great south bay Fishing Report 2024

George Davis made his eighth (his estimate) annual charter with Tommy Rothery aboard the Polaris Supreme, and met the boat when it returned to Fisherman's Landing January 13 after an 18-day excursion. It was Friday, but definitely not a bad luck day or trip, as chartermaster George bagged a 257-pound tuna for himself as the boat fished off southern Baja. He might have had a jackpot spot, but by consent the group of eight passengers had a single jackpot winner. Davis runs a construction company from Rancho Cucamonga. "Everybody got a cow," said Tommy, "and we released over 100 tuna. We ended up with 27 tuna over 200 pounds." The day's big winner was Tom Hilton of San Clemente who scored a 293-pound whopper yellowfin with a sardine on a 7/0 Super Mutu hook, 130-pound red line, 130-pound Spectra backing on a Penn 50T reel blueprinted by Cal Sheets, and a 760H Calstar rod tied by Sheridan Stanton (also on the trip). Hilton said he got the big tuna "‚Д¶in 25 minutes; my best fish ever. My biggest before was 178 pounds. "I knew he was heavy," remarked Tom, "but he bit on the last bait on the last day at the last stop of the day. The fat lady hadn't sung yet, but I could hear her warming up in the wings." Hilton also had tuna of 251, 237, 236 and 213 pounds. The water temperature in the tuna area remains at 69 to 715 degrees, anglers said. High score went to Scott Brown of Costa Mesa, with six over 200 pounds, at 279, 269, 246, 240, and a pair of 225-pounders. Scott said he fished with sardines on 6/0 ringed Super Mutu hooks, on 100-pound Ande line, 130-pound Spectra backing, a Tiagra 50W reel and a Calstar 655 TSS rod. Al Tokunaga had five, at 225, 222, 213, 208 and 201 pounds. The 27 cows was no boat record, but 27 for eight anglers may make for some kind of mark.

~~Sep. 17
 We had bad odds today.  We fished for wahoo and our fish hooked to fish landed ratio was poor.  It always is with wahoo but I feel today was extra bad.  I think if you're landing half of what you hook with wahoo you're doing OK.  Today at best we were 1/3.  At best.  I called out to 2 of our anglers fishing today and asked what there ratio was for the day and I got a 1/2 and a 1/4.  Then my buddy Dave came up to the wheel house and said he was 0/4.  So that gives you an idea.  If we would've caught half of what we hooked today we would've had a really good day.

 Alright.  I'm done whining.  I'm still glad we came here.  Everybody got there chance at a wahoo and there's still a chance for some more tomorrow.  We're headed inside now and we'll be fishing for wahoo while we're looking for tuna first thing tomorrow morning.  The weather now is fantastic.  A little weird this morning with mixed swell and a wind coming from the southwest but it's beautiful now.

 We couldn't come to an agreement on a price for someone to wear Mark's shirt today.  Justin wanted 200 and Mike said he'd do it for 150 but I couldn't find enough people to chip in.  It was a good one too.  He was wearing a white shirt today, so by 9:00 this morning he could've entered a wet t-shirt contest.  He may have won too if you're into guys like Mark.
        

23 pass private charter. 13 bluefin tuna 26 yellowtail. Stopped on many schools of both bluefin and yellowtail. Picked away on 25 lb flyline and surface iron

Saturday June 21 - Fishing today was great on the yellowtail. Just magnificent quality. We also topped off with catching and releasing 9 black sea bass and several larger ones that were loss. Our weather is also really good. Thanks for checking in. Tommy and crew

Polaris Supreme Trip Report 10-24-2019 We had another log jam today on the kelp patties. Another great day of fishing Wahoo and what a beautiful grade of fish! Some real beauties in their. They look more like alligators than Wahoo. They definitely act like alligators when you hook one. We also had a good hit on the yellowfin tuna again this afternoon. The grade of fish was more like 20 to 45 it wasn't all 45 pounders. But still a good grade of fish! Were finished up in the lower zone here and need to start working north. Stayed late today so we will probably only have a few hours of fishing tomorrow if any looking for some yellowtail up the coast. Weather is still epic. We also spent about a half hour today catching and releasing beautiful grade Dorado. We didn't keep any! Will check in with you tomorrow on our way home after a short try for yellowtail. The Polaris supreme crew!

Hello Everyone, Today was a great day on the tuna grounds. We had an un-real sun downer bite on Bluefin Tuna in the 40 lb range. Complete chaos, an absolute ripper on fly lined sardine, until the sun went down. Once darkness settled in, it turned into a Flat fall ripper. Landing the Tuna on the jigs was was much nicer on the heavy gear. In addition to the Bluefin we landed 2 50 lb Yellowfin Tuna. Great grade fish. Excellent day on an excellent charter. Note* Family Pictured is all the same household.

Today was like yesterday but we didn't see the schools. We saw some in the morning but they wouldn't bite again. When mid morning came. the wind picked up and the rain started pouring off and on for the rest of the day. When the weather came up the fish went down. Very poor for the entire fleet. We'll be dockside in the morning departing on the last short trip of the year. 5 days.

Tommy Rothery returned Polaris Supreme to Fisherman's Landing November 18 after a ten-day Ocean Tackle Research charter. The boat had 13 anglers aboard. Chartermaster Lon Mikkelsen of Hood River, OR saw his father, Bill Mikkelsen of Olympia, WA land the season's first super cow; a tuna over 300 pounds. "It was full-speed fishing," said Chartermaster Lon Mikkelsen.

Bill Mikkelsen's big fish won first place after it weighed in at 308.8-pounds, caught on a fly-lined sardine. Bill used the boat's gear, including a 6/0 Mustad 7691 hook, 100-pound P-Line, and a Shimano rod and reel. "Tommy said it was tail-wrapped from the beginning," said the elder Mikkelsen. "And he was, but he got lose and went on another run. He took me around the boat twice."