smith mountain lake Fishing Report 2024

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.

Capt Ryan Bostain checked in from the San Diego out of Seaforth Landing, today we ran offshore to search for some Bluefin. Yesterday we went offshore and got skunked, we made the decision to try again today and we are glad we did, we ended with 22 Bluefin for our 22 anglers. That doe not sound like great numbers but the quality more than makes up for it, they are running from 45 to 75 lbs. We are getting most of these fish on the surface iron so make sure you bring several set ups to maximize your chances. The crew makes all the difference in your success and our crew is on of the best in making sure if you hook up you will have a good chance at landing them. We probably had 45 bites mostly on surface irons and we did get a few on bait. We don not know how the bite will last, so hurry up and get down here and get in on this early season action.

108 yellowfin 27 skipjack. These tuna stops have been going from boredom to chaos in a matter of seconds. Knowing how to tie your own hook and leader, having your own pair of pliers, and listening to the crew and making slight adjustments during the stop will keep you in the game. We recommend taking some time before you come out or on the way to the fishing grounds to practice tying on your hook/leader. Our crew members can inspect and show you the right way to do it so when we’re in a hot bite you’re ready for action.

27 Anglers, 57 Yellowtail, and 30 Bonito. Sealions made us work for it but we got our share.

Nov. 15

                Not much to report from us today.  It was a pretty uneventful day.  We traveled all morning until after lunch when we arrived to the Islands, and we never saw a yellowtail.  It was dead as can be at this place.  We took the tour, well as much as we could in a few hours, and ended up back here in the lee.  We were and still are catching calico bass and things.  We did hook something big, a yellow or a big halibut or even a seabass, but we'll never know because the hook straightened out right before we could see it and the fish got away.  And that's it.  We're going to try and keep our anchor hung right here and see what kind of conditions we have here in the morning for our last day of fishing.  As soon as the wind backs off enough for a tolerable ride offshore Tuesday morning, we'll be on our way home.

                                                                                                               

July 17
    Our morning started off hot.  We had some very good tailing for about 1 1/2 hours on the 16-22 pound grade.  We managed to get a few fish per rod in that amount of time frame before things went dead around 8:30.  It's OK, we were expecting that.  We stuck with the plan and looked for yellowfin after that and it wasn't long before we connected.  We had 2 good stops and one great stop on the yellowfin tunas and scattered small stops the rest of the day.  They were a bit on the small side but that's what's around here so we fished them.  After that we drove out of the zone to put ourselves in position for tomorrow and didn't catch much the rest of the day.

    We'll be tailing it again tomorrow looking for the bigguns down below first thing in the morning.  The weather this morning was great.  It got a little windy in the afternoon but it was OK.
                                

 

Tom Rothery brought his Polaris Supreme home to Fisherman's Landing January 11 after a 16-day trip to the Hurricane Bank and the Southern Banks of Baja. There were seven anglers on the annual George Davis expedition, and they produced ten more cows for the record.

In his report from the boat on Friday January 2, Tom reported a good day of fishing.

"Yes, now this is what I'm talking about," he wrote. "We finally got a break in the weather. It is beautiful and we have left Hurricane Bank. We are now heading to the upper banks. We will be there tomorrow night. Yesterday was an ok day of fishing. George kept a 219 and released a 185. Jeremy released a 140.

"Craig kept a 205 and by the way that was a mistake yesterday. Craig kept a 210 pounder. Al kept a 100 for his buddies that are going to Ennis hunting. They are going to open pit barbeque it on a spit like a pig. Now, that sounds interesting. ‚Д®

"Charlie released a 125 and Scott released a 140. Each day we also had five to 12 fish that we caught that were under 100 pounds and were not mentioned. These all were released.

"Yesterday we also had good wahoo fishing. Jeremy and Craig both caught 4 and Gunnar and Al got 3. Everybody else had a couple a piece. Overall the trip to Hurricane Bank has been very good with eight tuna over 200 pounds, and excellent wahoo fishing."

Chartermaster George Davis of San Dimas won the jackpot while catching four cows. His tuna weighed 241.8, 219.8, 213.6 and 208 pounds. The big one came on squid on the kite, he said.

George fished with 7/0 Mustad 7691 hooks, 130-pound Momoi line and 130-pound Line One Spectra on a Penn 70 VSW reel and a Calstar 655 XXH rod. He said the big one came to gaff in just 20 minutes.

Allen Tokunaga of North Hollywood won second place for a 224.6-pounder.

"These Hurricane Bank fish seemed a little tougher than the ones on the inside," he remarked. "This one took me 40 minutes. He went around the boat a couple of times, and then came up on the port side of the stern."

Al fished a sardine on an 8/0 Eagle Claw hook, on 130-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon leader, 100-pound P-Line and 130-pound Izorline Spectra. He used a Penn 50 reel modified by Cal Sheets and a Calstar 6465 XXH rod.

Scott Brown of Costa mesa won third place for his 213.2-pounder. He also got a 202.6-pounder. He fished a small jack under the kite on a 9/0 Mustad 7691 hook. He used 130-pound Momoi line and 130-pound Izorline Spectra on a Penn 70 VSW reel and a Calstar 655 XXH rod.

"The big one was a 20-minute fish," he remarked. "He came to the boat pretty good."

One big tuna was eaten by the passengers and crew while the boat was still fishing. It was a 215-pounder caught by Craig Johnston of Costa Mesa, who also got a 204-pounder. Craig said he got them on the kite, on double sardine baits pinned to 7/0 Mustad 7691 hooks. He fished with a 130-pound Momoi topshot on 130-pound Izorline Spectra, with a Penn 70 VSW reel and a Calstar 655 XXH rod.

"It took about 30 minutes," he said. "We had rough seas then; it was a fun fight."

Jeremy Chandler of San Dimas got a 203.6-pounder on a jack under the kite on a 7/0 Mustad 7691 hook and the boat's kite rig.