lake hartwell Fishing Report 2024

Tommy Rothery brought his Polaris Supreme home to Fisherman's Landing August 17 after the best five-day trip to Guadalupe Island so far this year. Rothery's anglers had an excellent catch of larger yellowfin from the big island, and a couple of wahoo. The luckiest angler on the Eric Rogger trip may heave been Dean Hendrickson of Chatsworth, who got a non-eligible (assist from a deckhand) 110-pound tuna on a sardine and 40-pound line, and a 47-pound wahoo, on a black and purple small Marauder. Phil Bruce of Ramona won first place, for a 105-pound yellowfin. He said he got it with a sardine on a 2/0 ringed Super Mutu hook, 40-pound P-Line and 40-pound fluorocarbon leader, a Cal Sheets-treated Penn 12 T reel and a Seeker 660 rod. Supreme regular Dietmar Kruger of Santa Monica was second, for an 87-pounder he got on 40-pound line, and Alex Rogger of Steamboat Springs, CO won third place, for a 79.2-pound yellowfin tuna. Stephan Kruger of Venice Beach took the trip's best yellowtail, a 39-pound mossback, on the kite with a squid for bait. "He hit it like a massive tuna," said Kruger, "there was a huge explosion in the water under the kite."

Captain Mike Pritchard checked in tonight with an update from the Tribute out of Seaforth Sportfishing in Mission Bay.  We had a nice day of fishing for our group of 33 passengers today.  We caught 4 Bluefin and 165 yellowtail (mexican limits).  We had to go almost 80 miles to go get some today. We go again tonight.

Today was tough fishing. We were able to hook and land more fish today and they were all better grade. The fish today were also more eager to eat bigger line and hooks as opposed to the ones yesterday. Because of that we were able to put the wood to them and bring them to the boat quickly. We had some shark casualties but nothing too extreme. In fact the ones that were getting chased by the sharks charged the boat to try and evade them. So as long was we were ready with a gaff and able to steer the fish clear from the propellers and rudders we had some fish that came right in. Overall a tough but fruitful day. Wee will be looking for kelp's tomorrow targeting school sized Tuna and Dorado.

Its Me Again

 

Found another good school of Bluefin at 5:30pm. Good grade 30Lbs. Still biting GOOD. Loosing horse power fast. Down to 6 Anglers. Wind picked up a little but ok. Tommy.

Hi Gang

Morning dead. 7 hours of driving around the Atacama. Drifting on same school of Blue fin scene 12:30. Good fishing. 25 to 30 LB. fish. Weather great. Full report at end of day.

Sea Ya Tommy

 

Hello everyone, Today was spent traveling up. A great ride to end a great trip filled with a variety of fish. We would like to thank Billy Stephens for putting together such a great charter! It was a great seven day with a great group of fun anglers, and we look forward to next year! Our ETA is 5:30 See you at the dock, Team Supreme

Capt Ryan Bostain from the San Diego 3/4 day trip called in with a trip report from todays trip. They decided to head west from the Coronado Islands in search of some offshore fish, with the report of the tuna racing up the coast. We started they day with a stop on some really nice grade Bonito from 5 to 10 pounds and left them biting after we had 55 on the deck. We some mixed schools of Yellowfin and Bluefin and ended the day with 20 Bluefin and 36 Yellowfin that were all between 10 and 35 pounds. We had mostly beginner anglers on the boat today, very few had ever fished offshore before. We will be heading back out there tomorrow and until they go away. You will need a 20 pound bait rods, today they we biting 20-40-50-60 and even 80 pound line. If you come out with us the perfect setup will be a live bait from 20-40 pound set up, some size 2 and 2/0 hooks for either the Anchovies or Sardines. Come on down and get in on the action.

Andrew Viola called in with a mid morning update from the Pacifica out of Seaforth Landing in San Diego, CA.

We have half limits of Bluefin Tuna and a couple of nice Yellowtail and Dorado on the boat. We are stopped on a school right now and hoping to round off the count.

The Pacifica is back out tomorrow night for a 1.5 day trip fishing offshore for Tuna and Yellowtail. Departs at 9PM.

Friday, July 22nd, 2011

Good evening. With all of the life around the boat last night, we never managed to hook a fish this morning so we made a move and relocated the good sign of fish from yesterday. All in all, it was a very slow day up until the afternoon time when we got on a big breezer of smaller fish and had a nice little flurry on that smaller grade of fish. They really responded well, boiling within ten feet of the transom but for whatever reason we only managed to hook and land a handful. That was pretty much our hot action of the day. We saw a couple good spots of fish today but the Bluefin were Bluefin and it was a struggle to get a bite. There's potential for some decent hits in this area but for now, it's only for a couple of lucky boats and today, we were not a lucky boat. Sometimes, that's just how the cards fall.

With a beautiful load of Yellowtail in the fish holds and an annoying load of kelp flies everywhere else, we put a bow on the 2011 Paul Hess five day trip. Our utmost gratitude goes out to Paul for once again putting together a stellar group of folks and continuing to bring them back year after year. No matter what type of economic situation or what type of fish we catch, this group has a great attitude and they come out here to have a good time. Also, thank you to Sandra and Dave Lafferty for bringing some delicious food, especially the Cherry cobbler. We'll see y'all next year. Go Giants...not.

