keyhole Fishing Report 2023

Wednesday, September 19th, 2012

Hi friends. I bronzed today...again. I'm practically glowing, it's madness! I look like Oprah. Everyday of this trip has been stellar weather, and I've been bronzin' ever since the bait receivers, and I can only hope that we're not going to pay for it in a couple of days when we start making our way back to San Diego. We'll see. Anyhow, the fishing today was fair. It wasn't bad, it's just that we had high hopes for wahoo and they're still eluding us to this point. Matt Herrington, Paul Briscoe, Eric Kinnicutt, and Polaris Supreme first-timer Dean Harthorn were the lucky anglers to land a "hooter" today. Dean set the standard of size to this point. Dean probably runs about five feet tall (I mean no disrespect. Dean is one of the nicest dudes around) but the wahoo he caught today dwarfs him. Wait until you guys see the photos on the website when we get in. It's a great picture and Dean was pumped. Good things happen to good people.

Our day also saw lots of releasing yellowfin tuna, tagging a couple of nice yellowtail, and Glenn Briscoe landed a true bull dorado in the thirty plus pound category. G-Man, you're truly the man, G. After landing Glenn's fish, we made the decision to make a run to the inside to see if we can't locate some wahoo elsewhere. We'll check back with you tomorrow.

Oh yeah! Before I forget, Chef Schooler and Jamie are my heroes. For dinner, they prepared a perfectly cooked tri-tip (my favorite), pepper-roasted potatoes, and corn on the cob. On any normal night, I'd be pumped but then they finished it off with a warm brownie, vanilla ice cream, caramel syrup, and pralines. Now I'm super pumped. Between my bronze and my level of pump, I look like a plump Arnold Schwarzenegger. Life is good. See ya.

-Richie "Call Me Katniss" and the Supreme Team

Wow what a great day! We had an awesome morning bite on the Dorado. Big bulls and cows. We took a break at lunch and Pedro prepared a Southwestern 10 oz. burger that was delicious. He really nails the menu with his creative spices and herbs. Back out on the deck we had excellent fishing on the wahoo throughout the whole day. And then to finish up the day we caught some yellowfin tuna. Just a great, fun day. Dinner tonight was a spicy ginger shrimp curry. Another great dish. Our weather all day has been beautiful. I hear it's been crappy up above and hope it lies down before we start up the line.

As the temps drop, we are finding the bottom biters are biting at our local spots. Lingcod and Reds with a mix of other great tasting fish. We have been seeing Yellowtail on a daily basis as well. 

"It was really good fishing wahoo at the bank," said Rothery at the sales. "We stayed there two days and then went in to the southern banks where the big fish were." All the big fish (there were 13 tuna over 200 pounds weighed on the certified scales at Fisherman's) came from the southern banks. There were just as many from 100 to 200 pounds as there were cows, and those were found in both spots. "The Baja tuna were real steady biters," said Rothery. "There were lots of ‚Дтem around, we could see ‚Дтem at the surface and on the meter most of the time." Research biologist Chugey Sepulveda got the big one, related his pal and fellow biologist Scott ("Scootch") Aalbers of San Diego. Chugey wasn't able to be at the weigh-in. The fish weighed 306.2 pounds. Chugey had two more cows, at 220 and 201 pounds. "Scootch" said Chugey got the big one and the others on one of the boat's heavy rigs and the kite. He used two sardines on 6/0 Mustad 7691 hooks, tied to 130-pound P-Line and 130-pound Izorline Spectra, on a Tiagra 50 W reel and a Calstar 655 XXH rod. "He got it on the next to the last day," said Scootch, "about four p.m. He fought it for an hour and 15 minutes, and it wrapped him around the anchor line about 15 times. The crew helped out a lot with the fork." Tom Bass of Newport Beach won second place for a 274.8-pound tuna. He also had a 232 and a 206-pound yellowfin. Tom said he got his fish on a sardine and an 8/0 Eagle Claw hook, pm 100-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon leader of 15 feet, tied to 130-pound Izor Spectra on a Tiagra 50 reel and a Calstar 6460 XXH rod. Hack Bernstein of Valencia bagged a 269.6-pounder. He fished a sardine on an 8/0 Eagle Claw hook tied to 130-pound P-Line and 130-pound Izor Spectra on a boat rig: Tiagra 50 reel and a Calstar 655 XXH rod. Pat Jaeger of Bishop posed with his daughter Maggie, three, and the 268-pound tuna he got with a double sardine rig on the kite. He said he used 100-pound P-Line and 130-pound Izor Spectra on a Penn 50 W reel and a Baja Boomer rod. Ryan Gillette of Orange was another who used a double trouble sardine rig on the boat's rod and reel to take a 246-pounder. Robert Kalatschan found a brace of cows, at 226 and 213 pounds. There were two more cows that appeared at the scales without tags, said Susan Rothery. One weighed 214 pounds and the other went 202.

Well so much for the great weather staying with us.

Today was rough and choppy. However, the wahoo fishing made up for it.

Fishing on the wahoo was fantastic. The tuna on the other hand were nonexistent. But man did we have a fun day. Dinner of course was fresh wahoo encrusted in macadamia nuts with a lemon butter sauce. Very moist and juicy. Saffron rice and mixed fresh veggies also adorned the plate. Great day, great fishing.

Thanks for checking in.
Tommy and crew

Happy independence day! guys! We finished our day yesterday by continuing to pick away at those larger size yellowtail. Almost all of our anglers ended up with at least one yellowtail and we even had a hand-full of anglers who managed to catch their limit of those larger sized fish. As I'm writing this report, I am seeing quite a few small schools of yellows on the sonar. We are eager to find out what today has in stock for us! Happy Independence Day, Team Supreme

Captain Aliyar called in with us today from the Polaris Supreme:

We are on our way home after a 1.5 Day with excellent Bluefin fishing. We have limits of Bluefin Tuna up to 115 pounds with the majority in the 40-50 pound range. We had a stop last night in the dark and caught 30 Bluefin with the flat falls.

We have a bunch of 1.5 Day trips and 3 Day trips open for April.

Next open party trip departs on Sunday, April 11th at 7PM for a 1.5 Day trip.

The Apollo has been fishing everyday now. They had great rockfishing today. Unfortunately, they did not catch any White Seabass. But they have been getting some. Listen to JJ's daily report. Next OPEN PARTY trip is April 10th.