grand lake of the cherokees Fishing Report 2024

Ryan Bostian checked in to tell us what the San Diego is doing. "The kids are back in school and if you have been waiting for an opportunity to get on the boat, with a light load, this is definitely the time for you. The Coronado Island have had very good Yellowtail signs. It has been inconsistent. We see them one day, we don't see them the next. The bite one day, they don't bite the next.

"Rockfish make up most of the counts, they last couple of days. But we always keep our eye out for Yellowtail. I don't think this season is over by any means. The water is still very warm. There is plenty of 70 degree water around. Reports have Yellowfin tuna moving up the line and there are plenty of Bluefin around. The problem with the Bluefin is finding fish that want to bite. It is just like the Dorado. There are plenty of Dorado, they just are hesitant to bite.

"It seems like the ocean is in a transition. I expect to see some good counts in a week or so. Our reservations are very light. If you've been waiting to get on the boat, with 40 or 50 of your closest friends; this is definitely the time to come on down. Make your reservations at 619-224-3383. The boat is still running everyday and the weather has been outstanding.

230 yellowfin 1 bluefin. Don’t miss out on this late season action.

Today we departed on Joe Beck and Mal Wagstaf's annual six day trip, which is our first post-boat work excursion! We left the bay around 11am with a great load of mixed sized sardine and mackerel. Shortly after departing the bay, chef Mike prepared the guys bratwursts with a broccoli salad. We are now working our way south to the yellowfin grounds. We will be in that yellowfin zone by morning, but for the time being we are keeping our eyes out for those giant bluefin. The area we are in there are about 30 or so live bluefin tuna pen boats that are each towing two pens each. We have also seen a couple big blue whales that were heading north-bound. Chef Mike is making 30lbs of beautiful prime-rib tonight served with salad and a baked potato. Written by Kyle of the Polaris Supreme

Once again we stopped on enough fish to fill up our fish hold 10 times. Unfortunately we only had 1 brief moment of biting fish. 2 bluefin tuna (40-50 lbs) 11 yellowfin tuna. Hopefully these fish get out of their funk soon.

July 21
    I don't think anything abnormal happened today during our turn around.  Well, Sysco was late so we left for the fuel dock before that came aboard so, just another turn around day is what I'm trying to say.  We loaded the Paul Hess group, our Hess homies and we were out.  I think things went OK at the bait receivers.  We'll find out.  We fished this afternoon.  It's the year of departure fish days.  We scratched 16 nice grade tuna.  We're traveling now and I'm on watch.  It's almost 3:00 am on the 22nd and I believe we're in American waters.  I'm thinking about it and I don't think I've ever fished in American waters in the beginning of a 5 day trip which is what we're on.

    The weather this afternoon was rolly and choppy.  The weather now is pretty nice but I think it's supposed to be bad the next couple of days.  Windy, choppy, rolly oh my.

 

Here is a suggested tackle list for our 5:30 - 5:00 Coronado island trips for February and March. (1) a yo-yo outfit, this outfit should be a 20 or 30 size reel spooled with 40 lb. monofilament. Any 6 - 8 ft. rod rated for 40 lb. will work good. (2) Deep water cod rod. This outfit should be a 20 or 30 size reel spooled with 65 or 80 lb. spectra. Any 6-8 ft. rod capable of handling a 16 oz. sinker will work good. (3) a 25 or 30 lb. live bait outfit. This outfit should be a 20 size reel spooled with 25 or 30 lb. monofilament. A 7-8 ft. Rod rated for 25-30 lb. will be perfect. TERMINAL TACKLE. An assortment of torpedo sinkers from 6-16 ounces. A dozen rockcod hooks. We really like Mustad EZ baiters in the 10/0 size. A pack of size 2/0 live bait hooks. We really like Mustad 94150 A couple of heavy lures. Salas 6x jr and Salas 6x in blue/white and scrambled egg are perfect. Most of our trips we have been fishing deep water in the morning and shallow water in the afternoon. As soon as we see yellowtail the rock fishing will take a back seat.

Late Post .... Sorry my Internet was dead today. Captain Mike Pritchard called in this morning with good fishing. He had 53 fish of the kelps by 9 AM.

Today we had some fun fishing on the small yellowfin (released) and yellowtail up to 22 pounds. Our new guys Jim and Gunnar got the kinks out. Rack of lamb for dinner and off to bed to get ready for some hopefully great fishing tomorrow.