illinois river Fishing Report 2024

Limits of yellowfin 91 skipjack 38 yellowtail. Fall fishing at its finest.

Fresh and Fast! Recently we have been doing a lot of quick turnarounds to try and maximize fishing time for our clients. Recently we had a beautiful 200 lb Bluefin Tuna donated to the boat. Thanks to Sean and the people of Fishermans Processing we were able to have the Tuna filleted, packaged, and returned to the the boat in time for an early departure. Because of this our passengers were able to enjoy fresh Bluefin Tuna sushi on our way down the following trip. Thank YOU for going the extra mile for us so WE could go the extra mile for our customers!

Pretty darn good fishing once again today, 26 Bluefin and 1 Yellowtail. Please make sure your gear is in good working order, I really should have taken pictures of some of the gear failures.

Capt Ryan Bostain checked in from the San Diego, they have been fishing offshore the last week and have been scratching away getting 20 to 40 Yellowfin Tuna a day. But yesterday we had a private charter that was a rent rod group, we found our first really aggressive Yellowfin. We got on the school of fish that ranged from 20 to 60 lbs, and we ended up putting 92 of these fish on the boat. If you come down make sure to bring a variety of set ups, make sure you have gear ranging from 25 to 50 lbs as they were biting the heavy line yesterday. The jigs and poppers have been working well also. We depart everyday at 5:30 am, we are headed out right now and will check back in later.

Rolling up! Today we had to leave the peaceful waters of the Island to start making our way north. The sea is rolling us around for the course we need to take. Overall it is a smooth ride so far. Looking like an on time arrival tomorrow morning in San Diego. Pictured here is Tim with a monster Yellowtail.

Fishing was excellent today. Most of the tuna were 70-125 lbs. they started biting in the gray and continued just until dark. We released all of them except Al kept a 197 lb. tuna and Craig kept one that was 187 lbs. We also had a few wahoo mixed in. Weather is gorgeous. We are going to give it a try again tomorrow. Lunch was Chili Colorado, hors d'oeuvres were shrimp, crab claws and sashimi. Dinner was tuna Baja (that's a tuna fillet split and stuffed with avocado and crab meat with a sweet teriyaki ginger sauce to top it off).

Captain Ryan Bostian from San Diego Sportfishing checked in.  42 pass. 1 bluefin tuna 103 yellowtail 41 bonito. Flylined bait, surface iron and yo yo all produced!

Captain Ryan Bostian checked in via satellite phone at 11:47 AM. We have caught four Bluefin Tuna (115, 108, 103 and 101). We hooked 8 and landed 4. You need to make sure you bring the correct gear. CURRENT TACKLE RECOMMENDATION
A Shimano Talica 12 or 16 two speed filled with 65 or 80 lb spectra. Connected to 5 feet of 80 or 130 lb flouro and a 250 gram flatfall. A sinker bait rig fished with a Talica 16 or 20 two speed filled halfway with 80 lb spectra than topped off with 60 or 80 lb mono to a short leader of 80 lb flouro. A 2/0 or 3/0 circle hook and a 4-6 oz torpedo sinker. We will check back in later tonight after we finish the day!