mercer Fishing Report 2024

67 yellowtail. Managed to scratch some yellowtail in between hopscotching spots of Bluefin. We saw tuna from 20lbs to 200+ please come prepared.

Capt Mike Pritchard from the Tribute called in a final count for their 1.5 day charter, they had some great fishing today. We had limits of Yellowfin Tuna, a couple Skipjack and a couple Yellowtail. We have been seing a little bit of Bluefin above the border, but getting them to bite is another story. All in all it was a fun day on the water, the quality of the Yellowfin has been up into the mid 30 lb range. We are booked for the next week, to check for spots you can call Seaforth Landing at 619-224-3383 or go to the website at www.seaforthsportfishing.com, we will see you on the water.

Aug. 4
 Here we go again.  This time for 4 days.  Tough decision for me today.  Do i make a left or a right?  As always, they both have there advantages and disadvantages, but in the end, one outweighed the other.  So I made a left.  I hope I made the right decision  Good timing is everything.  We're bombing her down below.  We've been flying down all day and night and we"ll be fishing after lunch tomorrow.  One of the boats caught some tuna down this way today and we're going to try and get in on some of that.  We should have good weather for the trip as long as the forecast holds true.  We're hoping for lots of fish the next couple days.  I could use the pressure release.
       

Good evening and thanks again for tuning Polaris Supreme fans.   What an excellent day today!  The early morning hours were spent doing some looking around at different spots deciding where we wanted to get established for tuna fishing.  The currents didn't really want to cooperate at first, but eventually we found what looked best and gave it a shot.  It was a little on the slower side till things started to wake up, then the guys started to scratch away.  We eventually switched gears into wahoo mode and that was a great choice.  The remainder of the day we had our running shoes on chasing skinnies all around the boat.  Stop after stop, they kept coming over the rail.  The tax man had to take his piece of the pie of course, losing more than just a few to sharks, but never the less, I still call it an amazing day of skin fishing.  We all look forward to many more days like today before we end the trip.  For those wondering about the weather, you should be jealous.  I don't think there is nicer weather anywhere in the U.S.  It nothing short of perfect out here. 

                 A+ fishing and top notch food, what more could you ask for on a long range trip.  All of the guys are having a great time.  As always, thanks for taking a few minutes to check in and don't forget, even though we are out here on the water, we will still be representing at the Long Beach Fred Hall Show this year.  Make sure you stop by our booth and say hi to our crew up there.  Till tomorrow, tight lines.

 

Jed and the Polaris Supreme crew

Sunday, July 10th, 2011

Good evening everyone. We arrived this morning to the docks at around 0700 and said good-bye to our friends from SDG & E. We unloaded a beautiful catch of Yellowtail and a dazzling assortment of other tasty fish and the big Yellowtail honors go as follows: Lenny Campos - 26.2 lbs. Ulises Ochoa - 25.0 lbs. Rodger Schwecke - 24.8 lbs. Congratulations and thanks once again to the entire gang and we'll see everyone next season. After unloading, refueling, a couple of minor maintenance projects, loading groceries, and scrubbing the boat from mast to water-line, we loaded up another eager group of passengers and set sail for greater points south on another three day extravaganza.

 

Our group is quite the mix of Polaris Supreme veterans and Polaris Supreme first-timers but it's looking like we're going to have a fun group to fish with. We're headed right back to where we ended up last trip and with a steady flow of other boats in our wake, we're wasting no time in getting down there. We'll try and relocate some squid for a little while and if we can't, we're bombing on down to our honey hole with plenty of sardines and one tank of squid from last trip. We're knocking on wood and wishing upon lucky stars that our honey hole can give us one more chance at some good fishing before the place gets too congested. Please send us some luck from the beach. This is a team effort.

 

So there you have it. Our weather as we are steaming down the coast is gorgeous. A mild swell and light winds have made for premium traveling conditions and we'll be more than pleased if it continues until Wednesday morning but as we've seen, things can change in the snap of a finger. We're just enjoying the fact that the ride is currently beautiful, the Prime Rib was once again delicious, and our spirits are high. We'll report to you tomorrow.

