sandy river Fishing Report 2025

Oct. 13

Well we struck out on the bluefin today. It wasn't a called third strike, I mean we went down swinging but they definitely beat us today. We saw one good school in the dark hours of the a.m. that didn't stick and then found one deal that didn't react all that bitchen after daylight. We only landed five but they were beautiful fish. 35-50 pounders. Our afternoon was spent traveling down. We left that zone after lunch because we didn't have high hopes for the afternoon based on what we and the other boats had seen.

Our weather was good today. Cold, but not a whole lot of wind. We're going to be fishing for yellowfin tuna tomorrow at first light. They'll be a few of us looking around there so hopefully we get them located early.

 

In other news Mark tried to tell me that Steve Nash was as tall as he was and I called him out on it, bet him 20 dollars in which he agreed upon, and then I had to call my lovely wife to get her to Google it. I was right, he's 6'3" and now I'm 20 dollars richer. Here's the thing though, I spent almost 20 dollars in the phone call to win that bet so was it worth it? Absolutely. I would gladly spend more money then I'd win against Mark, he's fat, just to prove my point and make him 20 dollars less rich.

Today was tough for the first 3/4's of the day looking for 30-40 lb. yellowtail and we only picked up a 1/2 dozen. by late afternoon we bailed out and went for the 20 pounders and had excellent time winding up our yellowtail fishing for the trip. Tomorrow we will be strictly concentrating of Dorado and any tuna we might find. The weather is still spectacular. Thanks, Tommy and crew

Capt Mike Pritchard called in from the Tribute with an awesome early morning fish report, it is 9 am and we already have 47 Bluefin Tuna from 40 to just over 100lbs, and a few Yellowfin Tuna. What a way to start the day, if you coming out to fish, make sure your tackle is in good working order, this will prevent some heartbreaks. We recommend that you have at least a 40 lb set up, also, a special thanks to SAC for assisting in getting the Bluefin Tuna issue resolved with Mexican authorities. Hope to see you out here soon.

Often times the very FIRST piece of the puzzle is the most difficult to locate. Today we stopped on multiple small schools of yellowtail that were surprisingly hard to hook. Full size yo-yo jigs on 40 lb mono produced the first 2 yellowtail of our season. We also spent a couple hours fishing the bottom to assure everyone had plenty of white meat. We’re hoping this is just the tip of the iceberg. Make those resos !

A DRIFT WE Will NEVER FORGET ! Today we went out with 6 passengers who ignored yesterday’s fish count and understand that fishing is more about spending time in nature than harvesting meat. After our 3 hour drift everyone onboard had either landed or fought and released a fish of a lifetime. Final tally was 7 bluefin, 6@ 110-150 and 1@65 lbs. please come prepared with a 25 lb rod a a 40 lb rod and a 50-80 lb rod. Today’s best setup was a 4oz. torpedo sinker rubber banded above a 2/0 circle hook on 50-80 lb.

Aug 12
    Today was awesome.  We woke up drifting catching fish and that's about what we did until dark.  I'm not kidding you.  We moved the boat just a handful of times but never for more then 10 minutes.  It was drifting with always at least one on the hook.  In the morning until after lunch it was mostly bluefin in the 30-45 pound range with the occasional 60-80 pounder.  I have to tell you that that's a much more manageable grade.  It's a much better fish to start off on than those 60-80 pounders.  Don't get me wrong, you know I love catching those beauts but they make a much better cherry than ice cream if you know what I mean.  We had that kind of day where if we catch them tomorrow it will be the cherry on top.  The rest of the day we got into yellowfin tuna mode and it was game on for those fish.  Tommy decided to save our sardine on board it being they were feeding on the anchovy that went over the side so that's what we used.  Chovy baby.  I can't ever remember fishing anchovy for tuna on this boat.  I have to go back to my mission bay days to remember that but I didn't forget how to do it.  I wrote this in the beginning of the season and I'll write about it again.  If you're coming on a future trip, please remember to bring the lost art of anchovy fishing skills.  A big part of that is an anchovy rod and reel.  Something light that's meant for 20-25 pound test with a nice free spool to help you toss those anchovies away from the boat.  I hate to say it but if that means you need to bring your coffee grinder so be it.  
    The weather is still good!  Man I hope this can hold up for at least my buds on the upcoming Heil 5 day trip leaving the day after tomorrow.  We're staying put right here for our last day fishing tomorrow.  We're hoping we can get more of the 60-80 pounders tomorrow but we will be stoked with the 30-45's as well.