mcclure Fishing Report 2025

Many of you know Captain Ray Montera who has been involved in sportfishing most of his life. In March, his 32 year old Chris son was severely injured in a C4 blast in Afghanistan. We are holding a fundraiser on October 8th at the Bali Hai on Shelter Island. He is one of our own and we are rallying to support him.

As an Army soldier, Chris Montera was often taken aback when people would thank him for doing the job he loved. On a fateful day in March, he came to face the sacrifice. He was on a dismounted mission and was hit with explosion of C4, which literally blasted and propelled him into a grape field. He suffered major issues with blast lung and severe burns over much of his body. For 9 days he was on ECMO (lung bypass) until he was stable enough to be transported to BAMC in San Antonio for the treatment of his shrapnel wounds and third degree burns. On April 2 a fungal infection set into the wounds on his lower extremities and Chris underwent bilateral AK amputation of his legs. He was further diagnosed with an incomplete spinal cord injury in the thoracic area of the spine at VA Polytrauma Center in Palo Alto.

Through all of this, Chris remains focused and committed to rehabilitation. It is estimated that he will remain in Palo Alto for 3-6 months while he works to regain his upper body strength, which will be necessary for the next stages of rehab in the C5 program at Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego where he will be fitted with prosthetic legs and with determination will learn to walk again. There is no doubt in our minds that Chris will recover to live an independent life. The goal of this fundraiser is to be able to assist Chris with expenses he will no doubt encounter on his journey to independence.

The event will be held at the Bali Hai Restaurant on Shelter Island On October 8th from 6:00-10:00 pm. There will be food stations serving food from many San Diego restaurants along with a no host bar. A raffle, live, and silent auction will take place during the event along with live entertainment by Mango Bay and World Famous Jim Gibson. The outpouring of support of raffle and auction donations from the sportfishing community, tackle, fishing supply manufacturers, and local businesses has been phenomenal. The evening will be great fun for all and will serve to help a young man who put it all on the line.

There are several ways you can help:
First and most important is attend the event.

Tickets are $50 in advance or $450 for a block of 10

Advance ticket purchases will include 3 raffle tickets and assorted swag

Cannot attend but would like to help, make a cash donation in any amount.

Donate an item for the raffle or auction. Anything from fishing items, art, gift certificates, clothing...anything is greatly appreciated.


We look forward to having you at the event. The sport fishing community has come together to take care of a wounded warrior of their own, and it promises to be a fun filled evening for all.

To purchase tickets for Island Nights at the Bali Hai, please visit our website at http://christophermonterasupport.com/island-nights-at-the-bali-hai

To donate items for our raffle/auction please visit our website and complete the donor form http://christophermonterasupport.com/sponsors-anddonors-supporters/donor-form

Fresh and Fast! Recently we have been doing a lot of quick turnarounds to try and maximize fishing time for our clients. Recently we had a beautiful 200 lb Bluefin Tuna donated to the boat. Thanks to Sean and the people of Fishermans Processing we were able to have the Tuna filleted, packaged, and returned to the the boat in time for an early departure. Because of this our passengers were able to enjoy fresh Bluefin Tuna sushi on our way down the following trip. Thank YOU for going the extra mile for us so WE could go the extra mile for our customers!

Retired LA motorcycle officer Joe Beck served as chartermaster aboard the Polaris Supreme, and came back June 16 with the best yellowtail of the boat's five-day visit to Cedros/Benitos. Owner Tom Rothery skippered the trip, and docked his rig at Fisherman's Landing.

Beck got a 36-pound yellowtail with a sardine bait, and won first place. Gene Lujan of Salinas won second place for a 35.4-pound yellow, and Karen Jackson of Acton tied with Tom Mortenson of LaVerne for third place. Both had 32.6-pound yellowtail. Scott Chapman of Mira Loma caught a 41.2-pound halibut, a thick, sand-colored flatfish.

