columbus lake Fishing Report 2024

22 yellowfin 5 bluefin. Saw some good schools today but they weren’t very eager. Hoping for an attitude adjustment tomorrow.

Bill Roecker spoke with Polaris Supreme owner-skipper Tommy Rothery as he was leaving his slip at 12:30 p.m. Tommy said and Fisherman's Landing spokesman Robert Falcon confirmed that the permits to fish Guadalupe Island for shark boats and long rangers have been obtained. The papers are being flown in from La Paz to Tijuana, and are expected to arrive at 1:30. They will be available at 3 p.m. today. One of four boats departing today, Rothery's Supreme will come back to pick them up, taking some out for the other three boats. The permits are good for two years.

4th of July action! 38 passengers 6 yellowtail 149 barracuda 7 kelp bass. Very good action all around the islands today. Fly lined sardines and surface lures were the best today. Come on down and see us the weather is flat calm.

A five-day Dan Heil Annual Charter aboard Polaris Supreme with Skipper Drew Henderson, arrived August 21 at Fisherman's Landing. "It's been 20 years now, since '87," said chartermaster Ron Heil, "that I've been doing this trip. My father Dan, who passed away this last season, had been doing it since Tommy (Rothery) bought the boat back in '80 or '81." Dan Heil had been chartering with Rothery since the early eighties on the Polaris Deluxe, now the Breezers. He sailed with Rothery on the Polaris Supreme since '85. Rothery bought the boat from Bill Poole in 1987. "It was a little choppy on that first day," said Skipper Henderson. "But we had great albacore fishing. Cedros was great, we spent a half-day kelp fishing with little action, so we finished up at Benitos, and it was all the fish you could get." "We had a good trip and great timing," continued Heil, who hails from Portland, OR. "Drew did a great job, right out of the chute the first day, we were on a great albacore bite. It was a well rounded trip."
Mike Hunting of Riverside landed a 48.4-pound yellowtail at Benitos Islands, good for first place in the jackpot. Mike fished a sardine on a 5/0 Owner hook, 40-pound P-Line, an Avet HX 2-speed reel, and a Calstar rod. "We were in a shallow spot on the ridge" said Hunting, "and there were guys losing fish in the kelp. So when I got bit, I decided he wasn't gonna get to the kelp, so I buttoned down, past strike, and started cranking." Bill Byler of Covina was second for a 37.6-pound albacore and Gary De Void of Encinitas was third for a 36.4-pound albie.

Nice maiden voyage on the Endeavor. Filled some sacks and had a good time. Looked around last night for squid with no luck still keeping our eyes peeled for big game. Stay tuned!

July 19
    Today was a bust for us.  I can't sugar coat it any.  It was slow all around.  We chased around fish all morning but we never really saw much volume in one area.  The fish were scattered out one here two there for miles.  We'd stop and maybe get one or two per drift but it wasn't enough to keep us around.  We left and went to the next Island up arriving after lunch.  After looking around for a while we found one spot that I think we would have done well on if there were no such things as sea lions.  The yellows boiled around and we hooked seven or eight of them and they were all stolen from us by our furry little friends.  After that we took off and fished offshore the rest of the day and only caught a handful of tuna.

    The weather right now is good and we should have it tomorrow as well.  We're going to copy our first morning out here and hopefully have similar results.
                                

 

Putting away the Bluefin gear for now. Our sights are set on warm water fish next. Possibly Wahoo or Yellowtail! Glassy seas and great weather here traveling down on our Beck / Emerson / Wagstaff 7 day! We have new shorter trips on line for the weekend after we get back departing Friday July 20 and Sunday the 22nd. Will report tomorrow, Team Supreme

Sunday, October 9th, 2011

Hi friends. We arrived this morning to the slip and unloaded Dan, Howard, and the gang along with their fine catch of offshore and coastal gamefish. Big fish honors go to Troy Smith for his 33.8 lb. Yellowtail, George Todd for his 24.0 lb. Yellowtail, and Dick Langlois's 23.8 lb. Yellowtail took third place. Good going fellas. We'd also like to say thanks to Dan and Howard. They put together a fine group of people to share the rail with and it was our pleasure to have them aboard for the past eight days. Although tuna and wahoo fishing was tough, the gang still had a great time and enjoyed themselves all they way to the end. We hope to see y'all next year.

With that, we departed this afternoon at 1300 hours on another 2-day adventure and with a beautiful load of bait, we set sail to the southerly offshore grounds. It sounds like it's good kelp paddy fishing for Yellowtail and Dorado with a little bit of Bluefin and Yellowfin tuna mixed in. The weather is hot and sunny today and we're looking for more of the same tomorrow, hopefully the weatherman is correct tomorrow because he's showing more nice weather. We'll be there first thing tomorrow morning with a cup of coffee and a pair of binoculars in our hands. Here we go, let's do it.

