lake shelbyville il Fishing Report 2025

Myself and the crew would like to thank everyone who joined us for this past season. 2016 will forever be remembered as one of the most unique years. From huge schools of non biting yellowfin tuna to foamers of big bluefin that enjoyed eating surface poppers. This season proves that none of us know anything about the ocean. We will shut down for a month or so to handle our annual maintenance. We look forward to fishing with everyone again in 2017.

Epic fishing is here once again! 10 cows hit the deck, topped with a 307!! Thanks United Composites, Okuma, Phenix Rods, and Seeker for outfitting us with what I think are the best on the market if your looking for cow gear. Now these days I should say super cow gear!!! Not to forget owner hooks!#okuma #phenixrods #unitedcomposites #seekerrods

Our PM Half Day saw excellent Calico Bass fishing, highlighted by a big Black Seabass trying to eat one of our hooked bass. We ended up spending just an hour and half on the anchor for over 30 bass released. We spent the rest of the trip looking for Yellowtail, but not finding the ideal conditions. 

73 yellowfin tuna 3 skipjack tuna. We were minutes away from bailing on our area after our first 3 schools swam away without biting. The words from my old boss Ed McEwen “never leave fish to find fish” once again proved to be spot on. A cooperative school late in the day made all of our frustration fade away.

We had a slow morning here at the Ridge, but the afternoon provided us with a good bite on the yellowtail up to 30 lbs. The weather is still absolutely beautiful. Those of you that know me, know I never eat breakfast, but I thought I would check it out as I am always reporting on the lunch and dinners. Well breakfast today was a stack of buttermilk pancakes, slab of honey cooked bacon and eggs cooked to your order. I still didn't eat, but the guys all said it was delicious. We have a couple more days here to fish and then we are in on Sunday and departing on South Bay Fish and Tackle's 6-day charter.
There is still one spot on that trip, and a couple on the Sept. 22 if you can get away.

Saturday, July 28th, 2012

Good evening, friends. We departed on an open party 5-day trip today with a healthy load of people and a healthy load of bait. Our weather traveling down is quite nice and we're looking like the weather is going to clean up for the next few days, so we're pumped. As far as the fishing outlook, one boat in the area today did equally phenomenal on bluefin and yellowfin. Straight up.We'll be in the area tomorrow and we'll chat you up tomorrow on our day.

Getting back to yesterday, we'd like to thank Paul Hess and his crew that tagged along with him this year. If I recall, this was Paul's 12th annual trip and we look forward to seeing him, his son, Matt, and the rest of the gang that comes back year after year (thanks for bailing, Boomhower. More bluefin and yellowfin for us.) Anyhow, It's a fantastic trip, one of my favorites every year, and we'll see y'all next year.

So that's all. We'll chat with you tomorrow.

Ryan Bostian called in with this report on the San Diego, "I'm off the boat today, I just got a call from Captain Brian as of noon he had 13 Yellowtail on board. It's the same old story we are landing about 1/2 of the fish that are hooked due to the size and location of these fish. A lot of them are 25 lbs. and bigger, and most of them are located in shallow water.

"Make sure you bring your "A" Game if you come down to fly line some sardines with us. You'll need 2/O hooks, 25 or 30 lb test. a nice firm drag and be prepared to hook into some beautiful Yellowtail.

"We offer these 5:30 to 5:00 Trips everyday out of Seaforth Sportfishing. I'll call back later to give the final talley, but as of noon they had 13 Yellowtail on the deck and still plenty of fishing time left in the day. If you'd like to go out with us please make reservations at 619-224-3383."

Polaris Supreme arrived under Drew Henderson's hand October 27 after a ten-day trip with 20 anglers that visited the southern banks, an offshore kelp area and Cedros Island. Drew tied the rig at Fisherman's Landing and weighed the best of his catch. "We had good fishing the first day at the banks," he said, "until about eight in the morning. Then we had a good sunsetter. We got yellowtail on the 23, and about a dozen wahoo on offshore kelps. We had good dorado fishing on the kelps." The trip's best yellowtail was a 45.3-pound mossback caught at Cedros Island by Stan Katkansky of Lincoln City, OR. "I got him on a mackerel," said Stan, "on 60-pound line."