-Richie and Team Supreme-

Saturday, July 9th, 2011

Hi friends. The result of this morning's squid float was two deck wells and the port slammer being loaded up with squid. It was a great float with the entire crew waking up to get the job done in just about twenty minutes. What was an ocean void of squid-life at 1:45 AM  was then corroded with calamari at 2:00 AM. Swimming with the thousands upon thousands of squid were baby Mola-Mola's that were about the size of a hub cap. We had to push them out of the way to close the crowder without getting a few of those baby beasts in the net. We got all the bait we needed and then some along with some cool views of amazing ocean life.

Back to Friday for a moment, it was a decent day of Yellowtail fishing on the Polaris Supreme and what kept it from being a very good day was our score at the end of the day. For various reasons, we lost more fish than we tagged but we ended up with a respectable count on the 'tails. We also added plenty of white meat to our RSW hold and when the hatch was shut for the evening, we felt content with a solid day of catching fish in nice weather.

Saturday morning found us fishing the bait balls of squid as we attempted to snag a White Seabass or two. We didn't give it long before we began the chase for some more Yellows' and after a couple anchor jobs, we found yesterday's batch of fish but this time we were armed with plenty of freshly caught squid. Even with our brand new supply of bait we once again lost more than we hooked but just like Friday, we managed to piece together a nice catch of Yellows' in the 15-28 lb. range. Beautiful grade of fish, from the Yellowtail to all the various "taco meat" fish that we captured as well. Again, we are satisfied with our day but felt we should have done a lot better with our hook-to-land ratio. That's fishing though. There will be days that we land most of what we hook and there will be days that we don't. Just remember that when on a trip fishing for coastal species on the Polaris Supreme or any vessel, don't treat it as if they don't require the respect and attention to detail that offshore tuna would muster. Make sure your gear is in proper working order, properly set your drags, tie good knots/connections, and always have fresh line to start the day after a day of catching fish. Regardless of the fish lost, we are happy with our load in the fish hold and we had a very enjoyable trip.

So that is all. Good times were had by all and we'd like to thank Bret and the SDG & E gang for joining us for three days of good fishing, good food, and good friends. We're rolling up the line in rolly seas and our scheduled ETA to Fisherman's Landing is 0700 hours. We'll be turning around for another three day adventure and we'll chat with you tomorrow. Good night.

-Richie and Team Supreme-  

Friday, July 8th, 2011

Good evening everyone. We arrived at the Yellowtail grounds today with the anticipation of a banner day as yesterday's reports from our long range brothers would give us no reason not to think so. We attempted to crowd some squid up for our bait arsenal but were unsuccessful in the early morning hours and continued on our trek towards the fertile fishing grounds. Once we arrived, it wasn't too long before we settled back on the anchor and had a few fish going. We hooked them using every possible method that we typically apply to catching Yellowtail...to be continued.

PS: 0200 hours update: Squid are floating!!! Gotta go, better report tomorrow. Sorry. Decent Yellowtail fishing today with some other tasty treats to join them in our fish holds. We'll be in Yellowtail land tomorrow.

-Team Supreme-

Thursday, July 7th, 2011

Hi friends. We departed Fisherman's Landing this morning on our annual Seifert, Lane, and Da Silva three day trip with a full load of bait and a full group of familiar faces. Bait loading went smoothly and we're currently motoring down to points South to begin our fishing activities. Reports sound pretty good at one of our favorite Yellowtail fisheries and we expect to do battle with the mighty Jack's sometime tomorrow.

All is well with the crew as we're all back from our 4th of July vacation and happy to be back to work, just doing our jobs and doing what we love. Chef Schooler/Chef Barry are about to kick out the Prime Rib feast, Drew is showered up and ready to serve the feast, and Tommy is downstairs giving the troops the evening briefing. We have nice weather rolling down and we're ready to get after it.

