merimbula Fishing Report 2024

Polaris Supreme Trip Up Date 11-17-2013

Another productive day of scratch fishing here aboard the Polaris Supreme, off of the Baja Mexico coast. A bit more variety than days past, even to the point of stumping the marine biologist passengers aboard in identifying a bottom dwelling creature or two that were incidental catches. Anything that comes aboard that stumps the boat is typically referred to generically as a "snarf" of some type. Seems as though there's always something new to discover on these trips.

Our weather continues to behave, and we're loving that. I don't believe that we've had 10 knots of wind at any point over the past eight days. We couldn't ask for better weather. The sea temperature is dropping slightly as we head into the more northerly latitudes, though. We were up bright and early this morning, before daybreak, and watched as the moon set in the distance, glimmering off of the calm ocean. It looked like a French impressionist painting, except that we were experiencing it, and it was all around us, rather than someone else's rendition hanging on a museum's wall.

Crewmember Mark modeled his hardhat briefly this afternoon. I think it's in anticipation of his getting ready to do something really stupid, and being sentenced by the rest of the crew to wearing it for an extended period of time. Think of it as the Polaris Supreme's version of a dunce cap. Kristin, I apologize for spelling your name incorrectly yesterday. Happy anniversary AGAIN to both you and Captain Drew.

Dinner tonight is fresh wahoo, with some rice and green beans, I believe. I only eat the dinners to get my hands on the incredible desserts that they've been serving. Not really ... I only eat the desserts to make Captain Tommy feel less guilty for his indulgences.

A couple years ago we lost one of our favorite passengers, “Iron Mike” Morrison. Today our charter group honored him on his birthday with a stellar day of fishing. 96 yellowfin 68 skipjack 58 yellowtail.

The old timers used to say “ wind from the south, fish close their mouth”. Today we had a brisk south wind all day and the yellowtail were a bit off. We saw plenty of fish and managed to land 83. Flylined baits and yo-yo jigs were the best today.

Capt Ryan called in from the San Diego, they wanted everyone to know the are still fishing offshore. Today we ended the day with 105 Yellowfin Tuna and a handful of Dorado, a few Yellowtail. The fishing is still great down here, we need a few more to make tomorrows trip a go, our loads are light and the weather and the water is perfect. We depart everyday at 5:30am and return around 5pm, to book a spot give the landing a call at 619-224-3383 and get in on this action. Come on down and see us at Seaforth landing.

A five-day Dan Heil Annual Charter aboard Polaris Supreme with Skipper Drew Henderson, arrived August 21 at Fisherman's Landing. "It's been 20 years now, since '87," said chartermaster Ron Heil, "that I've been doing this trip. My father Dan, who passed away this last season, had been doing it since Tommy (Rothery) bought the boat back in '80 or '81." Dan Heil had been chartering with Rothery since the early eighties on the Polaris Deluxe, now the Breezers. He sailed with Rothery on the Polaris Supreme since '85. Rothery bought the boat from Bill Poole in 1987. "It was a little choppy on that first day," said Skipper Henderson. "But we had great albacore fishing. Cedros was great, we spent a half-day kelp fishing with little action, so we finished up at Benitos, and it was all the fish you could get." "We had a good trip and great timing," continued Heil, who hails from Portland, OR. "Drew did a great job, right out of the chute the first day, we were on a great albacore bite. It was a well rounded trip."
Mike Hunting of Riverside landed a 48.4-pound yellowtail at Benitos Islands, good for first place in the jackpot. Mike fished a sardine on a 5/0 Owner hook, 40-pound P-Line, an Avet HX 2-speed reel, and a Calstar rod. "We were in a shallow spot on the ridge" said Hunting, "and there were guys losing fish in the kelp. So when I got bit, I decided he wasn't gonna get to the kelp, so I buttoned down, past strike, and started cranking." Bill Byler of Covina was second for a 37.6-pound albacore and Gary De Void of Encinitas was third for a 36.4-pound albie.

Awesome fishing once again for these butterball Yellowfin. 110 Yellowfin and 8 Skipjack for our 24 Angler’s today in some of the most epic weather of the season.

Well what the heck! I just went to go get some pictures to post on our wrap up of Tom Chaparros six-day trip! Yes that's right it was a six-day trip not a five! And next year it is going to be a seven-day trip! If you care to join Tom and his gang give Susan a call! He limits his trip to only 18 anglers. Anyways I went to go get some pictures out of our files and all we had was pizza! And then I realized the only slow day of fishing we had out of six days was the day we made pizza! Thus the only day we had time to take pictures! We were too busy gaffing 18 to 22 pound average yellowtail and or 15 To 16 pound average yellowfin tuna! Our fishing was absolutely fantastic. The yellowtail fishing was excellent surface iron and fly line sardine as well was the yellowfin tuna fishing. A iron throwers paradise. One thing I should point out about Tom's trip as well as every trip we've had so far this year is that our weather has been absolutely superb! I think maybe we've only had two choppy days in the last 33. Tom Chaparros seven day trip next year 2018 will be departing on Wednesday August 1 and arriving Wednesday, August 8. After getting to see what great fishing we could get into stretching the trip 1 day and seeing some of the other boats on longer trips getting a shot at the Wahoo it got everyone to want to extend the trip. Please check with Susan and Tom to see if they have openings. Thanks for tuning in and checking us out we have a few openings coming up in the fall please check out our schedule to see if something fits in to join us for some fantastic fishing. The Polaris Supreme Crew !

We arrived at noon and had a good hit on the 80-100 lb tuna, but we didn't see anything bigger. Weather is sloppy again, but got nice in the afternoon when we went looking around. So we will keep looking for the big ones and check back with you tomorrow.Thanks,Tommy and crew