clearlake Fishing Report 2024

From 8:00 am till 4:00 pm we were either stopped on bluefin or driving towards jumping bluefin. When we pumped out the RSW we had 17 bluefin and 2 yellowtail. Flylined sardines on 25-40 lb with a size 2-2/0 bait hook was the top producer.

Tom Rothery brought his Polaris Supreme home to Fisherman's Landing January 11 after a 16-day trip to the Hurricane Bank and the Southern Banks of Baja. There were seven anglers on the annual George Davis expedition, and they produced ten more cows for the record.

In his report from the boat on Friday January 2, Tom reported a good day of fishing.

"Yes, now this is what I'm talking about," he wrote. "We finally got a break in the weather. It is beautiful and we have left Hurricane Bank. We are now heading to the upper banks. We will be there tomorrow night. Yesterday was an ok day of fishing. George kept a 219 and released a 185. Jeremy released a 140.

"Craig kept a 205 and by the way that was a mistake yesterday. Craig kept a 210 pounder. Al kept a 100 for his buddies that are going to Ennis hunting. They are going to open pit barbeque it on a spit like a pig. Now, that sounds interesting. ‚Д®

"Charlie released a 125 and Scott released a 140. Each day we also had five to 12 fish that we caught that were under 100 pounds and were not mentioned. These all were released.

"Yesterday we also had good wahoo fishing. Jeremy and Craig both caught 4 and Gunnar and Al got 3. Everybody else had a couple a piece. Overall the trip to Hurricane Bank has been very good with eight tuna over 200 pounds, and excellent wahoo fishing."

Chartermaster George Davis of San Dimas won the jackpot while catching four cows. His tuna weighed 241.8, 219.8, 213.6 and 208 pounds. The big one came on squid on the kite, he said.

George fished with 7/0 Mustad 7691 hooks, 130-pound Momoi line and 130-pound Line One Spectra on a Penn 70 VSW reel and a Calstar 655 XXH rod. He said the big one came to gaff in just 20 minutes.

Allen Tokunaga of North Hollywood won second place for a 224.6-pounder.

"These Hurricane Bank fish seemed a little tougher than the ones on the inside," he remarked. "This one took me 40 minutes. He went around the boat a couple of times, and then came up on the port side of the stern."

Al fished a sardine on an 8/0 Eagle Claw hook, on 130-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon leader, 100-pound P-Line and 130-pound Izorline Spectra. He used a Penn 50 reel modified by Cal Sheets and a Calstar 6465 XXH rod.

Scott Brown of Costa mesa won third place for his 213.2-pounder. He also got a 202.6-pounder. He fished a small jack under the kite on a 9/0 Mustad 7691 hook. He used 130-pound Momoi line and 130-pound Izorline Spectra on a Penn 70 VSW reel and a Calstar 655 XXH rod.

"The big one was a 20-minute fish," he remarked. "He came to the boat pretty good."

One big tuna was eaten by the passengers and crew while the boat was still fishing. It was a 215-pounder caught by Craig Johnston of Costa Mesa, who also got a 204-pounder. Craig said he got them on the kite, on double sardine baits pinned to 7/0 Mustad 7691 hooks. He fished with a 130-pound Momoi topshot on 130-pound Izorline Spectra, with a Penn 70 VSW reel and a Calstar 655 XXH rod.

"It took about 30 minutes," he said. "We had rough seas then; it was a fun fight."

Jeremy Chandler of San Dimas got a 203.6-pounder on a jack under the kite on a 7/0 Mustad 7691 hook and the boat's kite rig.

Capt Mike Pritchard called in from the Tribute on the second day of their trip, we have had very good fishing so far. Yesterday we had around 60 Yellowfin Tuna, 20 Yellowtail, 2 Bluefin Tuna in the 70 pound range, and 1 Dorado, today was more of the same with around 50 mixed fish so far and hopefully more to come. We do have some trips on line with spots available give the Seaforth Landing a call at 619-224-3383 to get on any open trips.

We departed today on Garry Robert's annual 8 day charter. We picked up a load of just ok bait and headed down with our 20 excited anglers. Weather is good. As our anglers prepared their gear, Pedro prepared fillet mignon , prawns and twice baked potatoes. Tune in tomorrow for our next update.

Suggested tackle for 7:00-4:00 local 3/4 day trips. (1) A 25 or 30 lb. outfit to fish fly line sardines , sliding egg sinker and squid and a lead head and squid. This outfit can also double as a light dropper loop rod for shallow water rockfish. (2) A 40 or 50 lb. outfit. This will be a heavy dropper loop rod for targeting yellowtail , white sea bass and halibut down on the bottom. (3) A deep water rock cod outfit. A 20 size reel filled up with 65 lb. spectra and a 7 ft. rod stiff enough to handle a 16 oz. sinker. If you only want to bring one rod a 30 lb. outfit would be your best bet. TERMINAL TACKLE (Hooks) a pack of size 2 live bait hooks for fishing anchovies and small squid strips. A pack of size 2/0 live bait hooks for fishing live sardines and live squid on an egg sinker. A pack of size 4/0 live bait hooks for fishing live squid on your heavy dropper loop rod. A few long shank rock cod hooks may be usefull but not mandatory on the days we fish deep. (Sinkers) an assortment of sliding egg sinkers from 1/8-1 oz. an assortment of torpedo sinkers from 2-16 oz. Sinker size will be determined by depth of water and strength of current. (Lead heads ) An assortment of "banana" shaped lead heads from 1/2 - 2 oz.

The San Diego out of Seaforth Landing in San Diego,CA checked in with us today:

17 yellowtail and all the bottom critters you could want. A couple decent shots at yellowtail, hoping things are starting to perk back up.

Captain Ryan Bostian from San Diego Sportfishing checked in.  42 pass. 1 bluefin tuna 103 yellowtail 41 bonito. Flylined bait, surface iron and yo yo all produced!

July 27
Well hello all.  We departed today on a 5 day trip with many regulars on board and so far a good load of bait which is key to starting off a successful trip.  As I'm writing this I still don't know where we're going tomorrow. On the one hand I'm listening to the boats on the radios and hearing them finding schools of bluefin in the 15-30 pound range that aren't biting well, and on the other hand there is a whole lotta 50-70 pound bluefin that are unaccounted for.  2 weeks ago it was everywhere and then it vanished.  It's somewhere out here and we want to find it.  I'll make the decision at dark whether to stop short for the local bluefin or keep her rolling down in search of the bigger grade BF.  Tune in tomorrow to find out where we end up.  I'll be curious myself.  For now that dinner bells getting close to ringing and we're looking forward to that prime rib.
Drew and the Supreme team.