brigantine nj Fishing Report 2024

~~Sept. 2
 We hit the yellowtail grounds today. Not until 9:30. I started looking at 0400 but we weren't there until 9:30. "There" is where we had some good tailing. There's not a whole lot to write about it. We were there, and they were hitting. Most everyone was dropping jigs down and winding them back fast to achieve there tails. Before lunch I was considering fishing yellowtails tomorrow morning before traveling all day to put us in position for tuna the following day, but when I went in to eat lunch, there were 10 fish in the box. The crew dropped them, when I came back out there were 3 in the box and everyone was leaning against the rail not fishing except 3 passengers and 1 of those had 1 hanging. I got the hint. They caught enough yellowtail and they want tuna now. So we'll be traveling all day tomorrow to put ourselves in position to fish bluefin the following day weather pending.

 The weather today was windy, but the further north we get now the less wind there is. It's a nice ride now.

11 Yellowtail, 4 Yellowfin and a #147 Bluefin. Nice day for Brandon and his friends. 

Oct. 13

Well we struck out on the bluefin today. It wasn't a called third strike, I mean we went down swinging but they definitely beat us today. We saw one good school in the dark hours of the a.m. that didn't stick and then found one deal that didn't react all that bitchen after daylight. We only landed five but they were beautiful fish. 35-50 pounders. Our afternoon was spent traveling down. We left that zone after lunch because we didn't have high hopes for the afternoon based on what we and the other boats had seen.

Our weather was good today. Cold, but not a whole lot of wind. We're going to be fishing for yellowfin tuna tomorrow at first light. They'll be a few of us looking around there so hopefully we get them located early.

 

In other news Mark tried to tell me that Steve Nash was as tall as he was and I called him out on it, bet him 20 dollars in which he agreed upon, and then I had to call my lovely wife to get her to Google it. I was right, he's 6'3" and now I'm 20 dollars richer. Here's the thing though, I spent almost 20 dollars in the phone call to win that bet so was it worth it? Absolutely. I would gladly spend more money then I'd win against Mark, he's fat, just to prove my point and make him 20 dollars less rich.

Today we loaded up for our annual AHI charter. We are headed south with Wahoo and Tuna in our sights. Tomorrow will be a rigging day.

Tommy Rothery docked his Polaris Supreme after the annual George Davis Expedition, with only eight anglers aboard. Rothery tied up at his space on the inner wing at Fisherman's Landing, ending his long range season on a positive note with a visit to Baja's southern banks and the Cleofas Bank, where all the fish that were kept were caught. Four cows were among the fish offloaded January 13. "All the big fish were from Cleofas," said Tommy. We released about half the fish we caught there, and nearly everything, including 15 big tuna, we caught up above. "So many people put so much emphasis on their pile of fish at the dock," remarked Rothery. "It disgusts me." Rothery and his anglers consistently release many fish of all sizes. Charlie Middleton of San Pablo got two cows; one with a sardine and the biggest one on a chunk. His tuna weighed 201.4 and 245.6 pounds. He said he fished with 8/0 Gamakatsu hooks, 130-poudn Maxima line and 130-pound Spectra backing on a Penn 80 SW reel and a new Ugly Stick 130-pound class rod. "That rod works good," said Charlie, who got his smaller fish in only 15 minutes. Al Tokunaga of North Hollywood took a 232.4-pounder after a 30-minute tussle. He said the fish bit on a sardine pinned to a 9/0 Eagle Claw hook. He fished with 130-pound Momoi line and 130-pound Spectra, with a Cal Sheet-s prepped Penn 50 S reel and a Calstar 6455 XH rod. "I used an eight-ounce torpedo sinker attached with a rubber band," noted Al. "He bit right after daylight. They were down there about that time every day." Roger Brown of Riverside bagged a 210.9-pounder with a mackerel on a 6/0 ringed Super Mutu hook. He said he fished with 100-pound Jin Kai line and 130-pound Jerry Brown Line One Spectra on a Tiagra 50 W reel and a Calstar 6455 XH rod. Brown's fish was notable in that it fought for 35 minutes, and then pulled skipper Drew Henderson over the side when he single-gaffed it. They were both brought aboard without further incident. Rothery noted that he will be doing boat work from now until May 31, when he will begin his summer season of three to five-day trips.

Today we came across some Killer Whales today! Pretty cool!

A rare and incredible sight in these parts! 

"The X-Raps were working real good on the slide," said Polaris Supreme skipper Tom Rothery July 21 at Fisherman's Landing. "It seemed like the best colors were silver or bonito color. The zucchini colored skirted jigs were working real good on the troll. Fishing was good; we got enough fish, with good yellowtail at the islands and good albacore fishing offshore." David "Sammy" Samuelson of San Diego won first place on the trip, for his 37.4-pound albacore. He said he got it with a sardine on a 2/0 hook tied to 30-pound P-Line, a Saiwa reel and a Calstar six-foot rod. Bob Pollack of San Diego won second place for a 33.4-pounder, and Dick Emerson of Rowland Heights won third place for a 32.8-pound albacore. Jonathan Kendrick of Oakley stood in with the winners to show his 37-pound dorado, caught on a Zucker's jig in Mexican Flag colors.

We had full speed fishing today offshore on kelp patties. However for the most part, the yellowtail and dorado we were catching were small. So we released all but a few. We did however get some nice grade yellowfin. No big hits, but good action as we picked away at 30 lb. yellowfin. Jeff prepared a great Cajun chicken with avocado, mozzarella and fresh salsa for lunch. And as we head in tonight he is serving us steak and lobster. We will hit the dock tomorrow morning at 8:00am. We will be departing tomorrow on an 8-day trip with "The Old Wild Bunch" headed up by Le Roy Belardes. If you are thinking of coming out fishing we still have some open spots with Larry Brown on his 10-day departing October 25th. Highly sponsored with lots of raffles and giveaways. Give Susan a call at 619-390-7890.

Thanks!