baldwin mi Fishing Report 2024

Our partnership with the best live bait boats in the world allowed us to catch 126 yellowfin from 15-25 lbs and 13 bluefin from 30-50 lbs. a 20 lb rod with a #2 hook, a 30 lb rod with a #1 or #2 hook and a 40 lb rod with a #1 hook is all you need. Please be sure to have at least 150 feet of mono on top of your braid. Shock absorption is very important when fighting a fish on a small hook. Fish the heaviest line the fish are willing to bite.

Many of you know Captain Ray Montera who has been involved in sportfishing most of his life. In March, his 32 year old Chris son was severely injured in a C4 blast in Afghanistan. We are holding a fundraiser on October 8th at the Bali Hai on Shelter Island. He is one of our own and we are rallying to support him.

As an Army soldier, Chris Montera was often taken aback when people would thank him for doing the job he loved. On a fateful day in March, he came to face the sacrifice. He was on a dismounted mission and was hit with explosion of C4, which literally blasted and propelled him into a grape field. He suffered major issues with blast lung and severe burns over much of his body. For 9 days he was on ECMO (lung bypass) until he was stable enough to be transported to BAMC in San Antonio for the treatment of his shrapnel wounds and third degree burns. On April 2 a fungal infection set into the wounds on his lower extremities and Chris underwent bilateral AK amputation of his legs. He was further diagnosed with an incomplete spinal cord injury in the thoracic area of the spine at VA Polytrauma Center in Palo Alto.

Through all of this, Chris remains focused and committed to rehabilitation. It is estimated that he will remain in Palo Alto for 3-6 months while he works to regain his upper body strength, which will be necessary for the next stages of rehab in the C5 program at Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego where he will be fitted with prosthetic legs and with determination will learn to walk again. There is no doubt in our minds that Chris will recover to live an independent life. The goal of this fundraiser is to be able to assist Chris with expenses he will no doubt encounter on his journey to independence.

The event will be held at the Bali Hai Restaurant on Shelter Island On October 8th from 6:00-10:00 pm. There will be food stations serving food from many San Diego restaurants along with a no host bar. A raffle, live, and silent auction will take place during the event along with live entertainment by Mango Bay and World Famous Jim Gibson. The outpouring of support of raffle and auction donations from the sportfishing community, tackle, fishing supply manufacturers, and local businesses has been phenomenal. The evening will be great fun for all and will serve to help a young man who put it all on the line.

There are several ways you can help:
First and most important is attend the event.

Tickets are $50 in advance or $450 for a block of 10

Advance ticket purchases will include 3 raffle tickets and assorted swag

Cannot attend but would like to help, make a cash donation in any amount.

Donate an item for the raffle or auction. Anything from fishing items, art, gift certificates, clothing...anything is greatly appreciated.


We look forward to having you at the event. The sport fishing community has come together to take care of a wounded warrior of their own, and it promises to be a fun filled evening for all.

To purchase tickets for Island Nights at the Bali Hai, please visit our website at http://christophermonterasupport.com/island-nights-at-the-bali-hai

To donate items for our raffle/auction please visit our website and complete the donor form http://christophermonterasupport.com/sponsors-anddonors-supporters/donor-form

~~Oct. 10
 So here's what went down today aboard the Polaris Supreme.  We slept in this morning.  Breakfast wasn't until 9ish.  As far as the crew goes Tommy made us a whole long sheet of a work list that kept us busy most of the day.  After breakfast we did our wahoo seminar which we were all delighted to have deckhand Mark present it to us.  Fantastic.  After that JC had a gift for us all.  A brand new pair of electric sunglasses which for me could not have come at a better time.  I was in dire straights for shades so THANK YOU JC!!!  After was the movie of the day which was Wolf Street and in between was lunch and then some rigging of tackle by some of the passengers.  Nap time was next and then cocktail hour and now we're doing dinner.  Cornish game hens tonight.  Last night was prime rib.  And after is bed time because we have another tough day to look forward to tomorrow.
       
 

June 26
 Good evening everyone!  This here is just a teaser.  We're out for a  couple days and then we're dockside for a little.  You won't be reading steady emails for another week and a half or so.  I'm going to keep this short until then.  I'll explain all about our new electronics and things later when we have them more figured out.  For example I'd like to figure out how writing these reports can be more comfortable.  Nevermind I just figured it out.  This keyboard is cordless.  So how does it charge?  Good example there.  I wonder if I  can write this in bed?  Anyhow, we fished some today.  We got in the  zone around 5 and it wasn't boring.  We were pretty much always running on something until 7:30. There wasn't much meat to it though. 
 Just few fish spots mostly.  We have a yellowfin to show for it.  First tuna of the year!
We'll be in this zone tomorrow.  Give it all day and see how it goes.  We'll cover more ground tomorrow with 12 more hours to fish that's for sure.  I'll write much more later I promise.  I"m still figuring this computer out.       

Polaris Supreme Update Nov.5

 

We weighed jack pot yesterday. Big fish went like this. Bernie 218, Charlie 208 I think, Jeremi 206. So once again myself and the crew thank George and his guests for another fun trip. J.C. thank you for the sun glasses. We'll see you guys on the golf course if we ever get it going. If not we'll see you in Big Sky. Can't wait!

I'll leave this trip with a story about a few of the crew and my friend," big fish" Charlie Middleton. At the beginning of the trip Mark the crow member Clark thought it would be a good idea for the crew to have a personal jackpot for the tuna they catch during they're watch. The rules were simple. To qualify your fish had to be caught between 8 at night and 5 in the morning. They allowed passenger Charlie Middleton to join them too. Immediately I'm out. I know better then to go up against that man but the rest of the crew did not. Unfortunately the fish didn't bite this time during those hours but Charlie managed to get one the second to last morning at 4 30 in the am. On the way home the crew finally paid him. I come to find out the morning we got in Charlie gave the crew they're money back and they excepted it. I am very disappointed in Jed, Gunny and Mark. They excepted it! Can you believe it? If it were me I would have burned the money before taking it back from Charlie. I know that's illegal but come on. I think that was in Charlie's plans the whole time. To just demoralize these crew members.

Now we've left on Lon Mikkelsen and this years co charter master John Esler's 10 day adventure. We have an awesome load of bait on board. Best of the year. We're going to have breakfast in the morning, have our seminar and then we're going to spend tomorrow pulling on nice yellowtails. It makes more since to Tommy to fish this species early in the trip as apposed to later on in the trip due to where the rest of the fishing will take place later on in the trip. So that's the game plan to start. Check back tomorrow for more details. As I was typing this I thought of a Hedburgh joke. If I lost 9 fingers I would still type just as fast. So true for me.

See yah. Drew