lake keowee Fishing Report 2024

Back after a five-day trip, the 7th Annual Paul Chappell Charter aboard the Polaris Supreme arrived at Fisherman's Landing July 10. The 24 anglers were guided by skipper Drew Henderson.
"We got some nice yellowtail at San Martin," remarked Drew, "but there's a lot of that big squid around there. You can't get any more yellows once they get on you." Chartermaster Chappell won first place for his 34.6-pound albacore. He said he bagged it with a sardine on a 2/0 Mustad 94150 hook on 30-pound Yo-Zuri line. He fished with a Penn Squidder reel and a Sabre seven-foot rod of the same era. Phil Beltrami of Napa won second place for a 33.4-pounder, and Craig Pappas of Santa Cruz won third place for a 32.4-pound longfin.

EXCELLENT ROCKCOD FISHING NOW!!! Our first trip with 24 anglers bagged 223 Rockfish and 17 Lingcod. APOLLO'S January/February Rock Cod trips are now online and ready to be booked! We will continue running every Friday evening through February. Cost for these trips is $235 a person which includes your bait bunk and Mexican permit. These trips will be targeting Yellowtail and Rock cod. Call FISHERMAN'S LANDING at (619)221-8500 to get your HOT spots!!!

Hello Apollo Anglers:

We have a two day trip that has some spots available. The trip departs Sunday the 9th of September at 9 p.m. fishing the 10th and 11th. and returns on the evening of the 11th. This two day is limited to 20 people. Cost is $510 per person and includes food and permits.

Contact Baron for more info or to sign up.

Baron Spafford
1815 Gillespie St.
Santa Barbara CA 93101

805-569-9939
805-452=1562 (cell)

~~Nov. 12
 I'm not sure how to write about today because I'm not sure how I feel about today.  I'm definitely proud of us.  We fished hard today.  A lot of the boat was up before 4 trying to get a bite going and didn't let up till dark.  Now that's some hardcore fishing right there.

 We started in the last weeks hot spot.  Us and 2 other boats.  It didn't take long for the 2 other boats to leave the zone.  They were both on the latter parts of there trips and needed to head north.  We stuck it out as long as we could picking one here and one there along with a bounty of skipjack but most of the passengers stuck it out and stayed at the rail.  Like I said, I'm proud of them.  3 hours and 30 fish later we gave up and headed to different grounds in a direction for a boat more fresh out on there trip.  After lunch we arrived and again, I'm proud of these guys.  Once again we were picking one tuna here and one tuna there along with more skipjack and small dorado but once again these guys kept at it and fished hard.  Well the ratio got better and better until at the end it was pretty good fishing.  The grade could've been one more notch up but it is what it is and we understand that.

 We're on our way to try and make some mackerel and we'll be headed to cow town the following day.  We're going to give it at least a day and give everyone on board an opportunity to catch a major cow tuna.  Wish us luck.
      

Polaris Supreme returned October 14 under skipper Drew Henderson's hand. Drew took his 23 anglers on a seven-day adventure, returning to Fisherman's Landing, where he weighed the best of the catch. "We had a very good afternoon at the Bush," (San Benitos Islands) said Drew, "and we spent some time looking for kelps. Alijos Rocks gave us some really good yellowtail fishing in the dark. We had four or five fishing going. We also tried Guadalupe Island, where we got a few tuna but saw very little." "We had a couple hours of very good dropper loop yellowtail fishing," Drew wrote October 0, "on 25-35 pound fish in the morning. When that slowed we stayed busy with smaller grade tuna and the occasional mahi. We made a tour and got the anchor back down around lunchtime and had the same action but with an occasional larger model tuna being hooked. We hooked 10 and landed four 50 to 60-pounders. After dinner the few that still had the energy to fish all caught several more of those big yellows before we took off at 10:00. We're now spending the day traveling up the line and will be arriving to finish up the trip at Guadalupe Island for a day and a morning." The certified scales provided the winners. Dennis Sewell of Walnut creek won first place for a 68.2-pound tuna.

"It took a lot of line," remarked Dennis. "It fought for a half-hour." Sewell baited a sardine on a 2/0 Eagle Claw hook tied to 40-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon leader and 40-pound P-Line, and fished with an Accurate 870 reel and a six-foot rod of unknown origin.

Jake Hamstra of Tulare won second place for a 66.6-pound yellowfin, and Tom Kroes of Tipton won third place for a 60.2-pound tuna. David Richardson of Hacienda Heights stood in with the winners, with his 52.2-pound wahoo, a fish that took his trolled Catchy Tackle spinner head jig in pink and black.