Not a whole lot to report this evening. Hopefully we have more to report tomorrow, we'll see. From the bridge of the Polaris Supreme, we bid you farewell and have a fantastic night.

-Richie and Team Supreme-

Had a few bites but we’re only able to land one 70 lb bluefin. Today’s results have zero influence on tomorrow. Extremely light loads all week. Call Seaforth at 619-224-3383

Friday, July 22nd, 2011

Good evening. With all of the life around the boat last night, we never managed to hook a fish this morning so we made a move and relocated the good sign of fish from yesterday. All in all, it was a very slow day up until the afternoon time when we got on a big breezer of smaller fish and had a nice little flurry on that smaller grade of fish. They really responded well, boiling within ten feet of the transom but for whatever reason we only managed to hook and land a handful. That was pretty much our hot action of the day. We saw a couple good spots of fish today but the Bluefin were Bluefin and it was a struggle to get a bite. There's potential for some decent hits in this area but for now, it's only for a couple of lucky boats and today, we were not a lucky boat. Sometimes, that's just how the cards fall.

With a beautiful load of Yellowtail in the fish holds and an annoying load of kelp flies everywhere else, we put a bow on the 2011 Paul Hess five day trip. Our utmost gratitude goes out to Paul for once again putting together a stellar group of folks and continuing to bring them back year after year. No matter what type of economic situation or what type of fish we catch, this group has a great attitude and they come out here to have a good time. Also, thank you to Sandra and Dave Lafferty for bringing some delicious food, especially the Cherry cobbler. We'll see y'all next year. Go Giants...not.

So there you have it. We're enjoying a fine ride as we motor back to port and we're shooting for a 0730 ETA tomorrow morning. We'll be coming back out with the Costello gang for five days of fun with Captain Drew Henderson at the helm. We'll check back with you tomorrow and have a good weekend.

-Team Supreme-

Thursday, July 21st, 2011

Hi friends. We finally made it to the hot Bluefin grounds in the afternoon and as soon as we arrived, the bite shut off. We saw good life and a few schools but we never saw the whites of their eyes. There is potential to scratch out a day here as the few boats that were in the area all day had a few fish to show for their efforts. Based on that, we rigged up and tossed out the sea anchor and will be drifting offshore all night. There is a ton of life around us right now with squid, sauries, and birds all around so hopefully with all of this life, we'll wake up and pick away at some shortfin's. Wish us luck.

-Richie and Team Supreme-

Wednesday, July 20th, 2011

Good evening friends. Yellowtail fishing aboard the Polaris Supreme was outstanding today. From right after breakfast until the late afternoon, we were pulling on 'tails in the 14-20 lb. class. Massive breezers, meter marks, and color spots were repeatedly located and we enjoyed steady catching all day long in beautiful weather. We had a very entertaining day and the evening time found us on the hunt for "premiums" which we managed to boat one right around 35 lbs. Hot rigs today was 30 lb. test, fly-lining a sardine with a J-hook tied on. No fluorocarbon, no designer circle hooks. A Yellowtail's mouth is like sandpaper, so there is no reason to waste the money on more abrasion resistant/expensive line and a hook that is designed to be set in the corner of the mouth so you don't get chewed off by a fish with teeth. With the exception of cow tuna fishing, we see more fish lost on circle hooks than landed. Granted every type of tackle worked today but time after time, we see just a simple 30 lb. rig filled with mono and tied up with a J-hook catching more fish than a rig with fluorocarbon and designer circle hooks. For Yellowtail fishing, it's an unnecessary expense when a so called "cheap rig" will get the job done just as good. Hey, when you step foot on the Supreme, you can fish with whatever type of tackle you wish. But take it from the people who are out here everyday, when it comes to Yellowtail fishing, keep it simple. Outfit yourself with mono and a J-hook and save that money that you would've spent on the fluoro/designer hooks because you're going to need to put it towards your fish processing bill. Get what I'm saying?

