colorado division of wildlife Fishing Report 2024

Variety was the theme on our first 3 local fishing trips of the year. Yellowtail , bonito , halibut , calico bass , sand bass , sheephead , lingcod , red rock cod and rockfish were all part of our fish count the past few days. The highlight of our weekend was a yellowtail we caught Sunday morning that was every bit of 30 pounds. The best rigs were a dropper loop with 6 oz. torpedo sinker and a sliding egg sinker rig with a 3/4 oz. Our next trip is on Friday November 23. Call Seaforth at 619-224-3383 for reservations.

Polaris Supreme returned October 14 under skipper Drew Henderson's hand. Drew took his 23 anglers on a seven-day adventure, returning to Fisherman's Landing, where he weighed the best of the catch. "We had a very good afternoon at the Bush," (San Benitos Islands) said Drew, "and we spent some time looking for kelps. Alijos Rocks gave us some really good yellowtail fishing in the dark. We had four or five fishing going. We also tried Guadalupe Island, where we got a few tuna but saw very little." "We had a couple hours of very good dropper loop yellowtail fishing," Drew wrote October 0, "on 25-35 pound fish in the morning. When that slowed we stayed busy with smaller grade tuna and the occasional mahi. We made a tour and got the anchor back down around lunchtime and had the same action but with an occasional larger model tuna being hooked. We hooked 10 and landed four 50 to 60-pounders. After dinner the few that still had the energy to fish all caught several more of those big yellows before we took off at 10:00. We're now spending the day traveling up the line and will be arriving to finish up the trip at Guadalupe Island for a day and a morning." The certified scales provided the winners. Dennis Sewell of Walnut creek won first place for a 68.2-pound tuna.

"It took a lot of line," remarked Dennis. "It fought for a half-hour." Sewell baited a sardine on a 2/0 Eagle Claw hook tied to 40-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon leader and 40-pound P-Line, and fished with an Accurate 870 reel and a six-foot rod of unknown origin.

Jake Hamstra of Tulare won second place for a 66.6-pound yellowfin, and Tom Kroes of Tipton won third place for a 60.2-pound tuna. David Richardson of Hacienda Heights stood in with the winners, with his 52.2-pound wahoo, a fish that took his trolled Catchy Tackle spinner head jig in pink and black.

We cleared the point today at 1:00 in the afternoon with a full load of bait and a load of anxious anglers. After a short tackle seminar we are still rolling down in good looking absolutely flat calm gorgeous weather. We got the trolling jigs out and the sonar running keeping the area honest. We're planning on being offshore in the morning looking for yellowfin, bluefin, dorado, and that good grade yellowtail under kelps.

4 bluefin 4 yellowfin 14 yellowtail. We looked at bluefin all day, they were just in a funk. Tomorrow is new day.

Aug 17

We started off early yesterday morning in the hunt for yellowtail unsuccessfully. Great fishing on it the day before but the water dropped 2+ degrees and they were very inactive. We were getting the "should've been here yesterday" vibe so we took off to fish for yellowfin. After a couple hour move and a few hours in the zone, we were getting the "should've been here yesterday" vibe again but shortly after chowing down a big fat cheeseburger the call came down from Gunny. "kelp". It's those black eyes I tell you. Gets um every time. After that we pretty much drifted till dark scratching at 20-40 pound yellowfin with the occasional flurry for 20 or so. In fact right at dark there was about 6 people fishing, all with one on and the 18 other anglers standing around with a cigar and a cocktail in hand.

The weather was choppy and rolly today but it didn't bother us. As long as your catching fish who cares what the weather does. We were all very sore and tired after today and I think we're all ready for a nice pork chop meal and a pillow and blanket. We'll be fishing for yellowtail all day tomorrow then setting us up for our last day of bluefin fishing.

Mama bear- The litluns doing fine. Pretty much had a bent rod all day.