calcasieu Fishing Report 2025

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.

Drew Henderson docked Polaris Supreme July 5 after a five-day trip with 23 anglers. His fishermen had plenty of albacore, but bluefin swept the jackpot spots. "What a great day of fishing," wrote Drew July 2. "Just couldn't be better. Everyone has had their fill of albacore so we are heading off to do some Island fishing for some of those big yellowtail. We should be there by daybreak tomorrow. Weather is fantastic."
At the dock, Drew said, "We got limits of albacore. Benitos has a lot of fish, but they're not biting very well, and the seals are. Yesterday afternoon we had a three-hour bite. The cedar plug is getting a lot of troll fish, ans so is my favorite, the ‚Дтscreamin' pink,' skirted jig." Ray Mercieca of Arcadia won first place for a 38-pound bluefin. He said he bagged it with a sardine on a 3/0 Mustad 91450 hook, 30-pound P-Line, a Penn 950 SS spinning reel and a Daiwa seven-foot spinning rod. Greg Culbert of Ojai was second, for a 36-pound bluefin and Bob Norman of Green Valley, AZ was third, for a 32-pound bluefin tuna.

Tommy Rothery brought his Polaris Supreme home to Fisherman's Landing August 17 after the best five-day trip to Guadalupe Island so far this year. Rothery's anglers had an excellent catch of larger yellowfin from the big island, and a couple of wahoo. The luckiest angler on the Eric Rogger trip may heave been Dean Hendrickson of Chatsworth, who got a non-eligible (assist from a deckhand) 110-pound tuna on a sardine and 40-pound line, and a 47-pound wahoo, on a black and purple small Marauder. Phil Bruce of Ramona won first place, for a 105-pound yellowfin. He said he got it with a sardine on a 2/0 ringed Super Mutu hook, 40-pound P-Line and 40-pound fluorocarbon leader, a Cal Sheets-treated Penn 12 T reel and a Seeker 660 rod. Supreme regular Dietmar Kruger of Santa Monica was second, for an 87-pounder he got on 40-pound line, and Alex Rogger of Steamboat Springs, CO won third place, for a 79.2-pound yellowfin tuna. Stephan Kruger of Venice Beach took the trip's best yellowtail, a 39-pound mossback, on the kite with a squid for bait. "He hit it like a massive tuna," said Kruger, "there was a huge explosion in the water under the kite."

Hello Everyone, Today we are traveling down the line. Mainly a rigging day for the days to come. Our sights are set on Yellowtail, Grouper, Wahoo, and Yellowfin. Great weather at the moment. Looking forward to tomorrow! Will report then, Team Supreme

The fall fishing season is on, as could be seen in the catch brought back from Alijos Rocks and The Ridge by Polaris Supreme owner-skipper Tommy Rothery, who docked his rig at Fisherman's Landing September 16 after an right-day trip. "Wow, what a great day!" wrote Tom on September 13. "We had an awesome morning bite on the Dorado; big bulls and cows. We took a break at lunch and Pedro prepared a Southwestern 10 oz. burger that was delicious. He really nails the menu with his creative spices and herbs. Back out on the deck, we had excellent fishing on the wahoo throughout the whole day. And then to finish up the day we caught some yellowfin tuna. It was just a great, fun day. Dinner tonight was a spicy ginger shrimp curry; another great dish. Our weather all day has been beautiful. I hear it's been crappy up above and hope it lies down before we start up the line." Jeff Theurer of Pismo Beach got the best dorado, a 44-pound whopper that will now be the season's best. "I got it in 15 minutes," he said, "on 40-pound line. This is my best dorado and the best on the boat this trip."
Chris Fitzgerald of Lake Elsinore won first place for a 70.2-pound tuna. He caught it with a sardine, he said, on a 3/0 Mustad hook, 60-pound P-Line on an Avet 5-2 reel and a Seeker Black Steel 6470 rod.
Wayne Campbell of Huntington Beach was second for a 70-pounder, and Bill Vogel of Oceanside won third place for a 62.6-pound Alijos yellowfin tuna. Jeff Camplese of Helena, MT took the best wahoo, a 55.4-pounder, and brought it into the lineup shot.

Real good fishing today in the morning on 70-125 lb. tuna. The afternoon seemed like it was going to be slow, but low and behold late in the day we got what we think is the biggest cow of the season so far. It taped out at 364 lbs. We see what the scales say.

Very good sign of albacore/bluefin today. There were spots up puddling and boiling around everywhere. Not too many big schools though, so it was good scratching from daylight to dark. The tuna are from 12-40 lbs. Mostly 20-30 pounders. Some of the bluefin we've seen jumping are over 100 lbs., but we haven't gotten close enough to even try. Weather couldn't be better. It's like we're fishing in the bay. We'll be at the dock tomorrow morning and departing on another 3-day. It's prime rib night and just heard 1st call so see ya!

Hello and Happy New Year,

The Apollo has recently returned from Mag Bay. We spent the month of December down there doing 5.5 to 7.5 day fly down fly back trips. The cow fishing was tough however we managed some very solid trophies for our efforts. For the 3 trips we did, we caught 8 fish over 200# the smallest went 219# and the biggest went 268#. There was steady action on 20 to 50# tuna most of the time and very good wahoo and dorado fishing to be had.

We are now setting up our schedule for 2013 and have our calendar of available dates on line at apollocharters.com, go to the calendar page and click or scroll the month you want to see. We will be starting the season in Santa Barbara beginning in April and will stay in Santa Barbara thru most of June hoping for a spring sea bass and halibut run this year. There are many prime charter dates available right now so give me a call now if you are interested in setting up a fishing trip for this season.

Lets make it a great year.

Thanks, JJ