balboa pier Fishing Report 2024

Retired LA motorcycle officer Joe Beck served as chartermaster aboard the Polaris Supreme, and came back June 16 with the best yellowtail of the boat's five-day visit to Cedros/Benitos. Owner Tom Rothery skippered the trip, and docked his rig at Fisherman's Landing.

Beck got a 36-pound yellowtail with a sardine bait, and won first place. Gene Lujan of Salinas won second place for a 35.4-pound yellow, and Karen Jackson of Acton tied with Tom Mortenson of LaVerne for third place. Both had 32.6-pound yellowtail. Scott Chapman of Mira Loma caught a 41.2-pound halibut, a thick, sand-colored flatfish.

Today went as planned. We fished yellowtail for a few hours in the afternoon to break up the travel time getting down below. We had to hunt a little but everybody on board got their share of tugging and pulling. We're traveling tonight toward the ridge. We should arrive in the afternoon if we don't stop prior to.

~~Aug. 21
 We missed again this morning folks.  I'm not very happy about it, but I've excepted it.  We've definitely put in our work this trip.  Not necessarily physically these last couple days but mentally for sure.  I am drained.  We didn't want to spend another afternoon like we spent yesterday so we left the grounds and fished the Coronado Islands this afternoon.  We didn't see much yellowtail.  Myself or the other long range boat here.  I heard some good analogies this trip by other captains on the radio that I'd like to share.  Looking at the fish reports is like watching sports center.  They keep showing you all the top tens, but they almost never show the other Joe's, and sometimes you're the bug, and sometimes you're the windshield.  Most guys the last couple days have been the bugs.

 There have been quite a few firsts for me lately.  First of all I've never spent this much time fishing this close to home other than my 3/4 day days..  I have never been anchored up right outside the harbor on the second night of the trip.  We were there catching bait.  I've never captained the boat to San Clemente or the Coronado Islands.  There's probably more.  Oh yeah, I've never seen the 5 freeway from the boat.  Mark thought it was a bird school.  In his defense, I had to give it a double take too.

 So that's it.  We're going home and we'll be leaving for 5 tomorrow.  Tommy is coming back out so he'll be deciding where to go.  I'll tell you though, it's tough to pass on this fish.  Unfortunately for us, it's the best grade of tuna around.  It's great for the 1/2 day boats though.
       

Aug 26

We had a pretty good day of yellowtail fishing today. It wasn't wide open and it wasn't slow either. Just some steady picking through out most of the day. It didn't rain so that was cool. I'm really drawing a blank on what to write here so I think I'll keep it short. There's nothing significant to tell you all about. Mark didn't wear the dunce helmet today and nobody fell in the water or told a good joke. Just some steady picking of the yellows. We're heading back to the bluefin grounds to give it another try at those beauts. The weather rolling up is just fantastic and we're expecting more of it tomorrow. Oh yeah! The seared bluefin we had for dinner tonight was very very good. It was paired with edaname, these super tasty green beans and some just delicious tasting mashed potatoes so there you have it. Sweet dreams all.

Today the San Diego had 24 anglers catching 1 BlueFinn Tuna, 111 Yellowtail. Fish ranging from 5-20 pounds. Lot of fun. They have a private charter tomorrow, Saturday, but they are open after that. Call 619 224 3383.

Capt. Ray went out today with 22 passengers. Final fish count for the day is. 1 calico bass 2 sheephead 7 red rock cod. 90 whitefish 110 rockfish. Tomorrows trip looks to have a light load. On January 1st we will shut down for our annual maintenance period.