-Team Supreme-

Saturday, October 8th, 2011

Good evening everyone. Slow fishing for us offshore today. We looked at a lot of good water and stopped on numerous kelps to find only smaller grade Yellowtail, which we do not need anymore of so we released every one we hooked, but we did catch a few 25 lb. Yellowfin tuna trolling around. We saw one good school on the sonar but never got around on it so that was encouraging and we also did see a lot of Yellowtail on the kelps that we did stop on. It seems as though this area is still recovering from the storm front that blasted through in the days prior and it's hard to stay on the fish when there aren't a lot of boats in the area if you can't locate the fish. There's a lot of water to cover and this is the only time you'll hear us say the words "the more boats, the better". That's what it is in this case. We need a nice spread of lots of boats to cover this large area of water that these tuna have been in the past couple of months and today, we just didn't have the help to look at all the water that needs to be covered in order to find the fish. Hopefully, this holiday weekend will see multiple boats out in the area to try and get something located. Other than that, our weather was pretty good with a little bit of leftover wind and swell but plenty of sunshine to aide in the kelp finding. We definitely made the right call on the weather side of things and strategically missed the bad weather that was forecasted.

So that's all. We're making way up the line and will be arriving to the docks at 0700 hours tomorrow morning. We'll be unloading Mr. Anderson, Mr. Lund, and their buddies and loading up for our 2-day adventure that will be departing int he afternoon. We'll chat with you tomorrow and thanks for checking in.

-Team Supreme-

Friday, October 7th, 2011

Hi friends. We took a little bit of a pounding last night traveling up but it wasn't anything serious. We made it to our destination at a decent hour this morning and it didn't take us too long to figure things out and get serious on finishing up our Yellowtail limit. We caught them using all methods today; Fly-lined Sardines, sliding-sinker rigs, dropper loops, yo-yo jigs, and our personal favorite - the surface iron. A solid grade of fish too with most being in the 18-22 lb. range. We had steady catching in the morning and we also had some very steady releasing of these beautiful specimens with probably a 50/50 percentage of fish kept and fish released. It gets a little tricky releasing such large Yellowtail but we do a superb job of releasing them with as little as stress to the fish as possible and that is a very rewarding feeling. It may take a few line cuts, which most definitely is NOT a rewarding feeling, but that's part of working on a boat. If your hands aren't throbbing with pain by the end of the day, you're either not working hard enough or you've had a really good day of fishing. Today, the crew of the Polaris Supreme have sore hands because of good fishing - our fingers hurt.

So with our fill of Yellowtail fishing, the afternoon found us trying to catch other coastal species and without very much success. More of a goof-off afternoon as hardly anyone was fishing with all of the action they desired being taken care of in the morning time. With that, we said farewell to our Yellowtail fishery and are currently bouncing up and down on our way to hopefully finish off our trip with a tuna score closer to home. We'll be giving it a go tomorrow morning and hopefully we can add some tuna to our catch that is already chilled in the RSW wells. Our weather is a tad bouncy and wet but it's nothing we can't handle or haven't seen before. We're just jogging up the line at the moment and the weatherman says throughout tomorrow, the wind is supposed to subside. That guy better be right. Wish us luck and we'll chat with you tomorrow.

-Team Supreme-

P.S. We'll be fishing tomorrow in the same area that we'll be fishing on our 2-day trip departing Sunday afternoon and returning on Tuesday morning, so it will be a good check for us to get the area figured out and hopefully get some fish located. We still have a few spots left, so give Susan a call in the office at 619-390-7890 and book a spot.

Thursday, October 6th, 2011

Hi friends. Mostly a travel today as stated in our last report, we decided to make a run higher up on the chart to be in position to elude the weather as best as possible if needed, but we did do some fishing today as well motoring up the line. We found kelp, after kelp, after kelp in good water conditions but we only have a couple handfuls of Dorado to show for our efforts. The weather was really nice for most of the day so seeing these kelps was no problem but we never located a really good kelp holding a glory stop. If there was one out here or not, who knows, but we checked dozens and dozens of kelps that were void of life with the exception of only a couple that actually were holding gamefish of size. But like I said, our weather was beautiful for most of the day until the late afternoon time when we were hit with some wind and a little bit of rain, so at least the weather was decent. Our traveling weather now is a pretty manageable with just a little bit of bounce from the wind swell. There isn't much sea conditions to worry about at the moment, just lots of wind but for now, we'll take this weather for the remainder of the trip. We'll see what happens tomorrow as more wind is forecasted in our future.

Tomorrow, we'll be doing some coastal fishing for White Seabass, Yellowtail, and Halibut before we peak around the corner and see if the weather will allow us to do some local tuna fishing for a morning. Until then, we'll be looking for some trophy gamefish and we'll take things as they come. Take care and wish us luck.

-Team Supreme-

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011

Hello friends and happy "hump day". Fishing for us was slow today on the Supreme. We looked at good water conditions throughout the day and just didn't find what we were looking for. Maybe in time, this area will produce for us but as of right now, it is definitely the place NOT to be. Anyhow, we gave it an honest check all day today and with the impending weather that is supposed to kick up all the way from California to where we currently sit and beyond the Baja coast, we've decided to start making a little bit of latitude up as we'll be in a different area tomorrow looking once again for tuna and Wahoo. We'll just take things slow and steady because we don't want to be stuck down here with strong winds that are being predicted and a long way still to aim for home. We'd rather be safe than sorry and we'll take things one day at a time.

