catskill flies Fishing Report 2023

Back after a five-day trip, the 7th Annual Paul Chappell Charter aboard the Polaris Supreme arrived at Fisherman's Landing July 10. The 24 anglers were guided by skipper Drew Henderson.
"We got some nice yellowtail at San Martin," remarked Drew, "but there's a lot of that big squid around there. You can't get any more yellows once they get on you." Chartermaster Chappell won first place for his 34.6-pound albacore. He said he bagged it with a sardine on a 2/0 Mustad 94150 hook on 30-pound Yo-Zuri line. He fished with a Penn Squidder reel and a Sabre seven-foot rod of the same era. Phil Beltrami of Napa won second place for a 33.4-pounder, and Craig Pappas of Santa Cruz won third place for a 32.4-pound longfin.

Hello guys:

Ryan checking in here with the report for the past week. This past week was full of highs and lows. We fished for yellowtail at the Coronado islands all week and had some good days and some slow days. Finding fish was not the problem this past week. Finding fish that we could catch was a major problem. On both Thursday and Friday we landed 18 yellowtail both of these days we had yellowtail around our boat all day long. The way the yellowtail have been behaving lately we could catch 20 fish in 20 minutes or we could catch 0 in 15 hours. It's all about timing and a little luck never hurts either.

On Friday as we left the islands to head for home I got a call from our association president. Our president informed me that he had just received a letter from the Mexican port authority. This letter stated that any vessel that wishes to fish inside of Mexican territorial waters (24 miles from shore) must first check in at the port of Ensenada. This news was a bombshell to the boats that fish the Mexican coast. Our president has informed us that every U.S. government agency we know is working on this issue and hopes to get it resolved soon.

In the meantime our options on the San Diego are (1) fish in U.S. waters (2) fish in Mexico outside of 24 miles for yellowtail , tuna and dorado. We have decided to fish offshore.

Yesterday was our first trip offshore, we caught 5 bluefin tuna. All offshore trips will be limited to 50 passengers. I will keep you guys posted on any news I get concerning the Coronado islands.

"We fished at Cedros Island and we fished on offshore kelps," said Polaris Supreme skipper Drew Henderson July 28. He'd just ended a five-day Catchy Tackle trip with 24 anglers, and was weighing the catch at the Fisherman's Landing scales.
"We got yellowtail, dorado and some non-biting albacore," he added, "and; wow!" The albacore he hung on the scales pushed the numbers up to 41 pounds even. "That's the best one so far this season," I remarked. Henderson high-fived angler Al Brandenburg, who grinned and brought his fish over to the side for some photos. Brandenburg said he got the big longfin on a sardine and a 2/0 Flyliner hook. He used 30-pound Izorline on a Trinidad 30 reel and a Calstar 700 M rod. He won second place in the jackpot. Harvey Rosen of Benecia bagged a 43.6-pound yellowtail on the dropper loop to win first place. "He fought like a bulldog," said Rosen, who used a sardine on a 4/0 Mustad hook with 60-pound Izorline XXX mono, an Avet 4-2 reel and a Seeker 6460 glass rod to beat his fish in ten minutes. Don Spitzer of Petaluma was third, for a 33.8-pound yellowtail. Chartermaster Wayne Martin hoisted a dorado he said was typical of those encountered on kelps.

Limits of Yellowfin Tuna for our 2 day trip and 20 bluefin.