So there you have it. We're enjoying a fine ride as we motor back to port and we're shooting for a 0730 ETA tomorrow morning. We'll be coming back out with the Costello gang for five days of fun with Captain Drew Henderson at the helm. We'll check back with you tomorrow and have a good weekend.

-Team Supreme-

Thursday, July 21st, 2011

Hi friends. We finally made it to the hot Bluefin grounds in the afternoon and as soon as we arrived, the bite shut off. We saw good life and a few schools but we never saw the whites of their eyes. There is potential to scratch out a day here as the few boats that were in the area all day had a few fish to show for their efforts. Based on that, we rigged up and tossed out the sea anchor and will be drifting offshore all night. There is a ton of life around us right now with squid, sauries, and birds all around so hopefully with all of this life, we'll wake up and pick away at some shortfin's. Wish us luck.

-Richie and Team Supreme-

Wednesday, July 20th, 2011

Good evening friends. Yellowtail fishing aboard the Polaris Supreme was outstanding today. From right after breakfast until the late afternoon, we were pulling on 'tails in the 14-20 lb. class. Massive breezers, meter marks, and color spots were repeatedly located and we enjoyed steady catching all day long in beautiful weather. We had a very entertaining day and the evening time found us on the hunt for "premiums" which we managed to boat one right around 35 lbs. Hot rigs today was 30 lb. test, fly-lining a sardine with a J-hook tied on. No fluorocarbon, no designer circle hooks. A Yellowtail's mouth is like sandpaper, so there is no reason to waste the money on more abrasion resistant/expensive line and a hook that is designed to be set in the corner of the mouth so you don't get chewed off by a fish with teeth. With the exception of cow tuna fishing, we see more fish lost on circle hooks than landed. Granted every type of tackle worked today but time after time, we see just a simple 30 lb. rig filled with mono and tied up with a J-hook catching more fish than a rig with fluorocarbon and designer circle hooks. For Yellowtail fishing, it's an unnecessary expense when a so called "cheap rig" will get the job done just as good. Hey, when you step foot on the Supreme, you can fish with whatever type of tackle you wish. But take it from the people who are out here everyday, when it comes to Yellowtail fishing, keep it simple. Outfit yourself with mono and a J-hook and save that money that you would've spent on the fluoro/designer hooks because you're going to need to put it towards your fish processing bill. Get what I'm saying?

So that is all. The gang has had their fill on Yellowtail so the decision was made to venture offshore to focus on tuna fishing for the remainder of the trip. A couple of our community boats had an OK day on the Bluefin grounds so we're looking forward to seeing if we can't track down a few schools and add to our beautiful catch of Yellowtail before trips end. Our weather is a little bumpy but everyone is too tired to notice, they're out and so are we. Wish us luck and we'll chat with you tomorrow.

Happy Hump Day,

-Team Supreme-

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

Hello friends. We began the hunt for Bluefin tuna early this morning by shutting down in the gray light on a school of tuna and just as soon as everyone woke up to begin fishing, they vanished. So we followed suit and the hunt for greener pastures commenced. It took us a little while to get a school located but when we got it located, it was a good one. We immediately saw fish boiling up good all around the boat and we hooked a few right off the bat. We landed a handful and we lost a handful but what we did land were a beautiful grade of Bluefin in the 25-35 lb. range. With the massive surface show 360 degrees around the boat we decided to get the kite out. Multiple fish attacked the baits but missed the hooks and after that, all we could do was watch them boil within ten feet of the baits and turn their nose away from our double sardine rigs. We watched the show for a couple of hours before they bailed and it was a slow day from that point on. We did pull a couple of nice Yellowtail from a kelp paddy and we even trolled up a smaller grade Bluefin tuna later in the day. Not too shabby considering a lot of boats in the prior weeks have been calling in zero's for fish counts, so we're very happy with what we caught and we'll be back on the tuna grounds after we do some Yellowtail fishing. A couple of boats in our long range community had a pretty steady day on smaller grade Bluefin in another area so we'll keep our ears open to that developing situation. Like I said, we're going to go do some Yellowtail fishing as the bite has been hot and we're looking forward to finding out for ourselves just how hot the bite is.

So that's it. Our weather is fair and we're in excellent company with Paul Hess and his good friends. We'll be in the zone first thing tomorrow morning and we'll report back to you tomorrow. Take care now.

-Richie and Team Supreme-

P.S. Te amo, Anna. From: Mark.

Monday, July 18th, 2011

Hello friends. We're back in business as we departed on our annual Paul Hess five day trip this morning. Paul has been putting together a great group of anglers for the better part of a decade on the Supreme and we're happy to see all the familiar faces that he's brought aboard this year. Our bait loading went smoothly and we've been traveling in calm weather ever since leaving the harbor around lunch time. With boats spread out in different areas along the coast and offshore, we're taking our time in deciding what our game plan is. Part one of our journey will be on the hunt for Bluefin tuna tomorrow morning as one of our companions in the long range fleet saw good sign and had an OK day on the shortfins today. We'll begin looking around in the morning and we'll see if we can't boat a couple of tuna fish tomorrow before we worry about part two. Wish us luck and we'll report back to you tomorrow.

Happy Monday,

-Richie and Team Supreme-