), so I'm yelling in the P.A. system, chasing down the school, and trying to untangle the chord all at the same time and just like that, the school is off the edge of the screen, swimming away with my heart.

As I sit looking at a blank sweep of the sonar for a few seconds and the thoughts of ripping the wheelhouse chair from its base and throwing it out the window, I finally realize that Jed is screaming down at me from the mast. He was screaming profanities, but not directed towards me, at least not directly. His screams read something along this line, and I'll clean it up for everyone at home, "they're f-ing shinning!!" Bingo, as I came back around, the sonar lit up once again right in front of the boat and after a few seconds -- which seemed like a century -- the fathometer ran red. Oh my gosh, they're under us, thick! I can't remember if I cursed when I called for the bait to rain down on the school after we stopped the boat but I apologize to our anglers if I did. In all honesty, I don't think they could hear me on the P.A. as everyone was screaming their heads off as well and after shutting down the mains and running out to the back deck, the most beautiful sight I could've seen was right before my very eyes; fishing boiling everywhere and all the rods bent over. Sonny Jim!

We drifted with that school of five hours and after the initial rush where they were biting sixty pound line for a couple of hours, we kept two to five going for the remainder of the stop. We finished the drift with 120 bluefin tuna (limits) in the 15-30 lb. class and 40 yellowfin tuna in the 12-18 lb. class. Like I said before, Sonny Jim!

So there you have it. A day in the life of a sport-boat captain. It's life of stressing like you're a lady of the night in church and then in the blink of an eye, you're the fireman carrying out the baby from the house fire to place it into the loving arms of it's mother. Here you go, ma'am.

-The Supreme Team