half hitch Fishing Report 2024

Aug 11

I'm not sure how i feel about today. I know at 3:30 I felt real bad. Extremely frustrated to say the least. 2 of the boats we were fishing with found schools early in the morning and drifted with it most of the day scratching away at the bluefin the whole time while we drove around seeing nothing. The other 2 boats we were with connected around 1:00 in the afternoon and were gettin um, so I was feeling sad and mad. I told Mark to switch gens and broke out the volt meter to see if we had a short somewhere. I figured there had to be a reason we were the only boat not drifting. We were looking in the same water with the same machines trolling the same jigs but just not seeing it. The truth of the matter is there was nothing wrong with the boat, her captain or the crew. Sometimes your just that guy. Sometimes your front row and sometimes your nose bleed.

OK, enough wining. The day turned out just fine. At 3:30 we found a boomer school and drifted on the 25-45 pound bluefin almost till dark. Everyone caught at least one with top dog Phil boating 6 of those beauts. The weather was great in the morning but increased wind velocity throughout the day and it was pretty choppy at dark. So with the weather coming up and our bait situation worsening, we're heading down to fish for yellows and try for some macks.

Capt Ryan Bostain checked in from the San Diego the 3/4 day boat out of Seaforth Landing to report that the Yellowtail are starting to bite down at the Coronados. Yesterday we had 96 Yellowtail and today we 114 Yellowtail for 30 anglers, come on down the are biting everything. We are getting them on surface iron, yoyo jigs, dropper loops and fly lining baits, the water is very nice and clean. When you come down make sure to bring your passport as it is required.

The San Diego out of Seaforth Landing in San Diego,CA checked in with us today:

36 yellowtail 1 calico bass. Did a lot of driving to get a few good shots. Conditions seemed to be improving today, hoping for a big hit in the near future.

July 18
    We had an action filled morning today.  The yellows were biting good.  The only downside was it didn't last long.  For whatever reason breakfast only lasts an hour and a half.  We found another area that we worked on for a little bit then it went down.  After about 10:00 in the morning things were lifeless here until 5:00 this evening.  We had a couple shots at them before dinner was over for the fishies.  We're going to stay the night and hope things change here for the better.  We're hoping breakfast lasts longer and that there will be a lunch.  Theres plenty of fish around here when they're up and the grade of fish is wonderful so we want to stay.
                                

 

Mike Pritchard called in from the Tribute with this report. "We have 35 Bluefin for this stop and we're right around 60 for the day. Yellowtail fishing has been very good as well. We're at about 100 on the Yellowtail and a few Dorado. The Bluefin is up to about 70 lbs. A lot of the the is in the 15 to 25 lb. range. We still have some daylight left, we'll keep you posted.

Steady stop and go action with an end of the day finale. Our 30 anglers managed limits of bluefin and 12 yellowfin.

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.

Tommy Rothery finished up a three-day trip on his Polaris Supreme and tied up at Fisherman's Landing July 12. "We had good fishing on albacore," he said, "and bluefin fishing was okay, too. I think I saw the longest spread of albacore I've seen in five years. We had some kids who fished for tuna with iron from the bow, The Ironmen. They did great!" Hubert Bell of Bonita won the jackpot for a 47-pound albacore, the best one to come in to the docks this season. He said it bit on a sardine pinned to a 2/0 Super Mutu hook on 30-pound P-Line. He used an Accurate B-2 500 reel on an 800 M Calstar wrapped by Don's Bait & Tackle. Tom Carr of San Diego won second place for a 42.4-pound bluefin and Lohn Storms of Vista won third place for a 38.6-pound bluefin tuna. The Ironmen kindly posed for Bill Roecker's camera. They were Hugh Seifert, 14, Hunter Lane, 14, and Jorge daSilva, 13, all of Poway. Hugh and Hunter will go to Poway High and Jorge to St. Michael's. The boys said they got most of their fish with chrome and blue Tady 9 jigs and Megabait darts or knife jigs.