mid atlantic Fishing Report 2024

First things first !! I think a hearty Sportfishingreport.com congratulations are in order for J.J Gerritsen and the crew of the Apollo for their clean #1 sweep in annual SFR fishcount standings for 2006. Yellowfin Tuna # 1!!!!!!!!!!!, Albacore Tuna # 1!!!!!!!, Dorado #1 !!!! Very impressive numbers indeed !!!! Way to go guys, awesome year !!!!So when good friend and Santa Barbara local Doug Browand called and said a bunch of local firefighters and friends had chartered the #1 boat in the land for a little Island Freelance trip, I was packing my gear and clearing my schedule in a hurry. We loaded up on time and headed out of Sea Landing in Santa Barbara straight to Santa Rosa Island in case the squid and WSB wanted to show. J.J promised us some outrageous rockfish and lingcod action if the seabass were still MIA. We gave it a solid effort but with no signs of squid or WSB we motored up and headed out to some of Captain J.J's secret rocks and reefs. The first drift of the day produced monster reds and chuckles that rival some of the nicest and biggest rockfish I've seen and caught in many years. The Channel Islands Rockfishing is on Fire !!!!!! Throw a bunch of nice legal lings into the mix and you're talking a really fine day of fishing and a great time for all. The fishing at the Islands is only going to get better and J.J and the boys on the Apollo will be there fishing for them everyday. Check their website for their open party schedule and don't forget about the upcoming SFR charter on the Apollo.

Spots are filling quickly on this open party 5.5 day trip! This trip is sponsored by Blackwater fishing line and Tady lures. We will be targeting early-season big bluefin, as well as yellowtail and calico bass at cedros and Benitos. The trip is limited to 18 passengers! Ticket cost is $1400. Contact Jody at 858-220-1593 or at [email protected]

Sep. 4

Another good day for us today. Most of the first half of the day was spent traveling. We did some trolling and stuff and stopped on a kelp and took advantage of the mackerel we got. There was a ton of tiny yellowtail and small tuna on it but as soon as I talked everyone into using mackerel we started getting bigger tuna and some dorado. Shortly there after we found a school of those cow bluefin but all we got out of it was a couple boils. No bites. We looked around for a while after that only catching tuna that we wouldn't put a tag on because they were too small. Then out of the blue we had a problem with the boat that made us need to be drifting to take care of it so our friends on the Spirit Of Adventure were getting ready to leave a drift to make it to new grounds by morning time so we took it over. Perfect timing too. We needed to stop so why not stop on fish. That's what we did and they snapped for us until dark. The issue was taken care of and we're now drifting and will stay that way until sunrise tomorrow. The weather was good today. Compared to the last 5 days it was windy and rolly as hell but we've been spoiled the last 5 days. It's normal good weather now.

Drew

Had another great day of grinding away at Yellowtail and Wahoo. The Wahoo are still around, they are now on live bait better than the trolling jigs and casting lures. There was also a nice shot on quality Yellowtail in the dark, so you may be going to bed late or waking up early if you are on an upcoming trip! Working up tomorrow, Team Supreme

Aug. 18
    We fished today in the local bluefin zone.  We scratched at the yellowfin and picked at the bluefin for 5 hours this morning.  Scratch means we were getting a few here and there and pick means we were getting one here and there.  In the morning the blues were mostly 25-45 pounds and we caught half a dozen or so 60-70 pounders.  Between noon and 5:00 PM we drove around looking for fish with not much luck and we went back to the blue zone for the evening session and had a real good evening.  We picked up 7 more 60-80 pounders and the yellowfin got on us a couple times and we couldn't stop catching it until after dark.  One post it note I made today was BBB.  It's a reminder to tell you about a regular passenger of ours by the name of Bill Byler.  If you don't know Bill he is one of those loud mouth, smart mouth old retired fireman guys and he's awesome.  He is a load of fun.  Anyways he was hooked up onto one of those big Bluefins late today and I heard Gunny tell him his boots were on back wards.  I thought it was just a joke but sure enough, his darn boots were on the wrong feet.  He said he was wondering why his feet hurt so much.  I never seen that before.  He ended up catching 2 of those tonight.

    The last couple days have been choppy out here but today it was very nice.  We get in tomorrow and leave again for 4.  See you then.
                    

 

Hello anglers. We have a very short notice opening. This is a 5 day leaving Nov. 1st. returning Nov. 6th. We are going to Guadalupe Island. JJ had been there on a few trips already this year and fishing has been amazing. Call Toke if you can make this one. 310-413-4343

Capt. Mike Pritchard called in with this report for the Tribute. "We're still having very good fishing. We've caught 45 Yellowfin tuna, 10 Dorado & limits of Yellowtail. We're seeing very good signs of fish down here, a lot of Yellowtail.

"We do have a 1.5 Dy trip leaving tomorrow night. Right now we only have 9 people signed up. That trip is a definite go, so if you like fishing on a light load call Seaforth Landing at 619-224-3383."

FANTASTIC 1.5 TRIP WITH CAPT. J.J.!!!! APOLLO just came back in with 24 anglers brought in 26 Yellowtail(ranging 22 lbs to 30 lbs), 78 Lings, & limits of Rockfish. Next available trips will be Feb 2nd & 16th. Book now before it's too late. Call Fisherman's Landing @ (619)221-8500 to get your reservation.