islamorada Fishing Report 2024

Aug. 15
 Our day sort of reversed from yesterday.  Today it was a super slow morning that led into an action packed afternoon.  We looked for bluefin tuna this morning.  We started off in the zone where it had been in the weeks prior, but like yesterday, it wasn't around.  We caught one 12 pounder on the troll all morning.  We looked around there and in other places I thought it might have gone but we never saw an meat.  We went through one area where at least we were seeing little dabs of the BF but it was diving off on the meter.  We could tell it didn't want it.

 So we kept tracking around and ended up close to a possible yellowtail honey hole. So we took a look and that's exactly what it was.  For the rest of the afternoon till dark we stayed pretty steady on 12-25+ pound yellers.  It was good fishing.  A very pleasant surprise.  We're keeping this ball rolling.

 Needless to say, well maybe not needless, but we're going to spend the night here and see what this place looks like in the morning.
    

Wednesday, July 25th, 2012

Hello everybody. Good times this morning on the sea anchor. Biting bluefin tuna with a smattering of nice yellowtail to start off our day made breakfast taste that much better for everyone who attended the meal call. A half pound breakfast burrito tastes just a little better after pulling on fish for a couple hours after the sunrises. Anyhow, we had another decent day today of catching bluefin and yellowfin, mostly on blind jig strikes, and shaking off "neck-tie" yellowtail and dorado's to fill in the gaps when the tuna had their noses in the mud. For the most part, their noses stayed in that mud but when they did pop up, we made the most of it with some quality tuna fish.

Another solid day made for the decision to head coastal and see if we can't find us some yellowtail's with some size to them. We'll give this offshore scene another try later but for now, we're going to get out of the wind for a bit and give the anglers a change of scenery. We'll fill you in on our day tomorrow evening. Take care.

Tom Rothery docked his Polaris Supreme July 18 after an eight-day trip with 16 anglers aboard. His group found some good fishing at Alijos Rocks and Alijos Bank.
"Yesterday we had good fishing on wahoo in the morning," he wrote Sunday July 15, "and excellent fishing on tuna in the afternoon. The average weight on the tuna ranged from 45 to 70 pounds. Our weather is still good. Chef Tommy put out some great meals again. Lunch yesterday was yellowtail served over fresh spinach, surrounded by black beans with a spicy avocado cilantro sauce. And dinner was Cornish game hens topped with a spicy apricot sauce on wild rice with grilled asparagus on the side.
"Fishing this morning has started off again with wahoo biting and this afternoon we will fish the tuna again. We still have some open spots on Sept. 8th an 8-day trip, if you want to come get some of these wahoo. Give Susan a call at 619-390-7890."
Boat builder Harold Davis fished on the trip. "It was a great group," said Harold, "and we had four guys who had been skippers on the Bongos boats in Newport Beach. The whole group was good fishermen; we didn't have many tangles or much shoulder bumping. We had excellent food, too, like prime rib, rack of lamb, Ahi steaks with wasabi. My best fish was a yellowfin tuna, but I got some wahoo on bombs; purple bombs."
Zander Rodriguez of Loveland, CO made his first long range trip with the group. Zander is entering the University of Colorado this fall as a baseball pitcher, at age 18. He also plays golf. He had the second-best yellowtail at 44.2 pounds, a wahoo, and also got a white seabass on the 13 Spot.
Skipper Rothery weighed the best fish on the certified scales at Fisherman's Landing. Daniel McCaffery of Norco won first place for a 60.8-pound yellowfin tuna. He said he fished a sardine on a 2/0 Super Mutu hook. He used 40-pound Big Game line on a TLD 20 reel and a seven-foot glass Calstar rod.

Bob Wolfson of Dana Point was second, for a 56.4-pound tuna, and Harold Davis, the boat builder from Morro Bay, won third place for his 52.4-pound Alijos yellowfin tuna.

It's time to start thinking about the summer fishing schedule. We have a couple of opportunities to offer if you want to jump on a trip. First we have two spots open on a 5 day trip departing the morning of the 24th of May and returning on the 29th. The trip is limited to 10 people. This has always been a fun trip. Next is a shimano sponsored 1.5 day trip on June 21rst. limited to 20 people. There are 9 spots available. Please contact Fisherman's Landing to make a reservation. (619) 221-8500.

Today’s charter group had a great time catching 5 yellowtail, 30 calico bass and plenty of shallow water bottomfish. However, 5 yellowtail is not going to pay the bills for an open party run. Tomorrow and Tuesday we will be fishing offshore targeting Tuna, yellowtail and mahi mahi. Come prepared with a variety of line sizes from 20-60 lb. might want to bring a popper or a colt sniper rod as well. No Passports required.

One lucky kelp produced fast and furious action on yellowfin, skipjack, yellowtail and a few dorado. 122 yellowfin tuna, 122 skipjack tuna, 56 yellowtail, 8 dorado.

Fishing was a little tough off shore today. There was yellowfin for everyone and we got a few dorado on kelp, but not the big hits like we have been getting. Fished the island with very little signs and only a handful of yellowtail. Tomorrow we will be looking around the island. Weather is decent, and looks like it will be getting better tomorrow. Thanks for checking in, Tommy and crew

Polaris Supreme docked September 17 at Fisherman's Landing under owner Tom Rothery's hand following an eight-day Gary Roberts charter trip to Alijos Rocks and The Ridge. "It was a good trip," said Roberts, "with lots of fish caught and lots of fish lost." Sizeable tuna were hard to catch at the rocks, said Tom, because the skipjack, small tuna and sharks were all thick and hungry. The tuna were there, however, as were some wahoo. The Ridge got a good lock from the 24 anglers aboard the Supreme. They said there were plenty of yellowtail and lots of grouper and snapper biting there. Rothery said the temperature on The Ridge was very warm, at 81.5 degrees. Tom estimated that his anglers each released about 20 small tuna and four or five yellowtail. Jay Kotsier of Tulare showed off a pink pargo, also known as red snapper. These are excellent eating, especially if they have been kept in refrigerated sea water instead of under a frozen brine spray. Tom, Kroes of Tipton was first, for a 65.2-pound yellowfin tuna he got with a sardine on a 5/0 Mustad hook, 50-pound Big Game line, a TLD 30 reel and a Calstar 7465 rod. Everett Combs of PAZlm Springs was second, for a 62-pounder, and Alan Holleyman of Napa won third place for a 60.6-pound tuna. Bill Kuehl of Poway stood in with the winner, posing with his 50-pound wahoo taken on a Burns Bomb in Christmas colors.