benbrook lake Fishing Report 2025

Tom Rothery brought his Polaris Supreme home to Fisherman's Landing January 11 after a 16-day trip to the Hurricane Bank and the Southern Banks of Baja. There were seven anglers on the annual George Davis expedition, and they produced ten more cows for the record.

In his report from the boat on Friday January 2, Tom reported a good day of fishing.

"Yes, now this is what I'm talking about," he wrote. "We finally got a break in the weather. It is beautiful and we have left Hurricane Bank. We are now heading to the upper banks. We will be there tomorrow night. Yesterday was an ok day of fishing. George kept a 219 and released a 185. Jeremy released a 140.

"Craig kept a 205 and by the way that was a mistake yesterday. Craig kept a 210 pounder. Al kept a 100 for his buddies that are going to Ennis hunting. They are going to open pit barbeque it on a spit like a pig. Now, that sounds interesting. ‚Д®

"Charlie released a 125 and Scott released a 140. Each day we also had five to 12 fish that we caught that were under 100 pounds and were not mentioned. These all were released.

"Yesterday we also had good wahoo fishing. Jeremy and Craig both caught 4 and Gunnar and Al got 3. Everybody else had a couple a piece. Overall the trip to Hurricane Bank has been very good with eight tuna over 200 pounds, and excellent wahoo fishing."

Chartermaster George Davis of San Dimas won the jackpot while catching four cows. His tuna weighed 241.8, 219.8, 213.6 and 208 pounds. The big one came on squid on the kite, he said.

George fished with 7/0 Mustad 7691 hooks, 130-pound Momoi line and 130-pound Line One Spectra on a Penn 70 VSW reel and a Calstar 655 XXH rod. He said the big one came to gaff in just 20 minutes.

Allen Tokunaga of North Hollywood won second place for a 224.6-pounder.

"These Hurricane Bank fish seemed a little tougher than the ones on the inside," he remarked. "This one took me 40 minutes. He went around the boat a couple of times, and then came up on the port side of the stern."

Al fished a sardine on an 8/0 Eagle Claw hook, on 130-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon leader, 100-pound P-Line and 130-pound Izorline Spectra. He used a Penn 50 reel modified by Cal Sheets and a Calstar 6465 XXH rod.

Scott Brown of Costa mesa won third place for his 213.2-pounder. He also got a 202.6-pounder. He fished a small jack under the kite on a 9/0 Mustad 7691 hook. He used 130-pound Momoi line and 130-pound Izorline Spectra on a Penn 70 VSW reel and a Calstar 655 XXH rod.

"The big one was a 20-minute fish," he remarked. "He came to the boat pretty good."

One big tuna was eaten by the passengers and crew while the boat was still fishing. It was a 215-pounder caught by Craig Johnston of Costa Mesa, who also got a 204-pounder. Craig said he got them on the kite, on double sardine baits pinned to 7/0 Mustad 7691 hooks. He fished with a 130-pound Momoi topshot on 130-pound Izorline Spectra, with a Penn 70 VSW reel and a Calstar 655 XXH rod.

"It took about 30 minutes," he said. "We had rough seas then; it was a fun fight."

Jeremy Chandler of San Dimas got a 203.6-pounder on a jack under the kite on a 7/0 Mustad 7691 hook and the boat's kite rig.

Capt Ryan checked in from the San Diego to report that they finished yesterday's trip with 111 Yellowtail. We got a lot on the yoyo iron as well as the surface iron and flylined baits. Make sure you bring all your Yellowtail gear to be prepared, a 40 lb rig, a 25 lb bait rod and a surface iron rod. We are online everyday and the weather looks good for the next few days, give the landing a call at 619-224-3383 and make your reservations.

Polaris Supreme returned from the Catchy Tackle open trip with 20 anglers on September 9. The boat docked under skipper Drew Henderson's hand at Fisherman's Landing after visiting Guadalupe, Alijos Rocks and The Ridge. "Gave it the full check today," wrote Drew September 4. "We only got a couple wahoo but it was great action on 20 to 30-pound yellows on the dropper loop and yo-yo iron. Anyone who fly lined a bait could expect to get a dorado; they were from 15 to 40 pound fish. Most were too busy with the yellows." Small tuna were a problem at times, said Henderson. Some nice pink pargo were encountered at Thetis Bank. Paul Adams of Cardiff won first place, for a 73-pound yellowfin. He said he caught that on eon a sardine, 2/0 ringed Super Mutu hook, 60-pound Ande line, a Penn 30 W reel and a Calstar 655 H rod. Bill Zemba of Castaic was second, for a 70-pounder, and Tim Williams of San Clemente won third place for a 69.8-pound tuna. Robert Johns of Kearney, MO stood in with his 38-pound dorado for the lineup shot.

Couple of long drifts with steady action produced 51 yellowfin tuna 96 skipjack tuna. 20 lb bait rod and a 40 lb bait rod.

Offshore kelping today was tough. Not a whole lot of action. Plenty of kelps with not much on them at times, and areas of water with no kelps in it. We had one kelp mid afternoon where we had some action on shaker size yellows up to 20 pounders and a kelp in the morning with a handful of dorado on it. We'll be at Cedros in the early morning trying to get a tank or two of bait and begin our day yellowtail fishing.

Apollo 5.5 day trip 2 Spots open Due to conflicting schedules 2 spots have opened up on a sold out 5.5 day trip! This is a limited load 18 passenger trip departing June 6th at 6pm, and returning June 12th at 6am. Ticket price is $1400 per person. We will be fishing Cedros, Benitos, and offshore!! This trip is sponsored by Blackwater Line and Tady lures!! Contact Jodie at 858-220-1593 Or E-mail This trip filled fast!! Here is a chance to jump on!!

Aug 12
    Today was awesome.  We woke up drifting catching fish and that's about what we did until dark.  I'm not kidding you.  We moved the boat just a handful of times but never for more then 10 minutes.  It was drifting with always at least one on the hook.  In the morning until after lunch it was mostly bluefin in the 30-45 pound range with the occasional 60-80 pounder.  I have to tell you that that's a much more manageable grade.  It's a much better fish to start off on than those 60-80 pounders.  Don't get me wrong, you know I love catching those beauts but they make a much better cherry than ice cream if you know what I mean.  We had that kind of day where if we catch them tomorrow it will be the cherry on top.  The rest of the day we got into yellowfin tuna mode and it was game on for those fish.  Tommy decided to save our sardine on board it being they were feeding on the anchovy that went over the side so that's what we used.  Chovy baby.  I can't ever remember fishing anchovy for tuna on this boat.  I have to go back to my mission bay days to remember that but I didn't forget how to do it.  I wrote this in the beginning of the season and I'll write about it again.  If you're coming on a future trip, please remember to bring the lost art of anchovy fishing skills.  A big part of that is an anchovy rod and reel.  Something light that's meant for 20-25 pound test with a nice free spool to help you toss those anchovies away from the boat.  I hate to say it but if that means you need to bring your coffee grinder so be it.  
    The weather is still good!  Man I hope this can hold up for at least my buds on the upcoming Heil 5 day trip leaving the day after tomorrow.  We're staying put right here for our last day fishing tomorrow.  We're hoping we can get more of the 60-80 pounders tomorrow but we will be stoked with the 30-45's as well.
                                    

 

Spent most of day searching for yellowtail in extremely clean water and very strong current. Our search for gamefish came up empty but our 50 passengers enjoyed some fine shallow water bottom fishing. We ended up with 150 Whitefish, 50 Rockfish, 30 Sculpin, 10 Sheephead, and 10 Bonito. We are scheduled everyday. Call 619-224-3383 for reservations.