kernville Fishing Report 2024

Nice day for the boys. 

Thanks for the amazing response to the OPEN Shimano Charters we scheduled for the Channel Islands this spring. The response was so positive that I spoke with the folks at Shimano and they agreed to put another trip on line. This one will be set for fishing on March 13. That would be departing at 9pm on the night of the 12th. This trip will be just like the others. Shimano will provide a bunch of outfits for fishing butterfly and lucanus systems. There will be give aways of tackle and goodies as well. Please email me if you would like to join us on this trip.

Hi Gang

There are now an even 50 of you on this update list plus 8 of our P.R. guys. Hopefully I will have it figured out so I can also send it from the boat starting next Friday when I get back on. It will be a different email address and going through the Sat phone address, so don't send me large files to the boat. Anyways, lets get at it.

Yesterday only one boat remained in the hot area in some pretty crappy weather, and to his credit he kicked the heck out of the bluefin and yellowfin. Equal scores of limits for each. Drew will be there early afternoon. The weather is beautiful again. And as we know these tunas REALLY want to bite when the weather lays down. I'll send you out an update when I talk to him this afternoon. Hope you're having a fun Sunday.

Tommy

The Apollo is scheduled to run 1.5 Day Baja Rockfish trips. We are scheduled every weekend in February. You can book online via the Fisherman's Landing website or call the landing directly at (619) 221-8500.

Everybody is relaxing as we travel home in good weather.

Tom Rothery brought his Polaris Supreme home to Fisherman's Landing January 11 after a 16-day trip to the Hurricane Bank and the Southern Banks of Baja. There were seven anglers on the annual George Davis expedition, and they produced ten more cows for the record.

In his report from the boat on Friday January 2, Tom reported a good day of fishing.

"Yes, now this is what I'm talking about," he wrote. "We finally got a break in the weather. It is beautiful and we have left Hurricane Bank. We are now heading to the upper banks. We will be there tomorrow night. Yesterday was an ok day of fishing. George kept a 219 and released a 185. Jeremy released a 140.

"Craig kept a 205 and by the way that was a mistake yesterday. Craig kept a 210 pounder. Al kept a 100 for his buddies that are going to Ennis hunting. They are going to open pit barbeque it on a spit like a pig. Now, that sounds interesting. ‚Д®

"Charlie released a 125 and Scott released a 140. Each day we also had five to 12 fish that we caught that were under 100 pounds and were not mentioned. These all were released.

"Yesterday we also had good wahoo fishing. Jeremy and Craig both caught 4 and Gunnar and Al got 3. Everybody else had a couple a piece. Overall the trip to Hurricane Bank has been very good with eight tuna over 200 pounds, and excellent wahoo fishing."

Chartermaster George Davis of San Dimas won the jackpot while catching four cows. His tuna weighed 241.8, 219.8, 213.6 and 208 pounds. The big one came on squid on the kite, he said.

George fished with 7/0 Mustad 7691 hooks, 130-pound Momoi line and 130-pound Line One Spectra on a Penn 70 VSW reel and a Calstar 655 XXH rod. He said the big one came to gaff in just 20 minutes.

Allen Tokunaga of North Hollywood won second place for a 224.6-pounder.

"These Hurricane Bank fish seemed a little tougher than the ones on the inside," he remarked. "This one took me 40 minutes. He went around the boat a couple of times, and then came up on the port side of the stern."

Al fished a sardine on an 8/0 Eagle Claw hook, on 130-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon leader, 100-pound P-Line and 130-pound Izorline Spectra. He used a Penn 50 reel modified by Cal Sheets and a Calstar 6465 XXH rod.

Scott Brown of Costa mesa won third place for his 213.2-pounder. He also got a 202.6-pounder. He fished a small jack under the kite on a 9/0 Mustad 7691 hook. He used 130-pound Momoi line and 130-pound Izorline Spectra on a Penn 70 VSW reel and a Calstar 655 XXH rod.

"The big one was a 20-minute fish," he remarked. "He came to the boat pretty good."

One big tuna was eaten by the passengers and crew while the boat was still fishing. It was a 215-pounder caught by Craig Johnston of Costa Mesa, who also got a 204-pounder. Craig said he got them on the kite, on double sardine baits pinned to 7/0 Mustad 7691 hooks. He fished with a 130-pound Momoi topshot on 130-pound Izorline Spectra, with a Penn 70 VSW reel and a Calstar 655 XXH rod.

"It took about 30 minutes," he said. "We had rough seas then; it was a fun fight."

Jeremy Chandler of San Dimas got a 203.6-pounder on a jack under the kite on a 7/0 Mustad 7691 hook and the boat's kite rig.

Our final day went perfectly as planned. We fished a few hours drifting for cod in flat calm weather. Good red and ling cod fishing. We then shot outside and found a couple kelps holding some nice grade yellowtail and a few dorado. We enjoyed a nice easy ride home and spent the rest of the day lounging, cleaning, some read, watched movies and some took naps. We get in tomorrow at 7:30, unload, load and the big guy takes her back out for 4 days. We're out. Stay classy San Diego

Oct. 11

We didn't connect on the bluefin tuna today. The fish was down or gone but it sure wasn't available for us or anyone else in the area to catch so that's it. We're done with this years Davis ultra limited load 15 day trip and we're headed for the barn. We'll have a big load of cow tuna to unload tomorrow and after an oil change, fuel fill and some grocery's we'll be heading back out on Joey G's Accurate sponsored 8 day trip.