bighorn river fly Fishing Report 2025

Captain Ryan Bostian called in tonight with an audio update from the San Diego out of Seaforth Sportfishing in Mission Bay, CA. We have been fishing down the beach and the Yellowtail are biting really good on the surface iron and fly-lined baits. Today we had 51 anglers catch 240 Yellowtail (10 to 25 pounds). It's been a fun couple of weeks. Don't miss out on this opportunity. We fish every day and depart at 5:30 AM.

Today we went out with 22 anglers and had a nice surprise. While driving towards the rockcod grounds we scanned up a nice school of yellowtail along the bottom. After a short drift we had three 25 lb. yellows on the deck. Hopefully this is just the beginning. Grab your yo-yo outfits and come on down.

Aug. 19
    Let me explain to you readers why I had such a great day today.  I am in a great mood and here's why.  It all starts at the bait receivers.  I lifted up the lid for the bait and I saw great bait and alot of them in the box.  Then we netted it and it still looked great and after it was in our tanks it still looked great!  It was schooled up and hanging low in the tank looking healthy.  The best part is we got three boxes of it and for the first time for a while, with the mackerel myself and the crew caught this morning, we have a full load of bait on board.  Now we're not totally in the clear yet.  The bait had only been in the receiver for a day so it had no time to cure and that's always concerning.  It also lost some of it's protective scales as we loaded it so there is a danger of it getting sick but so far so good.  We'll know more in the morning.  For the first time in 3 nights we're not running in to fish for bait all night so we get to sleep.  Stoked.  

    The other reason I had such a good day is the good day we had today.  Our timing was great.  I think it started around 4:00.  Our first stop of the afternoon was a good one.  We landed about 50 of those mostly 20-25 pound yellowfin.  After that we went from stop to stop catching anywhere from 5-20 of those beauts.  We had one heck of a departure day and those fish were free.  Stoked.  Oh yeah, the crew and I had a nap today before we got to the grounds and we felt rested and great.  Now I'm showered and am going to go eat dinner.  Stoked.

    We'll be here again in the morning.  Tell you about it later.
                    

 

Andrew Viola called in with a mid morning update from the Pacifica out of Seaforth Landing in San Diego, CA.

We have half limits of Bluefin Tuna and a couple of nice Yellowtail and Dorado on the boat. We are stopped on a school right now and hoping to round off the count.

The Pacifica is back out tomorrow night for a 1.5 day trip fishing offshore for Tuna and Yellowtail. Departs at 9PM.

Capt. Mike Pritchard called from the Tribute with this update. "Just outstanding fishing on those Yellowtail. We are done, full boat limits for our 31 passengers. Very, very good kelp fishing here. Now we'll go looking for some Tuna, hopefully we'll find some.

"If you'd like to go fishing on the Tribute call Seaforth Sportfishing at 619-224-3383.

Four big bluefin bit for anglers fishing aboard the Fischbeck Charter aboard the Polaris Supreme with skipper Drew Henderson, and three of them were decked. Drew weighed the fish on the certified scales at Fisherman's Landing July 23 after the five-day trip with 23 anglers. He also weighed an unusual escolar, caught at night. The boat returned with a catch of yellowfin tuna and albacore.
Dick Emerson of Roland Heights won first place for his 134-pound bluefin, and also took over first place for that species on Bill Roecker's big fish list for the season.

Dick said he cranked that baby aboard in only 15 minutes on his single-speed Accurate 665 reel. The tuna took a sardine on a 5/0 Eagle Claw hook, on 60-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon leader and 50-pound Big Game line. Emerson used a Fenwick 665 rod, he added. Tom Donnelly of San Clemente got second place for a 126-pounder, which will make second on the big fish list. His fish fought for 40 minutes on 60-pound Seaguar Fluoro leader and 60-pound P-Line. Bill Byler of Covina made it a trio of 60-pound Fluoro users, and won third place for his 105.6-pound bluefin, which came on a small Accurate 870 reel.
The escolar came to Jason Severn of Petaluma. The 31-pound, strange-looking critter (some scientists think the escolar may be a progenitor for tuna) bit on a squid that Severn was fishing in the dark.
Skipper Henderson said his anglers were treated to a show of jumping bluefin, many of which were larger than the fish his anglers caught. They didn't want to bite, however, and it didn't take long for a fleet of seiners to show up with their spotter aircraft.

Polaris Supreme docked September 17 at Fisherman's Landing under owner Tom Rothery's hand following an eight-day Gary Roberts charter trip to Alijos Rocks and The Ridge. "It was a good trip," said Roberts, "with lots of fish caught and lots of fish lost." Sizeable tuna were hard to catch at the rocks, said Tom, because the skipjack, small tuna and sharks were all thick and hungry. The tuna were there, however, as were some wahoo. The Ridge got a good lock from the 24 anglers aboard the Supreme. They said there were plenty of yellowtail and lots of grouper and snapper biting there. Rothery said the temperature on The Ridge was very warm, at 81.5 degrees. Tom estimated that his anglers each released about 20 small tuna and four or five yellowtail. Jay Kotsier of Tulare showed off a pink pargo, also known as red snapper. These are excellent eating, especially if they have been kept in refrigerated sea water instead of under a frozen brine spray. Tom, Kroes of Tipton was first, for a 65.2-pound yellowfin tuna he got with a sardine on a 5/0 Mustad hook, 50-pound Big Game line, a TLD 30 reel and a Calstar 7465 rod. Everett Combs of PAZlm Springs was second, for a 62-pounder, and Alan Holleyman of Napa won third place for a 60.6-pound tuna. Bill Kuehl of Poway stood in with the winner, posing with his 50-pound wahoo taken on a Burns Bomb in Christmas colors.