big manistee river Fishing Report 2024

~~July 26
  Today was rough.I'm not talking about the fishing.  I'm talking about the weather.  We were expecting this though.  We knew it would be this way so we had plans all along to keep it a down swell day.  We started west and moved east jigging up small tuna.  We expected this as well.  We must of caught 50 tuna this morning but only 10 of them wound up with tags stapled to there gills.  All the rest went back into the ocean to fight another day.  Right before lunch we hit a nice kelp and caught 20 nice yellows.  We thought we were going to string together a few kelps after that but that was the last thing we saw all day long other than a few jig strikes on throw back tunas.  So we're headed to the Island now and we'll be there before daylight.  Wish us luck.

  Good news.  We're getting our Gunny back August 8th.  I miss that well done steak eating man.  If you're reading this Guns, bring another blanket.  I've been using your's aqnd it's been working great.  I've been putting it on top of my blanket though so if you want it back it shouldn't have my cooties on it.
             

Ryan Bostian called in from the San Diego with this report. "We've been fishing offshore & the Yellowtail fishing has been excellent. We have been fishing kelp paddys 20 to 40 miles from home. The Yellowtail fishing is starting to slow down a little bit. The body of fish we have been fishing is starting to move on out to the northwest. However, today Capt Ray went out with 31 passengers. We caught 12 Yellowtail, 1 Skipjack, 7 Dorado and 40 Bluefin tuna. It was an excellent, excellent day. There were some very nice schools of tuna out there. It's getting to be that time of year that is going to turn more into tuna time. We should start to see more Yellowfin tuna in the counts, or more Bluefin.

"If you want to go out with us we have trips everyday. We leave the dock at 5:30 AM. The ticket price is $130.00. That includes your Mexican Fishing License. It's just a great time of year, there are a lot of fish within 40 miles of San Diego

Friday, October 19th, 2012

Hi friends. Happy Friday to all of you back home. How are you? Good, thanks for asking. Let's get down to business.

We awoke today just like any other day. Tommy woke us all up very peacefully but at the same time gave us way too much information and had our eyes crossed before we could even get the boogers out of them, or open them for that matter. I got out of the rack, put on my fishing shorts, came out to the bench in the wheelhouse, grabbed my boots, and proceeded to put on my socks. But these just weren't ordinary socks, oh no. I pulled these particular socks over my heels and up to my calves and when I pull my socks all the way up to my calves, you know what time it is - business time.

I pulled my socks all the way up so that when my boots are at full pop-dog--rather than semi pop-dog, the way I normally wear them with shorts--they don't rub me raw. I know what you're asking yourself right now, "Richie, why on earth have you spent an entire paragraph talking about your awesome business socks and boot length?" Well, the answer is simple - we got down to some major business on yellowfin tuna, flatheads, and wahoo and I don't like getting my legs all dirty and wet. That is why my boots were at full pop-dog today.

After looking around all morning at dry kelp paddies, we got on some ponies (common dolphins) and landed 14 of those beautiful 25-45 lb. yellowfin tunas. Unfortunately, that was our only go-around on those things and they vanished. It didn't take us long to locate a beautiful kelp paddy and it was on like Donkey Kong. The mahi's bull-rushed us and they were a really nice grade too. I'd say that the majority of the fish were in the 15-22 lb. range and they put on quite the show. Not quite a kelp paddy off of Mag Bay action but plenty close enough. No matter where they are, they're the hardest fish to gaff and they get us all wet. After finishing up our Mexican limit on those things, the tuna got in on the action and bit very well for us. For the most part, they're footballs, but a couple standouts were landed after the initial melee had passed. Joe Gigliotti got himself another beauty and Jeff Hauser got himself a dandy too. Good job guys, way to give a hundred and ten percent. The two luckiest anglers of all were Hart Brauer and Skip Hess II a.k.a. "Skipper Jenkins". Hart and Skip were our luckiest of the lucky lambs today and landed themselves one wahoo each. Fine work, boys.

So here we are. About to wrap up our second annual Gigliotti/Accurate 8-day adventure and we're going to bypass the bluefin zone. I know, I know. I'm as disappointed as anyone, but there's no reason to bomb up from where we are to the bluefin zone where the scores have been quite unflattering. The weather isn't very sweet right now either. What was a beautiful morning of bronzing quickly turned into jacket/slicker weather after lunch. As of now, we're traveling up the line to look at another area for a few hours to try and locate some more of those big ole yellowfins. Our ride is OK. We're not pounding or scooping the bow or anything but we're doing a little bouncing, like our car is on hydraulics in the ghetto. Hence, I'm listening to Backspin, channel 46 on SiriusXM radio - old school hip-hop. Bumpin'.

Wish us luck tomorrow and we'll give you a wrap-up report tomorrow. Peace out, homies.

