sam rayburn Fishing Report 2025

Today on the San Diego, 28 passengers got their Mexican limits of Yellowtail, hooked some Dorado.

Aug. 20
    Another fantastic day out here for us.  We had a great nights sleep.  The boat just gently rocked us to sleep just like a baby.  We tried for a gray bite but only caught one.  It didn't take long looking for a school before we found one.  We short stopped 15 yellowfin and then it didn't take long to find another deal and that one was good for a 2 hour drift.  When that dried up it didn't take long to find another one and that one was good for a 2 1/2 hour drift.  After that it was lunch time and we're pretty much done with the yellowfin.  We spent the last half of the day looking for bluefin unsuccessfully.  We're going to head for some new grounds.  And by that I mean some water I can't remember ever fishing in.  We have reports of some bluefin schools so we're going to check it out.  We'll be there first thing.  I'll let you know.

    The weather today got interesting.  It stayed pretty much windless through out the day so it remained similar to a lake, but around 9:00 in the AM it started dumping rain on us.  And I mean dumping.  Everyone on board scrambled for there rain gear.  I got to try out my new Aftco raincoat and it worked great.  During the down pour the lightning that was around got pretty darn close so I had everyone go indoors to wait it out.  It didn't take long to pass and we continued fishing and catching.  After that it stayed dry the rest of the day.  The boat got a nice fresh water rinse.
                                    

 

We spent our last day looking at school after school of albacore. A very good sign of no biting fish. Frustrating? Yes. Oh well. That's just how it goes sometimes. A very good trip in all. Thanks to everyone on board and to the charter master Wayne Martin with Catchy Tackle lures. We'll be rolling back out tomorrow on another 5 day trip. Stay tuned.

We departed today on Larry Brown's annual 10-day trip with 22 fine anglers. Most are repeats as they join Larry each year, but we are delighted to have a couple of new comers. We are in good weather and are happy to be driving out of the sooty smoky air. The group is excited after seeing Drew's great catch from the last trip. He had Dorado, Wahoo, those big cow Yellowtail and some Yellowfin with the jackpot weighing in at 160 lbs.! We are also getting reports that fish are moving in a new area and want to bite. This is all good news. So I will close for now as we get ready for dinner of filet and lobster with vegetables and a baked potato. Thanks for checking in and we'll update again tomorrow.

Captain Mike Pritchard checked in with an audio update from the Tribute out of Seaforth Sportfishing in Mission Bay.  We have been drifting for 5 hours now.  We have 16 Bluefin Tuna in the 60 to 80 pound class.

The Tribute is online at Seaforth by the seashore.

Spent most of our day in search mode after spending 2 days on the beach. Late in the day the group effort was rewarded. We ended with 55 yellowfin (15-35 lbs) and 75 small yellowtail for 36 anglers. Some nice schools of bluefin were also seen in the same area. A 20,30 and 40 lb rod will be perfect.

ISLANDS ARE ON THE MEND ! 35 yellowtail (12-25 lbs) on the boat so far for just 20 anglers. Flylined Sardines on 25 & 30 lb monofilament has been the best. Stay tuned for a final report.

Ryan Bostian called in to give this report for the San Diego. "Today was our 1st Day at the Coronado Islands, after spending a month offsore. Today we went down to the Islands with 24 anglers and we're coming back to the dock with 32 Yellowtail. The Yellowtail we caught ran from 12 to 25 lbs. There are enough big ones in the mix to keep it interesting for sure. We caught fish on all 3 techniques today; flyline-sardine, surface iron and yo-yo lures. So if you are going fishing with us I'd bring three rods for the local Yellowtail fishing. Fly line sardine with a 25 or 30 lb. was probably the best way to get a bite. However, we did have plenty of fish on the lures.

"Com on down and see us, we leave the dock everyday at 5:30 AM. We'll be fishing these Yellowtail at the Coronado Islands as long as the fish are here. We saw some big beautiful schools today. Hopefully they stick around. We'll check back in again tomorrow.