dnr wisconsin Fishing Report 2025

The San Diego checked in with us today. 

62 Yellowfin, 27 Dorado, 34 Yellowtail. Anglers changing their baits often had most of the bites.

Aug. 11
    We had a great morning today.  I'd have to check with the big guy but I believe we had around 60 of the 15-25 pound yellowfin and 9 of those big 60-80 pound bluefins on our first drift.  I'd call that a good morning.  It wasn't full speed either.  It was just a nice scratch over a period of a few hours.  Nice drifting along there in beautiful weather once again.  I sure hope this weather lasts a while along with the fishing.
    
    After our first drift we did some others of course.  None producing as well as the first one but throughout the day we scratched at some more yellowfin and a few more of those big bluefins.  It was just what we needed after a day of mostly driving around seing a lot and  not catching much.  Needless to say we'll be hanging around here tonight and trying it again tomorrow.

    On a sad note, one of the greats in the sportfishing industry passed away today.  Most of you reading this wouldn't know who I'm talking about because he was a behind the scenes guy.  I'm talking about the great sardine fisherman Joe Machado, and if you've been fishing in the last 35+ years, you were using bait most likely caught or found by him.  As you all know, no bait no fish, so we'll be throwing some sardines over the side for him tomoorow.  RIP Joe.
                                                        

 

~~Aug 17
 We figured it out.  The Cortes Bank isn't good right now for bait, or game fish.  Somebody had to be the guinea pigs.  Why not the boat full of fish already.  Check that off the list of places not to go for a while.  One thing I can say about that place is the weather there was fantastic.  Such a smooth ride around the area.  Not a common thing for that place.  If you aren't going to catch much you might as well do it in good weather.  But if you've been keeping up, we've had a great trip.  We're rolling in fat and happy.

 It sounds like they're having a tough time keeping good bait in the receivers as of late so we're going to get next to the harbor early morning and try and catch a tank of mackerel for our next trip leaving tomorrow.  4 days.  See you then.
     

151 yellowfin 7 skipjack. Nice weather, steady action, and lots of laughs. Please remember that fishing is supposed to be fun. Egos are best left at the dock.

Captain Ryan Bostian checked in tonight with an update from the San Diego out of Seaforth Sportfishing in Mission Bay. Today we caught 2 Bluefin Tuna, 30 California Yellowtail and 1 Pacific Bonito. We never found the big yellowtail blowout we were looking for but we did see sign of Bluefin.

13 bluefin tuna from 40 to 80 lbs and 2 yellowtail. Come prepared with a 25 lb setup for kelp fish and smaller tuna. A 40 or 50 lb setup for flylining sardines at the 60-80 lb tuna and a 60 or 80 lb setup for flatfalling. Fluorocarbon is a must as well as size 1 to 2/0 circle hooks. Come take advantage of this rare opportunity to catch a true trophy fish in local waters without trolling.

Hello everyone, Day one was rather uneventful after checking out the yellowfin tuna grounds. We were able to scratch away at a couple fish on jig strikes and porpoise schools, but it wasn't the big hit we were hoping for. These fish are very finicky, and aren't sticking with the boat like we need them to.With a plethora of other sport boats in the area, these fish have been getting hit pretty hard recently. Team Supreme

~~Sep 14
 Wow!  What a day.  2015!  We started it off early on anchor.  The sun wasn't even up yet and we were catching tuna and wahoo.  For about an hour there on anchor we were gettinum.  We had about 30 of those 25-30+ pound tuna and almost 20 wahoo before an hour.  Things slowed so we pulled anchor and got nasty.  We had a couple other bingers for wahoo for about 10 each time, and of course we would catch that big tuna during those drifts.  After that though, us and the 3 other boats that were here pretty much had the wahoo caught for the day.  There was a few left to be had but we mostly caught that tuna up to perhaps 40 pounds the rest of the day.  Not wide open.  We're not "fixed up".  Just steady for most of the day.  Before dark we started "the troll of shame".  I've never done that the second day of the trip.  We got 2 passengers out of there and still have 2 or 3 left who haven't caught a wahoo yet.  Oh they had there chances.  Some of those guys on that team lost 4 or 5 skin today.  But that's wahoo fishing.  Sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes the bar eats you.

 We're going to try this again in the morning.  I would love to get 40 or 50 more tuna and a couple more handfuls of wahoo.  That would be epic.  After the morning hit we're going to make a run and try for some yellows in the afternoon.