lake murray striper Fishing Report 2024

Hello fishing friends,

We now have the Apollo in beautiful Santa Barbara for the rest of the spring. We are running two Berkley sponsored limited load overnight trips to the Channel Islands. The first trip will depart on Thursday night April 19th at 9 pm to fish on Friday April 20th. The second trip will depart at 9 pm on Thursday night May 17th to fish Friday May 18th. These trips will target Quality Rockfish, ling cod with the chance for some early season halibut or sea bass. Please come join us on the Apollo in Santa Barbara for some fun spring time fishing. Berkley will sponsor this trip and will be giving away swag on board. These ntrips are limited to 20 people and the cost is $185 per person. Please call Sea Landing at (805) 963-3564.

Thank you,

J.J.

Aug. 25

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Bluefin are the most unpredictable fish out there that we fish for. If you would have told me yesterday that we were going to have a day like we had today, I would have laughed in your face. Never again though. I will never trust this fish. For the last several days the bluefin fishing was very poor. I really thought that it was over for the year. I was wrong. Today we experienced the best bluefin tuna fishing I have ever seen. This is on a quantity to quality ratio that I'm talking about here. In my 13 years of long ranging, today was the best for the Bluefins.

Just after 6:00 this morning we stopped on a single fish mark under the boat. Just after 6:00 tonight we left them. The whole time we drifted it was pretty much wide open. The fish were from 25 up to 75 pounds. Most of them being in the 30-40 pound range. Once again we went into battle and we won. Oh yeah, we fished in the rain. At around 11:00 it started raining and it never stopped. Everyone on board was absolutely drenched all day and it was awesome. By the end of our stop no one was fishing so Mark and I grabbed a couple of rods and boated 3 of them ourselves. It was only Mark and I fishing and I was bringing one in and wouldn't you know it, when the fish was at gaff, there was Mark's spectra tangled all over my fish. 2 anglers fishing and he manages to make a big tangle. MAAAARK!!! I would have made him put on the dunce helmet but he was already wearing it. Heres why. There was a 2 fish tangle and Mark grabbed 1 of the rods to unwrap it and he dropped it right in the water. MAAARK!!!. Unbelievably another person fishing managed to hook one of the guides on the rod and we got it back. Fish and all. I immediately tossed Mark the yellow dunce helmet and he wore it all day.

Needless to say everyone on board is beat tired and we will not have any trouble sleeping through the night tonight. We're headed for the yellowtail grounds now and will be there first thing in the morning.

 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

25 bluefin. Managed to keep a couple schools around the boat today and pick at them. A bait fished on 30lb flouro with a size 2-1/0 hook got most of our bites.

Polaris Supreme returned to Fisherman's landing June 4 after her first three-day trip of the new season, with 24 anglers aboard. Yellowtail were plentiful and many were released. Some bluefin tuna of up to nearly 33 pounds were also caught. Owner-skipper Tommy Rothery reported pleasant sea conditions and nice weather.

"We were way down there,below where everybody else is fishing," said Tommy. "It was a little rolly at mid-day. I don't know why."

Rick Yokley of San Diego won first place for a 32.4-pound bluefin.

"He took me around the boat three times," commented Rick. He said he fished a sardine on a 2/0 ringed Super Mutu hook, with 30-pound fluorocarbon leader and 65-pound Spectra backing on an Avet MXL 6/4 reel.

John Brown of El Cajon was second, for a 32.2-pound bluefin, and Paul Cheak of Benecia won third place for a 31.4-pound bluefin tuna.

Well Friday the 13th is starting out to be a great day for us. We have flat calm beautiful weather and are pulling in lots of nice big yellowtails. 40 pounders! There are also a lot of marlin all around us. Everyone is having a great time. We were treated to an awesome dinner last night of rack of lamb with a Bordeaux reduction sauce. Our new chef, also named Tommy has been wowing us with his culinary delights. He also made a lobster bisque that was simply the best. Well I have to get back on deck. There is still a couple spots open on July 28th and August 2 has one spot. We'll call in tomorrow.

One sweep of the sonar may change your life just like it did for our group today. 85 yellowfin tuna, 15 bluefin tuna, 30 skipjack tuna, 65 yellowtail (not tuna).

Bluefin Tuna! The Apollo will hit the dock around 6 PM tonight. They scored 16 Bluefin Tuna and 6 Yellowtail. That is the best score on the tuna this season. Call Fisherman's Landing now at (619) 221-8500 to book your spot.