P.S. The Hunger Games epidemic is spreading through the boat like a wildfire. Star galley assistant Patrick is a closet Hunger Games reader. I caught him hiding behind the cooking area, sitting on a milk crate just reading away. He told me that at first, he wasn't all that pumped on reading about the life of a sixteen year old girl but once you get into the world of Katniss, you can't escape it, and Patrick is like a fish in a barrel. You don't have to make excuses to me, Patrick, even old men like you can enjoy the Hunger Games without guilt. Add one to the book club meetings. You know where the coffee is, Patrick.

Oh yeah, before I forget. The other day, Mark Clark celebrated his birthday and I totally spaced on it. He turned 86 years old. Happy Birthday, Mark. See ya.

~~Aug 30
 Today didn't go as well as we were hoping. The plan sounded so good in my head too. You don't believe me? Come inside my mind and tell me it didn't sound like a good plan, you'll be a liar. The plan was to start here and work there. We were supposed to catch a bunch of yellowtail, then catch a wahoo or two, then scratch at some dorado here and there along with another wahoo or two, then we were supposed to get a small hit on wahoo in the end before finding the motherload of dorado.

 Well, there wasn't much yellowtail. The little bit of dorado we saw either didn't bite or was small. And we didn't see a wahoo until the end. We did see a school of good grade yellowfin that wasn't in our plan. It didn't bite for long though. It was on the corner biting every bait for about three minutes. Just long enough for everyone to get one and then they vanished. I drove around thinking I would easily find the school again but we never did. We lost at least 6 wahoo on the last spot we checked and landed none. The wahoo won today.

 Cool things of note today- the sailfish we caught, a couple marlin hooked and the orcas we saw. In the 14 seasons I've been out here I can only remember a handfull of times seeing killer whales so it's not too often we see them. We also don't catch sailfish too often.

 Tomorrows plan- wahoo!

July 30

It wasn't a float day today. We had some action spread out through the day though. We got about 3 a round on the elusive Bluefins and did plenty of pulling and tugging on yellow tails. The weather was once again spectacular and we're expecting some pretty good weather tomorrow as well. Not as perfect as the last couple of days but still good. We'll be doing this again tomorrow and if the bf's stay on the same schedule it should be a float day. We'll see and you'll read. See you then.

Drew and el crew

Hello everyone, Today we were traveling up the line and looking for kelps. We found one kelp that was loaded with Yellowfin Tuna and Dorado. It was as good as it gets, like an aquarium in the water. We fished until everyone was content with the number of fish they tagged. Fishing was so good they were eating the trolling lures bring dipped in the water. Very fun to say the least. We may have some time to fish tomorrow for a little bit depending on our speed. Will Report again tomorrow, Team Supreme

Hello there Polaris Supreme fans,
                                             Today was another travel day for us, this morning we had or seminar on fishing for giant YFT.  The crew went over fly lining, big bait , jig fishing, sinker rig, and kite fishing. We also handed out all the loaner gear and the guys started rigging up. Around 1600 we made a drive by the Rocks and found two 25 lb YFT willing to bite the jigs now we have fresh tuna for tomorrow nights dinner! Speaking of dinner its about time for me to go get ready for dinner so until tomorrow tight lines!!

Gunny and the Crew.

~~9-9-2014

 Good evening from the bridge.  Today was yet another great day out on the water in the yellowfin tuna zone. We were blessed again with some awesome weather. The crew always loves it when we can go up into the mast from 6 am till the sun drops to look for fish and only have to wear some light long sleeves at the most, even driving straight into the wind.   The fishing was pretty good for most of the day today. We were getting on some descent schools this morning and scratching away. The grade was mixed again, some spots had the smaller 15-19 lbers and other brought in the same with some tuna up wards of 30 lbs so you can't complain about that.  The entire afternoon was bird schools galore, but a lot of them were just not the right kind. A lot of birds on kelp paddy's and spots of Skipjack. Instead of hitting every little school and throwing a bunch of bait, we just kept her rolling till we found the right sundowner school.  Rob was sure stoked we found that one since he was able to come in in the bottom of the 9th with his daily jackpot yellowfin of just about 30 lbs. Congrats to you Rob!! All and all we were please to add today into our books as a successful day out to sea.
 Right about the time we called it a day, Chef David rang the dinner bell and sat us down for the evenings cuisine. As he was dishing out the sesame seed crusted seared Ahi (yes, only 24 hours old, as fresh as it comes, so eat your heart out tuna lovers), forikake seasoned steamed rice and snow peas, Robin bust busy popping corks on the wine of the evening. 2013 Justin Sauvignon Blanc was the flavor and it smelled really good! I believe he told me it was a New Zealand white wine, but it really went great with the "catch of the day".  Dessert was a warm fresh peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream sending everyone to bed with nice full bellies once again.
 And  for Robins personal note of the day, he wants to let all of his friends know to make some room in the freezer for some amazing already packaged yellowfin tuna fillets. "I miss you all and want you to know this has been a truly amazing trip in all respects: a bit of heaven. 5 days and nights with the coolest people on the planet. The crew is off the chart and has been very accommodating".
 Thanks so much again Robin and friends for making this trip just fun working for you guys!
 So till this time tomorrow everyone, this is Jed signing off.
 
 Team Supreme