"It's 1 O'Clock here & I think we have 10 Yellowtail on the boat." Ryan went on, "we're seeing them pretty good here this morning. These are very big fish, we have lost another 10 for sure. We had one stop where we hooked 4 and lost them all. That's just the way it goes with this sized fish. They are bigger today, about 25 pounders. Biting mainly to fly line bait, we have caught a couple fish on the yo-yo and on surface lures. But they are maily biting the fly lined bait. I'll give you a final talley on the way in. As of 1:00 PM I know we have at least 10 Yellowtail on the boat maybe a couple more. And we're still seeing them hook a few. I'll get back to you later.

Thursday, July 11th, 2013

Hi friends. We had ourselves a pretty eventful day for a rather slow day of Yellowtail fishing. I'm not going to lie; I think the entire crew had visions of hundred-plus fish drifts and not looking at breezers of non-biting fish, but rather breezers of snappin' fish. Well, the Bluefin worked their magic on our favorite Yellowtail hole and the Yellowtails acted just like Bluefin all day. We saw multiple breezers and we'd be lucky to capture two or three fish. We did have one nice drift this morning but for the most part we just picked and scratched to make a score. But, we did what we had to and made a day of it.

Other notable events of the day: We started bronzing at 0622 hours, it was sunny and toasty out for the majority of the day. We also caught and released about a dozen Black Sea Bass, we had a nice snap on the Calicos, Stephen Pistone took a sabiki rig hook to the finger, and Mark did everything that you would expect of Mark. I'll just leave it at that.

Anyhow, we're on our way up to finish off our trip at the Bluefin grounds and Chef Shabba and Shawn are kicking out sesame seared Ahi with fried rice and veggies. Tasty. We'll chat with y'all tomorrow. Good night and just know that your friends on the Polaris Supreme love you. Especially you. Yes, you. Wish us luck, lovers.

-The Supreme Team

Well, things do change. Conditions aren't looking good. The water here is dirty and just not right for a good yellow bite. Hope it changes.

July 10

Slow day in the long range tuna grounds today. It didn't take long after day light to find what we were looking for as far as bird life and dolphin life goes and it was in the area that we fished on the way down and did well and where other boats had done well too in the past few days but this action had been in the afternoon and we were there first light. Things hadn't gotten with it yet. The fish weren't there. We couldn't wait for the afternoon due to us needing to be in San Diego tomorrow so we had to keep her rolling. We saw nothing else for 30 miles other then a few jig strikes for a bakers dozen. We bumped into some common dolphin around lunch time and we caught some tuna with them but it was short lived. The dolphin were being mean and not cooperating. We did nothing after that and called the trip at 3:00 in the afternoon.

The weather was choppy first thing, then smoothed out until around 2:00 and got choppy again. We're having your average rough ride home. It will be a good test for all the bolt holes from antennas that we took off and replaced. No water dripping in the wheel house yet. I think we're good.

We'll be getting in tomorrow at 7:30 in the morning and we'll be turning around for 5. See ya later.

Polaris Supreme returned to Fisherman's landing June 4 after her first three-day trip of the new season, with 24 anglers aboard. Yellowtail were plentiful and many were released. Some bluefin tuna of up to nearly 33 pounds were also caught. Owner-skipper Tommy Rothery reported pleasant sea conditions and nice weather.

"We were way down there,below where everybody else is fishing," said Tommy. "It was a little rolly at mid-day. I don't know why."

Rick Yokley of San Diego won first place for a 32.4-pound bluefin.

"He took me around the boat three times," commented Rick. He said he fished a sardine on a 2/0 ringed Super Mutu hook, with 30-pound fluorocarbon leader and 65-pound Spectra backing on an Avet MXL 6/4 reel.

John Brown of El Cajon was second, for a 32.2-pound bluefin, and Paul Cheak of Benecia won third place for a 31.4-pound bluefin tuna.