black hills Fishing Report 2024

We started off the morning with a few strikes on sonar schools of yellowfin tuna. We thought we were on the right track but things soon slowed down to virtually nothing. A few of the guys were seeing schools up above us, big schools but weren't producing much more then we where. We went and check those out and it looks like there schools of bluefin with a little bit of yellowfin mixed in it of course the bluefin don't bite. We spent part of our morning looking at eight giant kelp patties for two bites on yellowtail which we lost. Right now it's about 2:10 we have 20 yellowfin on board and were wondering where in the heck they're all at. We have good weather and six more hours to look wish us luck.

June 29

We started our day today offshore tuna fishing. We were staying pretty steady jiggin em up. Onesie twosie for a few hours. We weren't seeing any volume though. Just handfuls of fish around here and there. No schools. The fish were also on the smaller side of things. We could've made a day out of it and ended up with a decent catch but the fish were on the smaller side of things. 8-12 pound yellowfin tuna and that's just not what we were looking for. So we decided to wind in the jigs and v line it down to the yellowtail grounds with the hopes of a sea bass mixed in.

The yellowtail grounds were very poor. There were two of us looking around there and we had a combined score of 0. Mr. Pfleger did get a white sea bass so we were stoked. Fish tacos in a couple days.

The weather today was fantastic and the forecast shows good weather for the rest of the week too so that's always good news. We're going to stick with the plan and go look for White Sea Bass tomorrow in some White Sea Bassy water. The ribs are smelling good so I gotta go.

 

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

Wednesday, October 17th, 2012

Hi friends. We had ourselves a very productive morning down here on the yellowtail grounds. We awoke this morning to beautiful, balmy conditions and after catching only a couple of premiums, we bailed back out to the drift zone. The drift zone once again was kind to us, as that quality 16-22 lb. grade bit the jigs and dropper loops for us all morning. Really fun fishing on a really nice grade of 'tail. Unfortunately, as the wind picked up speed around lunch time, our lines went slack and the yellows stopped biting. Bummer. To throw salt on the wound, the weather kept freshening up and we had to make a run for cover for the afternoon.

I'm thankful to say that we did find shelter for the evening. Although it's still blowing thirty-plus knots with gusts up to forty knots, there isn't the washing machine sea conditions that we had in the afternoon. The wind this evening was like the clock concept of the arena in the second book of the Hunger Games series "Catching Fire". It would blow from the east, then the southeast, then the south, and so on. Every time the wind direction changed, we ran for cover and hid until the direction would change again. We're very smart!

Like I said, we're sheltered away for the night and the wind is letting up now, so we're pumped. We'll try for bait throughout the night/morning and then try for some yellows when we're all finished with the bait-making. After that, we're hoping to bust a move offshore and focus on tuna for the remaining three days of the trip. With a favorable weather forecast, our excitement is high and let's see if we can't get on some of that nice grade yellowfin and bluefin. Stay tuned.

-The Supreme Team

Hello everyone, Last night was awesome for Yellowfin tuna, the guys stayed up most of the night into the early hours of the morning catching these good grade tuna. When daylight came we did not have the same luck on the tuna. However we did manage to land some Wahoo. Hopefully tonight we have a similar experience with the tuna. Wish us luck, Team Supreme

If they were easy, they would not be as special. After yesterday’s great fishing, Mother Nature decided to put us back in our place today. 31 anglers. 1 bluefin tuna 1 yellowtail. Hopefully today’s anglers paid the required dues for tomorrow’s group. Light loads all week. Call Seaforth for resos 619-224-3383.

Good morning everyone, We got a great early start on our Simpatico five day trip. Our intentions were to have an opportunity to catch some of these larger local Bluefin Tuna. However the action slowed and it did not pencil out as we hoped. There is some pretty bad weather rolling up today and is supposed to be here tomorrow. We are probably going to try some inshore fishing somewhere tomorrow to stay clear of the weather and pull on some fish at the same time. Wish us luck, Team Supreme

We scratched away at some excellent grade yellowtail today. Really nice quality. Most over 30 lbs. The weather is flat calm, gorgeous. We hope the volume of fish we are seeing will bite better tomorrow. Susan said we still have some open spots on the upcoming five days if you can get away give her a call. Thanks, Tommy and crew