lower illinois river Fishing Report 2025

Ladies are absolutely killing it today! The OTR charter is really getting in on these great grade Yellowfin Tuna!

The spring Season is nearly upon us and we will be taking the Apollo to Santa Barbara for the rockfish opener and hopefully a productive seabass season. We have an unusual amount of open weekend dates for this spring, between March 1rst and May 15th. Take a look at our calendar at apollocharters.com. Take advantage of these rare openings and book your own charter with me and my excelent crew today. Come fish with us out of Santa Barbara and experience the easiest and shortest ride to Santa Rosa and San Miguel Islands. This means more fishing time and easier access to those harder to reach destinations. I hope to hear from you soon. Thank you, J.J. Gerritsen.

~~Aug 20
 It was a slow day out here today for us.  It was a slow day for many.  But of course it depends on who you talk to, some might say it was a great day.  It all depended on which school you found.  Just like it's been, most schools don't produce, but the few lucky ones do.  We didn't find the lucky one.  Our best school was for 20.  But no matter who you ask, it was a slow afternoon today. After lunch, we didn't find a school till after 6:00.  We're due.

 The weather today was awesome.  Again.  We're going to drift out here tonight and try it again tomorrow.  I thought about doing something different, like hunting bluefin, but it hasn't been very good and our plan B., that being San Clemente island is closed tomorrow darnit.  Plus these yellowfin we're catching are just too beautiful.  Such a nice grade.

 One more day.  We're due.  It won't take much more to get 200 of these things for the trip.  200 of these things would be nice.
        

Captain Ryan Bostian called in with an update regarding the Passports! We are going to be fishing offshore for Bluefin Tuna and Yellowtail. Mexican immigration has just informed us that every passenger will need a passport to fish the Coronado islands. Tomorrows trip will be an offshore US waters trip targeting bluefin and yellowtail. If you don't have a passport you should start the paperwork. If you plan on fishing in Mexican Territorial waters you will be required to have a passport. That means if you are at the Islands or within 12 miles of the Mexican Coast. Passports will not be required for Offshore Trips fishing more than 12 miles from the Mexican Coast. The San Diego will be fishing offshore for awhile until our passengers can get passports. However, we will eventually return to fishing at the Coronado Islands.

~~Aug 31
 Remember yesterday I was talking about plans? Well if you read my first report of the trip I talked about dragging our feet a day and waiting for the weather to get pristine out at the Rocks. That was the master plan and well, it worked out. Today we had great weather to go along with our great wahoo fishing. We arrived to the grounds at 7:30 and we were getting steady jig strikes on wahoo to go along with jigging and baiting until about 5:30 when things around here went to bed. I really wanted 4 more wahoo for the magic number but we tried and tried and we gave up. The fish went to bed so we will too. We're now sitting on anchor getting ready to enjoy a nice sunset before eating a nice dinner. Like I said , the weather couldn't be better. We'll have a great nights sleep. We're going to try this again in the morning and take it from there. It's the last day we ever get in August of 2014 and I'm glad we spent it here.

 Gary, we wish you were here. You would have had a blast today. We hope your feeling well.
 Susan, Rolf says he has you covered on the wahoo.
 

Fishing in the morning started slow. Several schools of yellowtail with no success. But by mid-morning things started to happen. They bit well into the late afternoon. The guys released lots of the yellowtail. We then took off off shore for kelp patties with yellowfin, but only found a few dorado. Our weather is good. Tomorrow we are going to go looking for yellowfin. Dinner tonight was Drew's favorite Osso Buso with parmesan potatoes and veggies. Really tasty.

Jodie called in with this On-the-Water Fish Report for the Apollo. "It looks like we have 40 on the deck. These fish are 30 to 40 lbs and we are fishing at 111 miles.

"We will be out on a 2.5 Day Open Party trips leaving Sunday at 5:00 PM. The price is $625 including all the bells and whisles.If you want more information or want to make a reservation call Fisherman's Landing at 619-221-8500."

Hello everyone, Today we spent the day working up towards home. Hitting spot after spot until we finally had a shooter of yellowtail at the last minute. A great flurry of fish to end out our fishing time. The yellows we landed were defiantly large, all between 20 and 30 lbs. We have the boat pointed home at the moment. Hopefully we make good speed! Team Supreme