panhandle Fishing Report 2025

Aug. 14
    Arrive depart today.  We offloaded a beautiful catch, got fuel, changed oil + fuel filters, swapped out some crew and left the dock by 10:00.  We're good.  We left on a very long running charter called the Heil charter.  I won't go into our bait loading, I'll just say we have some bait on board.  We were in the fishing grounds before 3:00 this afternoon.  The couple boats that departed yesterday had some good yellow finning.  When we got there it just had that "should've been here yesterday" kind of feel to it.  We didn't see much.  We had one long drift where we picked up 14 but other then that it didn't feel like we were going to get a hit so we rolled out of that zone.  Below there didn't look much better until right around 8:00 when the sun fell we had a good old fashioned blind jig strike that resulted in a good stop.  We always fish till the end over here and tonight we were rewarded.  The fish bit full speed but only for a flash but it was long enough to get everyone on board at least one with many getting three or more.  They were snapping.  I call departure fish free fish because we weren't even supposed to be fishing.  They're free.  Anyways we're going to fish again tomorrow.  See you then.
                             
     Oh yeah, the weather is still sooo nice.  We're going to have to pay for this stretch.

Danny Erickson and his daughter with 2 bluefin and a yellowfin. After 8 hours of collecting Vitamin D in choppy seas. We stumbled upon an area and enjoyed some late action.

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

Captain Ryan Bostian checked in at 12:56 PM with an update from the San Diego out of Seaforth Sportfishing in Mission Bay, CA. We have been fishing the Coronado Islands for the past few months. The water temps dropped significantly so we fished offshore today. Captain Cameron checked in at 11:15 with 35 Yellowtail. We are hoping the Bluefin make a showing. We are fishing offshore tomorrow too. Call Seaforth now and get in on the action.

Saturday, July 6th, 2013

Hi friends. We just finished up breaking down tackle, scrubbing/freshwater rinsing the tackle, scrubbing the boat, cleaning the upper deck, and putting fresh line on the handout tackle for our 6-day trip tomorrow. With all the chores completed, I'll give everyone a rundown of our daily events.

The bluefins eluded us today. Well, they eluded our sonar, fathometer, our baits, our hooks, etc. You name it, and they eluded it. We did see plenty of fish but they were all scattered out all over the place. Jumper here, jumper there, single sonar pop here, single sonar pop there. Absolutely no substance to any of it. Very frustrating to say the least. Our tuna count was nothing to write home about but we had a backup plan that we worked to perfection.

After getting the slip from the BFT, we managed to locate numerous kelps and had ourselves a couple of good stops on some Yellowtails to salvage the day. The gang had a rollicking good time and we ended our trip on a high note. Speaking of high notes, our sea conditions were once again fan-freaking-tastic today. The wind, mist, and chilly air kept us bundled up but it burnt off by lunch and we got in a mini bronzing session.

So that was our day in a low cholesterol peanut shell. We went the distance for the gang today and are burning the midnight oil. We stayed out late for Archie and company and our ETA for tomorrow will be 0900 hours. We'll be turning around for a 6-day adventure and we will be guided under the stong hands of Drew "Strong Hands" Henderson.

Take care. Fillet Mignon, crab, holandaise, asparagus, and mashed potatoes are calling our names. See ya.

P.S. Gunny says hello and thank you for following Richie's ravishing reports, Rosalyn.

Capt Ryan of the San Diego just called in to say he had 40+ (15-25 lbs) YELLOWTAIL today on a 3/4 day trip. They have an open party trip tomorrow departing at 5am, give SEAFORTH Landing a call at 619-224-3383 to get in on this action.

Saturday, September 29th, 2012

Hi friends. Tough day for us down here in the magical kelp paddy zone. The weather gave us fits all day but we did manage to scratch a day together. The weather was workable but not favorable with 18 knots of wind and a short, medium-sized wind chop. I had trouble going any kind of northerly or westerly direction most of the day for fear of soaking our mast-man.

Even with the weather, we managed to catch 60 yellowfin tuna, 19 yellowtail, 17 dorado, and some skipjack off of a few jig strikes and multiple kelp paddies. We saw good water structure and found plenty of beautiful kelps but all we found were either scraps from other boats or the fish we did see, were just reluctant to latch on to our hooks. All in all, I'm happy with our day and I feel that we were right on par for the boats in the area. Guys have been fishing the same kelps for days and days --either in the local zone or this lower zone-- so I felt the need to get on something fresh and get away from the glob of boats in the area. It kind of panned out but like I said, I'm happy with our day --weather considered-- and our group hung tough with the sloppy weather.

So that is all. We'll be returning to the docks tomorrow sometime between 11:00 and noon, and we'll be turning around for another day and a half trip tomorrow evening. The weather is projected to come down and now all we have to worry about is getting a load of bait that doesn't die eighteen hours later. Take care and we'll chat with you tomorrow.

-The Supreme Team

Tommy Rothery returned Polaris Supreme to Fisherman's Landing November 18 after a ten-day Ocean Tackle Research charter. The boat had 13 anglers aboard. Chartermaster Lon Mikkelsen of Hood River, OR saw his father, Bill Mikkelsen of Olympia, WA land the season's first super cow; a tuna over 300 pounds.
"It was full-speed fishing," said Chartermaster Lon Mikkelsen. Bill Mikkelsen's big fish won first place after it weighed in at 308.8-pounds, caught on a fly-lined sardine. Bill used the boats gear, including a 6/0 Mustad 7691 hook, 100-pound P-Line, and a Shimano rod and reel.
"Tommy said it was tail-wrapped from the beginning," said the elder Mikkelsen. "And he was, but he got lose and went on another run. He took me around the boat twice." "We started with yellowtail fishing on the ridge that turned out to be a real good bite," said Rothery. "We easily could have got limits on yellowtail and dorado, but these guys normally release most of their fish. We had one day of awesome marlin fishing, which this group enjoyed quite a bit." "I think we had maybe 200 hookups on marlin," said John Esler of Portland. "But our yellowfin bite was pretty amazing. Once Tommy would find them, he'd shut the motors off and just drift. They didn't need a lot of chum either, they were boiling all around the boat." Esler landed a 206.7-pound yellowfin.
Matt Kiesse of Cederville, CA was second place with a 279.8-pound yellowfin.
"The trip was just spectacular," said Kiesse. "We got everything." Lon Mikkelsen was third with a 277.9-pound tuna. The trip scored five tuna over 200 pounds.