lake russell Fishing Report 2024

Stopping a school of tuna that is swimming at 8 kts often requires a lot of chum. Thanks to the best bait company in the business @everinghambaitbarge we managed to get a few schools to hang out with us for awhile. 42 bluefin 18 yellowtail.

Captain Ryan Bostian checked in tonight with some photos. We have caught four Bluefin Tuna (115, 108, 103 and 101). You need to make sure you bring the correct gear. CURRENT TACKLE RECOMMENDATION
A Shimano Talica 12 or 16 two speed filled with 65 or 80 lb spectra. Connected to 5 feet of 80 or 130 lb flouro and a 250 gram flatfall. A sinker bait rig fished with a Talica 16 or 20 two speed filled halfway with 80 lb spectra than topped off with 60 or 80 lb mono to a short leader of 80 lb flouro. A 2/0 or 3/0 circle hook and a 4-6 oz torpedo sinker.

The first annual Ocean Tackle Research trip aboard Polaris Supreme returned with skipper Tom Rothery and chartermaster Lon Mikkelsen November 19. The ten-day trip had 20 anglers. "We caught a lot of variety and had good fishing," said Mikkelsen, from Hood River, OR. "We also caught a lot of 40-pound Humboldt squid. The best fishing was on kelp paddies in the warmer water. "We're testing some new OTR jigs," he continued, "and they got bit." Rothery weighed the contenders on the Fisherman's landing certified scales. Clint Campbell of Bozeman, MT won first place for a 65.95-pound wahoo he caught ona silver and pink Raider jig. He said he used 40-pound P-Line, a Daiwa Saltist 30 reel and a Seeker Black Steel 6470 rod. Jon Collins of Menifee won second place for a 52.6-pound skin that bit a pink Catchy Tackle bomb. Collins brought his son into the photo to show off a big dorado. Randy Walker of Huntington Beach was third, for a 48-pound wahoo that snapped up a gold Raider.

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.

The fall fishing season is on, as could be seen in the catch brought back from Alijos Rocks and The Ridge by Polaris Supreme owner-skipper Tommy Rothery, who docked his rig at Fisherman's Landing September 16 after an right-day trip. "Wow, what a great day!" wrote Tom on September 13. "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. It was 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." Jeff Theurer of Pismo Beach got the best dorado, a 44-pound whopper that will now be the season's best. "I got it in 15 minutes," he said, "on 40-pound line. This is my best dorado and the best on the boat this trip."
Chris Fitzgerald of Lake Elsinore won first place for a 70.2-pound tuna. He caught it with a sardine, he said, on a 3/0 Mustad hook, 60-pound P-Line on an Avet 5-2 reel and a Seeker Black Steel 6470 rod.
Wayne Campbell of Huntington Beach was second for a 70-pounder, and Bill Vogel of Oceanside won third place for a 62.6-pound Alijos yellowfin tuna. Jeff Camplese of Helena, MT took the best wahoo, a 55.4-pounder, and brought it into the lineup shot.

~~Sep.21
 So we fished today on our open party 1.5 day trip.  What a morning.  We got on a school early.  In the dark.  I saw them on the sonar, then stopped, then looked out the window and there they were, swimming around under the lights.  So I dropped a bait in the water and a minute later I had a tuna on board.  So I woke up the crew and the passengers and we commenced fishing.  Before the sun came up we were finished.  I mean we had our daily limit of yellowfin so we passed the school off to another boat and moved on.  The reason we were able to get it done so quickly this morning was because the fish were small.  Unfortunately that's what the plan was all along.  The good grade tuna schools are missing here in 3 day range at the moment.  we've seen this before.  It's no surprise during a tuna season.  I don't believe it's over.  Just temporarily down.

 So we wanted to get our tuna out of the way early and then concentrate on finding dorado kelps, but we never found too much for dorado kelps.  The wind blew too.  It was perfect weather this morning, but by lunch it was blowing a good 25 knots.  Not comfortable.  Thing went back down though.  It didn't stay windy.  It's nice now.

 We get in tomorrow and we're going to take a couple of days off so we'll see you when we see you.  And by that I mean write and read.
   

We departed today on Larry Brown's annual 10-day trip with 22 fine anglers. Most are repeats as they join Larry each year, but we are delighted to have a couple of new comers. We are in good weather and are happy to be driving out of the sooty smoky air. The group is excited after seeing Drew's great catch from the last trip. He had Dorado, Wahoo, those big cow Yellowtail and some Yellowfin with the jackpot weighing in at 160 lbs.! We are also getting reports that fish are moving in a new area and want to bite. This is all good news. So I will close for now as we get ready for dinner of filet and lobster with vegetables and a baked potato. Thanks for checking in and we'll update again tomorrow.

After spending all day yesterday searching for yellowtail without success. Today we decided to put the feelers out and look at some new areas. After a couple hours of searching we found exactly what we were looking for. The yellowtail we found today were really active for about an hour. In one hour our 15 anglers managed to put 20 very nice size yellowtail on the deck. Our yellowtail today were caught on yo-yo lures, surface lures as well as fly lined sardines. Make sure you bring a bait rod to go with your yo-yo rod from here on out.