sandy Fishing Report 2025

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.

A four-day trip with 24 anglers aboard Polaris Supreme and skippered by owner Tom Rothery returned to Fisherman's Landing July 9. Richard Bradshaw of Poulsbo, WA won first place for a 43-pound bluefin. He got that fish with a sardine on a 4/0 Mustad hook, 30-pound Maxima line on a Sealine 50 reel and one of the boat's rods. Jules Appelman of Albeuquerque was second for a 39.4-pound albacore, and Doug Dalme of Napa won third place for a 38.9-pound albacore tuna.

Captain Ryan from the SAN Diego checked in. 38 Passengers 131 Yellowtail, 21 Calp Bass, 5 Barracudda. Reel good action right on top.  We fish everyday!

Another one bites the dust ! 12 fish over 100 pounds 2 fish over 200 pounds and 23 school sized bluefin. @pennreels are what we use and trust, they have taken a huge part in our success when it comes to these fish. Thank you !!!!

July 13
    We had some good tailing today.  We were a little slow out of the gates.  We didn't get on them until a few hours after daylight but when we did it was good fishing on the 18-25 pound fish.  We had one of those good old long drifts where we were gettin um.  Of course after a while we had a lull so we went searching and found some mixed grade yellowtails eager to bite.  They were mostly 10-14 pounds with a few 16-18 pounders in the mix but it was still fun and they were biting.  We did that for a couple hours and left them biting to find the bigger grade of fish we were fishing in the morning and wouldn't you know it, we got an evening whack.  A sun setter.  Now this fish seemed to be even bigger than the morning grade.  I'm talking 22-28 pounders this time.  Maybe a few bigger.  At dark we decided we had enough yellowtail and we'd like to top off with some more yellowfin and try for some bluefin in a couple of days so we'll be running up tonight.  The weather for us was good
  and the forecast for the future looks tasty.  5 knots of wind makes my mouth water.  Everyone on board here is fat and happy.  What I mean by that is they're being fed well and are having a good time.

 

~~Oct. 9
 Good evening to everyone at home or wherever you may read this.  After one night dockside we were back to the boat this afternoon.  We headed to the fuel dock and changed oil and fuel filters, filled her all the way up on fuel, grabbed some brine making salt and loaded 2 weeks worth of food.  Shortly after getting back to Fishermans Landing, all our dogs got here.  I'm talking about George, Craig, Charlie, the Jer-bear, the Bry man, Bernie, Scott and the infamous J.C.  Infamous.  That's like really famous. 

 We took our time at the bait receivers to ensure we had the best that bait could offer us.  We're pretty happy with it at the moment.  For the next 4 days we'll be traveling to our destination of the Shamada seamount.  AKA Hurricane Bank.  And speaking of hurricanes, there isn't one at the moment.  Lately they've just been rolling in one after another but for now, none.  It's our destiny to get down below and catch very large yellowfin and wahoo.  Tommy spent a bunch of money and rented a system that allows us to get on the web where ever we are which allows us too look at all our weather web sites to keep track of storms that may be an issue to us.  So worry not.  We won't be anywhere near a low pressure system this trip.  Safe and sound out here as always.

 Anyways, it sure looked to me like everyone had a good afternoon hanging out, getting there cigar on and doing what they do.  We didn't even make it through dinner before the Bry-man and the Jer-bear got on what they call Team Bernard.  It's there thing to talk some smack and make fun of Scott and Bernie and it's hilarious on all sides.  Here we go.

 So for the next few days we'll be getting ready for a week of some hardcore fishing.  Rigging tackle, tuna and wahoo seminars, naps, movies, food, cocktails...  I think the next few reports will read like this paragraph we're on now.
        

 

July 21
    I don't think anything abnormal happened today during our turn around.  Well, Sysco was late so we left for the fuel dock before that came aboard so, just another turn around day is what I'm trying to say.  We loaded the Paul Hess group, our Hess homies and we were out.  I think things went OK at the bait receivers.  We'll find out.  We fished this afternoon.  It's the year of departure fish days.  We scratched 16 nice grade tuna.  We're traveling now and I'm on watch.  It's almost 3:00 am on the 22nd and I believe we're in American waters.  I'm thinking about it and I don't think I've ever fished in American waters in the beginning of a 5 day trip which is what we're on.

    The weather this afternoon was rolly and choppy.  The weather now is pretty nice but I think it's supposed to be bad the next couple of days.  Windy, choppy, rolly oh my.

 

Captain Ryan Bostian called in last night. We just got in from our Coronado Islands Yellowtail trip. We had limits of Yellowtail for our group today. There are a few different schools of fish. Most the fish are 10 to 15 pounds. The fishing was very good today. YoYo jig and drop loop was hot. In the afternoon the surface fishing picked up. The San Diego is online everyday. Please call Seaforth Sportfishing at (619) 224-3383 or book online at www.thesandiego.com.