So that is all. I hope I didn't frighten any loved ones at home on the topic of weather. It's part of coming out here on long-range trips down the coast. We have multiple weather programs that can give us all the information needed so that our experience and knowledge of the situation will ultimately give us the upper hand on planning a voyage to the safest point possible. That is what we're doing right now. Once again, better safe than sorry and if the weather-man is wrong, which I'm sure all of you know most certainly is a strong possibility, than we'll deal with it if that scenario plays out, when the time comes. Again, one day at a time. We'll report back to you tomorrow hopefully with a tale of bonanza-style fishing and good weather. Stay tuned and wish us luck.

-Team Supreme-

P.S. Ana- Mark says Ti Amo!

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

Hello again, friends. Good Yellowtail fishing for us once again and some decent Dorado fishing to go along with it. The grade of Yellowtail we captured today was a very nice grade of fish with most being right around 18 lbs; some bigger, some smaller but a fine grade nonetheless. Our first stop of the morning was mostly dropper loops and yo-yo irons once again but our second stop was straight fly-lined baits and jigs, which made for a lot more fun as we were able to witness a surface show of Yellowtail the we've become accustomed to when fishing for these mighty Jacks. Dropper loop and yo-yo fishing for 'tails is one thing but when they get up on the surface, boiling and swirling around, that is some of the funnest fishing we see out here so it was nice to get in some surface action before we pulled anchor after lunch and set a course to do some tuna and Wahoo fishing offshore for the remainder of the trip. Oh yeah, we also caught four token Pargo today.

So all in all, we had a very good morning and the rest of the day was spent traveling, eating, napping, watching movies, and getting our gear restored back to clean, working order to hopefully do battle with our next batch of species on the menu. Our weather isn't really all that bad, but the combination of the direction we are heading and the swell direction is rolling the boat around pretty good but everyone is doing just fine and we're traveling at a safe speed to ensure the utmost comfort and safety of the passengers and the vessel. We'll begin the hunt for tunas and 'hoos first thing tomorrow morning. Wish us luck.

-Team Supreme-

Monday, October 3rd, 2011

Hi friends. What began as a slow day on the Supreme, turned out to be quite a decent day by the time the sun set. Around mid-morning, we snagged a few Dorado on the troll and had a stop where we caught a box-full of some nice flats with quite a few going around 18 lbs. After that, we began the hunt for Wahoo and tuna but after not locating any, we plopped the anchor over to do some Yellowtail and ground-fishing. We tried a handful of spots with limited success but later in the afternoon, we began to snag some Yellows with the yo-yo jigs and dropper loops. Even without current, the fish bit pretty steady in the late afternoon and by the evening time, we only had a few fishermen left as the cocktails and showers overtook the anglers attention. That's when you know you've had a good bite, only a handful of anglers at the rail and with the cocktail party cheering them on; hootin' and hollerin' at 'em. So all in all, we had a good afternoon of fishing down here and we'll be trying for some Pargo this evening before we get back at it tomorrow morning for Wahoo, Yellowtail, and tuna. Our weather is a bit windy with a light swell but it's hot out, so the breeze is kind of welcomed at this point. Anyhow, we'll chat with you tomorrow and wish us luck.

-Team Supreme-

P.S. Dan says hello to Beverley and the girls. Everyone's having a great time and he misses you. Same goes to you, Julayna.

Sunday, October 2nd, 2011

Good evening, friends. A report of morning was fairly simple; breakfast, seminars, rig tackle. After the completion of the seminar, chartermaster's Dan Anderson and Howard Lund handed out some shirts, sweaters, spectra, jigs, and some fish processing gift cards. When all was said and done with our morning activites, we began our trolling rotations. We had a few jig strikes for a few Yellowfin here or there with one stop yeilding a wide-open bite on the Yellowfin that was hot and heavy but also short-lived. We managed to tag a bunch and have a few for some sashimi fish as well, so we're pumped. Other than that, it was just a mild day of relaxing, napping, eating, and listening to the football games. The troops are downstairs enjoying cocktails and Seafood Alfredo, so they're happy. We'll continue traveling down this evening and be on the hunt tomorrow in the mid-morning time. We'll be fishing for Yellowfin, Bluefin, Wahoo, Yellowtail, Dorado, Pargo, and Grouper so wish us luck and we'll chat with you tomorrow.

-Team Supreme-

Saturday, October 1st, 2011

Hello friends. After a couple-day hiatus, we're back out for eight days with Dan Anderson, Howard Lund, and a few of their amigos. We departed the docks early this morning and loaded up on some beautiful, mixed-size of Sardine and cleared the point with our bow pointed to an unknown destination at the moment. Our options are plentiful and we're hoping that some sign of big tuna and wahoo pop up somewhere but until that happens, we're looking at just pulling on any type of gamefish at the moment. We have a couple days of traveling to figure things out and as of now, our ride is beautiful rollin' south. We'll report back to you tomorrow with our daily activities. Take care.

-Team Supreme-