Plenty of stops on breezing, foaming, jumping, tuna. Colt Snipers and flylined bait on 25 lb. 16 yellowfin tuna, 14 bonito tuna, 1 mahi, mahi, mahi, mahi, mahi.

 October 15th, 2012

Hi, friends. We woke up this morning to lovely weather and a lovely Mediterranean omelet for breakfast. Drew didn’t care for the egg dish, at all, but what Drew does care for is his new book that he recently completed in a whopping day-and-a-half, The Hunger Games. That’s right, Drew Henderson is in the club. With no military background or training, I carried out a stealth reconnaissance mission—complete with a summersault—and snapped a super stealthy photo of Drew getting in a couple chapters in the salon before we began our trolling/mast rotations (you'll see the photo on Sunday). Those books are captivating! I’ve completed the trilogy, Chef Shawn is midway through the second book, and Drew is just starting the second so within a matter of a few days, our book club meetings will be just dandy, complete with T-shirts that read "I Heart Katniss".

Anyhow, on to the fishing. Our morning saw us snag a few nice flatheads on the troll and we also managed a few on the bait/jig rigs. A little bit after lunch; we had a few wahoo strikes with our best stop producing four beautiful skins. Dale Goss to looks to be in the lead for jackpot thus far as he landed what looks to be about a fifty pounder on bait. Although the wahoo action was short-lived, the mahi-mahi action was just enough to keep us busy today and who doesn’t love the mahi-mahi action? For the most part, this area was unproductive but we had to give it a shot, as it will be our only shot fishing south of the 28 latitude this trip.

Speaking of one shot, it was a good thing I got my bronze on these last two days as it might be a little windy the remainder of the trip and I’m going to Oregon when this trip gets back in. Bottom line, I need to glow and not embarrass the reputation of a San Diego boy whom works on a long-range sport fishing vessel that charters the waters deep into Baja California Sur. I've heard that some people in the northwestern states get really depressed because they don't see the sun for months at a time. Fear not, friends of OR/WA, I'm coming up there to spread the joy of sunlight and give hope to those who desperately seek this natural wonder of the universe. It's okay, my cloudy companions, we here on the Polaris Supreme have plenty of UV rays to share and I shall deliver the gift to all of you from all of us. You're welcome.

Okay, back to the topic at hand. At around 1600 hours, we bid farewell to the wahoo zone and began to make our way up the line to not only put us in position to do some yellowtail fishing tomorrow but to also keep ahead of Hurricane Paul. Our weather currently is very nice where we are but in a matter of hours, it won’t be and we’re bailing out to make sure that we don’t stick around to prove the weatherman correct. Hurricane Paul has thrown us a slight curveball but we’re more than happy to fish for some cow yellas, mahi-mahi’s, twenty-five to fifty pound yellowfin, and twenty-five to one hundred and twenty-five pound bluefin tuna closer to home and further from a hurricane. It might be a blessing-in-disguise. We’ll see.

So that’s all. We’ll be doing some yellowtail fishing tomorrow before we decide on our next move. We’re taking things as the come and we’ll keep you informed on our whereabouts. Everything is just fine here on the boat and we’re all safe and sound. We’re just hoping that Hurricane Paul is a Chargers fan and fails after giving his all for half of his cycle. I would be very concerned if this hurricane was named Hurricane Peyton. Very concerned.

In closing, I had some time to type up the on-goings of life here on the Polaris Supreme so I took advantage of it. I’m sorry for the novel but to get a better perspective on how we roll here on the Supreme, one must get a perspective on how we live life here on the Supreme. Sometimes, it’s not all about fishing but I promise to give you a glorious fishing report tomorrow. With that, I leave you with a few shout-outs. Take care.

- Joe says hello to his lovely wife, Andy. Hi Andy. You’re the star that shines brightest in Joe’s life.

- Riddler says, and I quote, "no ‘hoo for Chaparro." Sorry Chappy.

- Dan Anderson says hello to his stunning wife, Beverly. Hi Beverly, Dan also says, "Daddy caught you a wahoo. Still working on that grouper."

- I would like to say hi to Layni and also to Herb Yamanaka. That bowl you made was sweet. I forgot who won it but they were pumped. I'm sorry I'll miss you in Oregon. Go Ducks.

-The Supreme Team

TERRIFIC OVERNITE TRIP!! APOLLO went with 15 passengers scored 75 Yellowfin, 8 Dorado, & 3 Yellows. Check out their next open party trip. Call Fisherman's Landing @ (619)221-8500