lake hartwell Fishing Report 2024

GOOD SHOT ON A 2 DAY!!! APOLLO went with 22 anglers and they brought home 88 Dorado, 41 Yellowfin, & 36 Yellowtail. Checkout their next open party trip at Fisherman's Landing @ (619)221-8500

The tenth annual George Davis trip aboard the Polaris Supreme arrived at Fisherman's Landing December 5, after spending ten days in southern waters with a super ultra-light load of seven anglers, including chartermaster Davis. There were five tuna over 200 pounds in the catch. One fish was well over 300 pounds. The big fish came in at 347.8 pounds, caught by Kevin Stokes, who is studying video making and cinematography, working on his B. A. in digital video at Mt. Sierra College in Monrovia. The giant yellowfin bit a sardine on a 6/0 Mustad 7691 hook tied to 100-pound P-Line and 130-pound Spectra on one of the boat's rigs: a Tiagra 50 reel and a Calstar 6460 XXH rod. It fought for 35 minutes. "He didn't fight too hard," said Stokes. He just laid there like a big cow. I almost lost him at the end, because his circles went all the way across the stern. They got him with four gaffs and lifted him over the rail. "My best tuna before this one was 180 pounds. It fought harder. I may have this one mounted. Next, I've got to go back to work and to school." Stokes said he does freelance work in video. Eleven-year-old Gunnar Johnston outscored the men by taking two cows; two yellowfin over 200 pounds. One of his fish weighed 217.8 pounds and won second place. The other went 209 pounds. Gunnar goes to Marinotha Christian Academy, and races motocross. His dad Craig Johnston is a construction manager in Orange County and was close by when Gunnar hooked his big cow. "I was up the rail," said Craig, "and I saw him get bent, and I shouted, ‚Дтdon't let go of that rig,' and I saw him pull back harder." Gunnar got the fish to gaff in 45 minutes, after it bit a sardine on a 6/0 Super Mutu hook on 130-pound Izorline fluorocarbon leader tied to 100-pound Momoi line and 130-pound Line One Spectra. He used an Avet 50 reel and a Calstar 6455 XXH rod. "It's my first long range trip," said Gunnar. "It's fun, hooking up and catching these big fish. Craig Johnston said his son had been on one and two-day trips before, but this was his first long range venture. "My best fish before was a 30-pound albacore or a dorado," said Gunnar. "I want to do it again." His dad felt the same way. "He was bit hard at first," said Craig, "but he did his work in the corner." Charlie Middleton of San Pablo took a 213-pounder and won third place. He said it bit a sardine on an 8/0 Gamakatsu hook tied to 100-pound Soft Steel Ultra line and 130-pound Power Pro Spectra on a Penn 80 SW reel and a five and a half-foot Ugly Stick rod. The fight lasted 20 minutes. "The best fishing was during the squalls," said Charlie. "That's when I hooked this one. He took me around the boat twice. There was a lot of 18-inch squid around."
Jim Jacobs of Murietta had never been fishing before. "I didn't know how to hold the pole," he said. Jacobs got a 202.6-pound tuna after a 40-minute scrap. It bit a sardine on an 8/0 Mustad 7691 hook, also on one of the boat's rigs. "My first trip," said Jacobs, "and my first fish."

The Apollo has a last minute opening on this weekend's Colonett trip. Call Fisherman's Landing now at (619) 221-8500 to get in on the action. The weather looks great for this weekend.

Back to the Islands starting tomorrow (Nov 1).  Please bring a 40 lb yo-yo setup and a 25 lb bait setup.  For all you jig fisherman.  We will be targeting yellowtail and all other gamefish. Who knows, maybe even a stray Bluefin Tuna.  Passport required.

I missed a few days. I apologize. After we left Cedros we ran up the line to fish a day offshore. We hit a couple good kelps and a few kelps that we scratched good off of and ended the day with good numbers on yellowtail and dorado. We finished our last day fishing for albacore. A slow day. We saw a little bit of fish all day long and a couple of schools through out the day. We ended the day good with a bite right before dark. We're heading in now leaving tomorrow on another 5-day.

34 pass. 170 skipjack tuna 1 yellowtail.

Starting November 1st we will be running full day Coronado Islands trips. Bring your yellowtail gear and your passport.

Friday, September 21st, 2012

Hi friends. A wrap-up of our full day and a morning down here is one that makes any angler giddy. One reason and one reason only can draw out the best and worst in some anglers -- wahoo. We had some of the better wahoo fishing we've had in a few years that I can remember and as the day progressed, they just kept getting bigger. We had ourselves a really fun day down here and in the afternoon time, we had a pretty decent sign of that better tuna, boiling mere feet from the boat rambled up some excitement in us.

Two problems. One, was the lack of current. Two, was the sharks. We had to get creative to hook one and you had to, as Drew puts it "leave your purses in your staterooms" and pull on those fish. Drew had to eventually lead by example and landed a beauty of a tuna on a scad chunk. Inspirational. Although, we only landed one tuna of size that evening, the wahoo bite from the hours prior really had spirits high. We tried to repeat our catch this morning but it was clear that we did a good job of catching the ones that were here. Hopefully, a few more nests move in for our code boat to experience the same type of fishing we had.

At around 1000 hours, we had to begin our journey home that will take us a full day and a half. Normally, I'd be somewhat pumped for travel days but I finished Suzanne Collins "The Hunger Games" too quick (my goodness, Katniss, love Peeta!) and the second book of the trilogy isn't on the boat (damn you, Shawn!). Kinnicut has the third but I hear that the third one is lame. Ugh, rather than reading a good book and napping, I'll just have to do some work to pass the time.

With that, our weather was beautiful all day but is now a little windy and bouncy. Nothing crazy, it's no bronzing weather though. Can't have flat calm and sunny for a week straight, I guess. We'll report our ETA tomorrow night. See ya.

-The Supreme Team

P.S. Before I go, I have a couple of things that I learned today, thanks to Gunny.

1) Gunny is deathly afraid of crocodiles and alligators.

2) Every black man in horror movies dies first. Gunny has strong evidence to support this. I had no idea.

P.S.S. Kris Victorino says hello to his daughter, Nicole.

Sep. 9

It was awesome yellowtailing this morning. As soon as we got to the grounds it was on and that time was dark 30. That's right. It wasn't even daylight yet and we were gettin um. Nice big fat yellows. As soon as daylight hit we were still gettin um and we kept gettin um for a few more hours too. And after that, we made a move and we were gettin um there too. So lunch time came around and Chef Shawn made yellowtail sandwiches and guess what, they were awesome. After that we worked up up up to get us in position for bluefining tomorrow. The weather coming up is not good. As I write this at the Charger halftime my legs are 6 feet apart for balance. Sometimes my butt is against the wall and I can barely reach the keyboard. The weather man is calling for better weather tomorrow. Should we believe him?