So that is all. The gang has had their fill on Yellowtail so the decision was made to venture offshore to focus on tuna fishing for the remainder of the trip. A couple of our community boats had an OK day on the Bluefin grounds so we're looking forward to seeing if we can't track down a few schools and add to our beautiful catch of Yellowtail before trips end. Our weather is a little bumpy but everyone is too tired to notice, they're out and so are we. Wish us luck and we'll chat with you tomorrow.

Happy Hump Day,

-Team Supreme-

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

Hello friends. We began the hunt for Bluefin tuna early this morning by shutting down in the gray light on a school of tuna and just as soon as everyone woke up to begin fishing, they vanished. So we followed suit and the hunt for greener pastures commenced. It took us a little while to get a school located but when we got it located, it was a good one. We immediately saw fish boiling up good all around the boat and we hooked a few right off the bat. We landed a handful and we lost a handful but what we did land were a beautiful grade of Bluefin in the 25-35 lb. range. With the massive surface show 360 degrees around the boat we decided to get the kite out. Multiple fish attacked the baits but missed the hooks and after that, all we could do was watch them boil within ten feet of the baits and turn their nose away from our double sardine rigs. We watched the show for a couple of hours before they bailed and it was a slow day from that point on. We did pull a couple of nice Yellowtail from a kelp paddy and we even trolled up a smaller grade Bluefin tuna later in the day. Not too shabby considering a lot of boats in the prior weeks have been calling in zero's for fish counts, so we're very happy with what we caught and we'll be back on the tuna grounds after we do some Yellowtail fishing. A couple of boats in our long range community had a pretty steady day on smaller grade Bluefin in another area so we'll keep our ears open to that developing situation. Like I said, we're going to go do some Yellowtail fishing as the bite has been hot and we're looking forward to finding out for ourselves just how hot the bite is.

So that's it. Our weather is fair and we're in excellent company with Paul Hess and his good friends. We'll be in the zone first thing tomorrow morning and we'll report back to you tomorrow. Take care now.

-Richie and Team Supreme-

P.S. Te amo, Anna. From: Mark.

Monday, July 18th, 2011

Hello friends. We're back in business as we departed on our annual Paul Hess five day trip this morning. Paul has been putting together a great group of anglers for the better part of a decade on the Supreme and we're happy to see all the familiar faces that he's brought aboard this year. Our bait loading went smoothly and we've been traveling in calm weather ever since leaving the harbor around lunch time. With boats spread out in different areas along the coast and offshore, we're taking our time in deciding what our game plan is. Part one of our journey will be on the hunt for Bluefin tuna tomorrow morning as one of our companions in the long range fleet saw good sign and had an OK day on the shortfins today. We'll begin looking around in the morning and we'll see if we can't boat a couple of tuna fish tomorrow before we worry about part two. Wish us luck and we'll report back to you tomorrow.

Happy Monday,

-Richie and Team Supreme-

Monday, September 10th, 2012

Hi friends. Just a real dandy of a day for us today. We started it out in the morning with the yellowtail snap and then we followed it up in the afternoon with Monday night footballs. The footballs were all you wanted and we also added a small handful of dorado to our days count. We did all of this in flat calm conditions and the boys are all wore out from the excellent fishing that we had today. Everybody's pumped and I screamed myself hoarse today.

For tomorrow, we're looking for tuna with a little more size as one of our code boats had a nice afternoon on those premium grade offshore yellowfin tuna so we'll be in the area looking around for a few ourselves. The boys enjoyed a twenty-two year old Cabernet sauvigon tonight and I think Robin and Wayne might have shed a tear together while talking about it. I still haven't had any but the dudes looked pretty glossy-eyed so I imagine it was pretty darn good.

Anyhow, the Blue/White gang is having a super duper fantastic time catching fish, drinking cocktails/wine, and eating Chef Shawn's culinary creations. Our weather forecast is looking good for tomorrow so hopefully we can get on a big ole' school of big yellowfin. Wish us luck.