fish lake Fishing Report 2025

~~Aug 5
 The pressure is off.  We never made it down to any Island today like we planned.  At about 9 am or so the sonar went clunk, clunk and we went sideways for an hour.  It wasn't the best grade but it definitely wasn't the worst.  It was this years middle grade. 8-14 pounds with a sprinkling of 16-22 pounders in the mix.  Like I said, not the best but not the 2-6 pounders either.  But for a stressed out 4 day captain, it was lovely.  They bit good for about an hour and then they backed off.  After that we dedicated ourselves to that zone.  We figured that school of 14-25 pounders was just right over there.  It wasn't.  We didn't see another school of tuna.  However, we did find a nice kelp loaded up with big yellowtail.  They bit really well for a while too.  In fact , they were on the corner like tuna get on the corner for a good 20 minutes and when they backed off the corner, they still bit good for a while.  Other then that though we didn't see much other then the occasional small tuna on the trolling jigs but we're stoked for what we got today.  The pressure is off.

 We're going to stick with the plan and spend tomorrow at an Island hopefully drifting for hours.  The weather has finally backed off after a couple weeks of blowing.  Hopefully we get some descent weather for a nice long stretch and can get back to fishing where we please when we please.
     

Limits of dorado 62 yellowtail. One kelp can make or break your day.

The annual Burgesons private charter went the distance today. They were rewarded with limits of dorado and 13 yellowfin tuna.

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.

Thanks for the amazing response to the OPEN Shimano Charters we scheduled for the Channel Islands this spring. The response was so positive that I spoke with the folks at Shimano and they agreed to put another trip on line. This one will be set for fishing on March 13. That would be departing at 9pm on the night of the 12th. This trip will be just like the others. Shimano will provide a bunch of outfits for fishing butterfly and lucanus systems. There will be give aways of tackle and goodies as well. Please email me if you would like to join us on this trip.

We departed yesterday on the annual Jeff Hall 5-day trip yesterday and pointed it straight for Cedros. We arrived this afternoon and our first anchor job produced about an hour of yellowtail fishing before the bite sizzled away. Checked a couple other spots for not very much before it got dark. We're going to stay the night and spend a full day here tomorrow and take it from there.

Thanks for the amazing response to the OPEN Shimano Charters we scheduled for the Channel Islands this spring. The response was so positive that I spoke with the folks at Shimano and they agreed to put another trip on line. This one will be set for fishing on March 13. That would be departing at 9pm on the night of the 12th. This trip will be just like the others. Shimano will provide a bunch of outfits for fishing butterfly and lucanus systems. There will be give aways of tackle and goodies as well. Please email me if you would like to join us on this trip.

~~
Oct. 17
 I think I'm happy with today. Another dorado kelp sure would have been nice though. When I told the other boats we were fishing with what we caught today, they all said good going on your day so I guess I can't complain.

We started off at San Clemente Island yellowtail hunting. It was pretty darn slow first thing. We gave it a while staying patient but we could only take so much, so we explored. For nothing. By mid morning I was concerned I'd be giving the Jackpot money back. No cause for worry though. We went back to our morning spot and the handful of other boats that were chilling there bailed out so we tried it again. We stayed steady for a while catching yellers. Mostly smaller ones though but with a sprinkling of nice ones. It quit biting at lunch so we went looking for a dorado kelp. We found one. It had a great big ball of flats on it. Nice ones too. Some would call them !@#$ slappers. It could've hung around longer but we caught a couple per rod while they were around. We also caught a wahoo. Perhaps the first wahoo this boat has ever caught in American waters. I'm willing to bet good money on it.

And that was pretty much our day as far as catching goes. We fished more. We tried our yellowtail honey hole again but it didn't work out. I think we planned it out good though. We fished a lot. Not a whole lot of long periods of driving like you can get on straight offshore days. We'll be in tomorrow and I'm not sure when we're coming back out. That all depends on you. Whether or not you go 1.5 day fishing with us. Regardless we'll be back out Nov. 8 on a 10 day. Which by the way, you can still book on that son of a gun too.