west branch Fishing Report 2024

Sep. 18

Well that wasn't very fun. Lame is what I would call it. We fished the exact same as we did yesterday but only in reverse. We started where we finished yesterday and finished where we started and yes, it was lame. Not much fish and a whole lot of wind. You could of surfed some of the waves we saw yesterday. Needless to say we got out of there and headed up to where the weather is nice and there is a plethora of fish. We hope. It's the afternoon of the 19th and we're almost to the grounds. We'll check back tonight.

Captain Ryan Bostian checked in tonight with an update from the San Diego out of Seaforth Sportfishing in Mission Bay. Today we had 30 passengers and we caught 3 Bluefin Tuna, 82 Yellowtail and 30 Bonito. We had very good sign of Bluefin Tuna today.

Hi all my fishing friends:

We are having a great season. The blue fin have been biting mixed with yellow fin and even a smattering of albacore. I have some great opportunities to get out on the Apollo with me and enjoy the great weather and great fishing that we've been having this season.

We have two two day charters that needs anglers. The first two day trip departs Thursday 9/13 at 9 p.m. fishing Friday 9/14 and Sat. 9/15. This trip is limited to 18 passengers. Cost is $650 per angler and includes food and permits. This is a great opportunity to fish on an ultra limited charter with a great group of people. Please contact Dan H. @ 310.704.1497

Another opportunity to fish aboard the Apollo with us has opened up. This is a 2 day trip that fishes September 27-28 (departing the night of the 26th). This outing is limited to 16 anglers.

The unusual part of this trip is half the anglers will be fly fishers. If you conventional fish, this means you get the stern to yourself as fly rodders like the sideways drift of the boat and stay on the windward side on the bow. Fly rodders are the first in on the slide but based on past averages, conventional will still out-fish us 5 to 1. The trip is 670.00 and includes fishing permit, bunk and food. Drinks, crew tip and fish cleaning is extra. If interested or you need more information, contact Michael Schweit at 818-601-9702 or [email protected].

We have a 5 day trip to Guadalupe that needs 2 people. Cost is $1850.00. This trip departs early morning on the October 1st. Fishing October 1 to 6. Only 11 passengers on this one. Contact, Steve Lee 949 683 7957.

I hope some of you will be able to join us on some of these great adventures.

Thanks,

JJ and the crew of the Apollo

~~Sep. 22
 We had a slow day.  And there's no sugar coating it.  There's no let's let you decide if it was slow.  It just was, and unfortunately for this trip we don't have another day to make it right.  There was a one hour window where if you were in the right place at that time and found a school you were in for a good bite but that was few and far between and unfortunately we weren't the few.  We scratched a little in the morning, found a dandy school before lunch that let us catch a few handfuls before swimming away, and we found a stretch of and area this afternoon that we thought we were going to make something happen, we found three kelps in a row with tuna on them but they would only boil around and not bite except for a few. 

 On the plus side our weather today was fantastic.  If you're going to have a slow day fishing, it's a whole lot better doing it in good weather than in bad weather.  I also saw alot more of San Clemente Island than I ever have before.  I now know more about the looks of the island itself and the bottom structure of it.  We're headed in now and we're turning around again tomorrow for 2 more days.

 And one last thing.  I'm not going to mention it because I only heard this second hand and I don't want to start a rumor if it's not true but a sport boat out here today caught a wahoo.  Now once again I'm not going to mention it, but one boat, maybe the Prowler caught a wahoo.  I'm not going to start a false rumor so I'm not saying anything.
       

These yellowtail are keeping us on our toes ! After two slow mornings in a row, we decided to start our trip out fishing sandbass. While we were catching bass for our mostly beginner group we got the word that the yellowtail were biting a little bit. After running the 12 miles to get in position we managed to land 15 yellows. These fish are 15-25 lbs. and extremely mean.

Please bring a 30 lb. rod to fly line sardines if you are coming out with us. Tomorrow we have a private charter but will be back to our open party run on Sunday. I will check back tomorrow.

4 bluefin 4 yellowfin 14 yellowtail. We looked at bluefin all day, they were just in a funk. Tomorrow is new day.

Nov. 10

Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome back to the website of the Polaris Supreme. We're sorry we've been apart for so long but you guys didn't want to go fishing so we had to do other things. Here's a recap of what we did the last few weeks... Jed went to a Slayer concert in Vegas and won a bunch of money. Jed always seems to win lots of money when he gambles. I don't know why he just doesn't do that for a living. Either he's fibbing about the money he makes or he just really loves fishing. Gunny hung around and fished his local lakes a lot after flaking on Jed in Vegas. Shawn had some big plans on getting a new place and a new car while he was off but came back to the boat with neither so he probably had the most fun of us all. Or maybe it was Gringo because he spent his time where he does, Cabo. Tommy and Susan did what they always do which is work, work, work. Mostly in the office but they saved a little bit of time for pleasure mostly around the river. I spent my days either at the boat helping with various projects from minor fixes up to helping the mechanic replace a piston in one of the engines. I also did some work on my golf game which still stinks by the way. And Mark lost one pound while we were off! One pound! Way to go Mark.

But we're all glad to be back out and that's because it's the Lon Mikkelsen and John Esler 10 day trip! Things are always just a hoot out here on the Lon Mikkelsen and John Esler 10 day trip. Lots of return customers out here and a handful of fresh ones too. I love this group. I do. Anyways the boat is running in tip top shape and we're all fueled up and baited up and everyone is currently sleeping with there belly's full of prime rib as I write this on my watch. Fishing sure did sound poor out here the last few weeks but things sound like they're on the upswing as the Polaris Supreme rolls south. Not sure we'll do any fishing tomorrow as we need to keep her rolling down so the plan for now is to have breakfast in the morning and spend most of the day getting all our tackle in the best of shape. The weather just couldn't be better. Flat calm gorgeous without a cloud in the sky. Beautiful! Sweet dreams all.

Captain Drew