smith river montana Fishing Report 2023

The 21st annual Eric Rogger charter arrived at Fisherman's Landing August 16, after five days with 18 anglers aboard Polaris Supreme. Owner-skipper Tom Rothery was at the helm. "Wow!  What an incredible day," wrote Tom August 12. "This albacore is in the cooler 76-degree water.  It wants to bite wide open. Can't say enough about how much fun today was catching big fat jumbo albacore. They tired our anglers out. By the end of the day only a few fishermen were still standing.  Chef Pedro fixed a spicy teriyaki albacore lunch that was fantastic.  For dinner he served some delicious veal chops. Today was just a great. This is what albacore fishing is supposed to be like." John Lindsey of Newport Beach won first place for a 41.4-pound albacore. He took it with a sardine on a Mustad 2/0 94150 hook on 20-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon leader, 20-pound P-Line, an Accurate 197 reel and a nine-foot rod of unknown make. "He fought hard," said John. "He fought for 20 minutes."
Cole Pearce of Huntington Beach was second, for a 36.4-pound albie, and Brian Harnack of Culver City took third place for a 36-pound albacore.

We have a 2-day trip coming up and need some people to help fill it. This could be a great opportunity to get in on some sea bass action. There were already a few 40# sea bass caught at the channel islands last weekend Here is the info for the trip. I hope to see you there.

2 Day trip on the Apollo
Departs: Friday April 29, 2011, (8:00 p.m.)
Fish: Saturday, April 30, 2011 and Sunday May 1st, 2011
Returns: Sunday, May 1, 2011 (evening)
Landing: Sea Landing, Santa Barbara, CA
Targeted Species: Seabass, Halibut and Rockfish
Meals: Has not been included
Drinks: Have not been included
Fish Cleaning, Jack pot, and Gratuity are extra
Price: $320( paypal: [email protected])
Reserving a spot: In order to reserve your spot, I will need a 50%
deposit ($160.00). The balance shall be due one month prior to
departure.
Cancellation Policy: No refunds can be issued; it is your
responsibility to find a replacement. In the event the boat is cancelled
due to inclement weather the trip will be re-scheduled.
Contact Info: Steph Franklin, 35 W. Main Street Suite B124, Ventura,CA 93001;
phone #805.708.5276 or [email protected]

Nov. 11

                Not a very good day for us today.  I wish I could call it a travel day too but we did a lot of fishing, just not catching.  Well, we did need to travel for 4 hours of the day to put us in position for tomorrow, so maybe I can call it a travel day.  Anyways, the weather today was pretty crappy when I first woke up and not much better when we arrived to our first fishing destination of the day at 7:00 AM.  That could be why the wahoo weren't there and biting.  But after 3 hours there, the weather was nice.  The wind backed off and the ocean flattened out.  Unfortunately 12 miles below there the current did a 180 and the wind picked up a little and things got jacked up.  The swell and chop were coming from every which way and we couldn't pick a smooth course.  We got our roll on for most the rest of the day.  Spot #2 looked like we could've caught a bunch of nice yellers but the skip jack wouldn't let us have any of it.  They were hitting everything we threw in.  That's alright though.  We needed the chunk for tomorrow.  We did get a few nice yellows though.

 

                After that we had a delicious cheeseburger and some took a nap during our 20 mile move.  I had high hopes for this place but it was not to be so we threw in the towel a bit before dark to make sure we give ourselves plenty of time to get to our next destination.  We'll be hunting for cows tomorrow.  We need a little luck and by that I mean good timing.  The fish need to be on the bank tomorrow for us because above here didn't seem like the answer for the last couple of days. 

 

                Mama Bear: Though we only caught a few wahoo today, your little rascal caught one of them.  His first wahoo.  I guess the ritual for that is a deck hose soaking?  I never heard of that but he got a drenching after that one.

Skipper JJ Gerritsen returned with his Apollo to Fisherman's Landing November 21, after an eight-day, ultra-limited trip. The boat's ten passengers fished Guadalupe Island before taking off for Magdalena Bay to fish big tuna on their final day. "All of our long range trips are ultra-limited," said JJ. "It takes away competition factors, we won't do more than ten passengers. We got limits of yellowfin, Guadalupe's been great our last six trips, but we did something different this time; we headed out for a shot at these big ones. All of our fish are kept in refrigerated saltwater, so they still look great." Matt Bowland of Encinitas took home the best tuna; a 224-pound yellowfin that fought "long and hard." Matt used a 6/0 Owner ringed Super Mutu hook, on an 80-pound P-Line topshot, 100-pound Spectra, a Tiagra 30 reel and a Calstar Grafighter 765 H rod. "I butt-hooked the sardine," said Matt. "The fight lasted two and a half hours." Drew Card of San Diego was second with a 196-pound tuna, and Craig Biddick of Rancho Santa Fe was third for a 164-pounder.

Ryan Bostian called in to give his report for fishing at the Coronado Islands. He reported that the Islands have seen a huge invasion of Squid over the last 11/12 days. The squid in turn have attracted a number of fish. Including 25 to 45 lb. Yellowtail & 25 to 65 lb. White Seabass. They are also seeing a lot of Sand Bass & Barracuda. Just a lot of fish. Ryan's best quote was "Go fishing, because you just might catch the biggest fish of your life." That says it all.

If want more information or want to make a reservation call Seaforth Sportfishing at 619-224-3383. Ryan has trips every day leaving at 5:30 AM & returning around 5:30 in the evening.

The skinnys got some speed! Today was definitely a grind, but it eventually did ignite! We were able to catch some large Wahoo today. Wahoo fishing was a first for many people on this charter. Today they got to see first hand how crazy and fast pace it could be. However through the chaos they realized truly how exhilarating these fish are to catch. Will report tomorrow, Team Supreme

FANTASTIC 1.5 TRIP WITH CAPT. J.J.!!!! APOLLO recent trip with 24 anglers brought in 26 Yellowtail(ranging 22 lbs to 30 lbs), 78 Lings, & limits of Rockfish. Next available trips will be Feb 2nd & 16th. Book now before it's too late. Call Fisherman's Landing @ (619)221-8500 to get your reservation.

Good afternoon Sports fans from the bridge of the Polaris Supreme. So this will be our last travel day report. Starting tomorrow, it'll be test time for the OTR crew, time to let them apply what they've learned in all of our seminars. This morning after breakfast, we gave our final seminar. Tuned the guys up on stand-up fishing, both harness style and using the rail. We also talked about various different styles of kite rigs. There isn't much more we can say, now it's time for hands on and see who payed attention in class.  The rest of the day is just going to be spent fine tuning all of the gear, tightening up any loose ends and getting a good night sleep because tomorrow is game time! Check back in tomorrow for our first days fishing report.  Til then, tight lines and tails up!

 

Jed and the crew