ballards Fishing Report 2025

Good Evening everyone, Today we woke up anchored in the yellowtail grounds. Things started off slow with a couple fish being brought in on the dropper loop and yo yo iron. Most of the fish caught in the morning were nice sized yellowtail in the 20-30lb range with a couple of really nice sheep head and assorted rock fish in the mix. As the morning went on, the yellows moved up in the water column and started to bite the fly lined sardine and the surface iron. The fish were coming around in flurries with a handful of anglers hooking up at a time. We picked at the yellows for a couple of hours before making a short move. We started off catching some smaller grade yellows before the big ones moved in. Before long the fish started boiling around the boat, and started to bite. We continued to put fish on the boat all afternoon into the evening before the bite slowed down. Most of the guys had success on fly lined sardines with 30 or 40 lb test and a 1/0 or 2/0 hook. When the bite had stopped we sat on the anchor for the night and enjoyed a nice dinner courtesy of chef Mike. We will be fishing the same area tomorrow, and will be hoping for a similar outcome as today before trying our luck for the yellowfin once again. Will report tomorrow, Team Supreme

Hi Anglers

Well I tried to get a hold of Drew since four this afternoon to no avail. And that's usually a good thing...and indeed it was. Finally at seven he picked up and said he was getting them good. He had 117 bluefin, and it was all that nicer 25-35 lb. grade. It's amazing this fishing has been going on since June. I hope I don't jinx myself here, but it looks like we're heading for a record year here on bluefin.

Standby for Richie's end of the day report. Hope your work week goes good. Tommy

Fishing here remains slow. However the quality of fish is still great, and we are capitalizing on the fish we are hooking. Still some losses due to sharks but still chipping away at some great quality tuna. We were able to make a tank of Tube Mackerel tonight along with 3 milk crates of chunk. We are looking ready for tomorrow!

~~Oct. 23
 Remember yesterday when I said we would find our dorado kelp?  Well we conquered that quest.  I tell no lies.  An hour or so after breakfast, maybe 2, we found a kelp loaded and we went to battle and overall I think we won.  I mean we caught exactly what we wanted.  Beautiful mahi mahi.  After that we went back to travel mode and we'll be arriving to our slip in San Diego tomorrow at 0800 hours.  We ate some of that mahi for dinner tonight while we watched a slide show of all the pictures taken this trip presented to us by Tommy.  Everyone misses there wives and they all told me, "Drew, I couldn't spend another minute without my wife".  That's why this trip was 15 days.  It's the maximum amount of time we can spend without our wives.

 So we tie up tomorrow and that's the way we'll stay until November 9th, when we'll be departing on a 10 day trip.  So until then, I'd just like to say how much I'll miss writing to you all.  Stay classy and thanks for stopping by, but mostly, stay classy.
         

The fishing out of Seaforth Landing in San Diego is already great and is ready to explode as water conditions improve and temperatures increase. The new Seaforth Landing buildings and parking lot are almost ready to roll and things are looking really good!!! Congratulations to everyone at Seaforth !! Great Job !!! I was lucky enough to fish with Captains Bob Williams and Bryan Winn for a 3/4 day trip aboard the Seawatch to the beautiful Coronado Islands. We limited out on 3-6 pound bonito by 10am in wide open fishing not far off the coast. Captains Bob and Bryan than steered us to the Coronado Island for a shot at some big island yellowtail. Not long after dropping anchor yours truly hooked and landed a nice yellow on a dropped looped chovy. Way to go Kidd !! We hooked a bunch of yellows on sardines, anchovies and iron, landing some and loosing others to reel screaming runs to the rocks. The highlight came when young Chris "Don't call me Littleman anymore" Robinson hooked, battled and landed a nice 20 lb Coronado Island Yellowtail. Awesome job Chris !!! We ended the day with 10 nice yellows from 13- 28 lbs led by Mark Nahabedians' 28 pounder that he nailed on Salas blue and white iron. Captains Bob, Bryan and crew did an awesome kob putting us on the fish. We were the high count boat out of all the 3/4 day boats fishing the Islands. Great Job Guys !!! Seaforth has trips fishing the Coronado Islands everyday. Give them a call at 1-619-224-3383 or check their website at www.seaforthsportfishing.com. You can check the schedule and make reservation right on the website. Another Awesome dayat the Coronado Islands !!!! Thats the "word on the water" Don. email me at [email protected] for photos.

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

After a couple of slow days for the fleet we decided to go out on a search mission. Our morning was spent chasing 30 lb bluefin that we’re very difficult to hook. Around 12:30 our sonar lit up with the sweet sound of shallow, spread out yellowfin tuna. After 3 1/2 hours and ten short stops. Our 30 anglers were able to drop 123 yellowfin and 1 bluefin into the refrigerated Sea Water. Best success came on flyline bait on 25-40 lb, colt snipers and poppers. We will continue to fish offshore and target whatever we see.

49 yellowfin 48 skipjack. Didn’t find the right school until we were out of time, and daylight.