ludington mi Fishing Report 2024

Today we went out with 40 anglers and caught 16 yellowtail and 33 rockfish. We had a couple good shots at fish today. Unfortunately our hook to land ratio was a bit low. This spring is setting up nicely.

Four big bluefin bit for anglers fishing aboard the Fischbeck Charter aboard the Polaris Supreme with skipper Drew Henderson, and three of them were decked. Drew weighed the fish on the certified scales at Fisherman's Landing July 23 after the five-day trip with 23 anglers. He also weighed an unusual escolar, caught at night. The boat returned with a catch of yellowfin tuna and albacore.
Dick Emerson of Roland Heights won first place for his 134-pound bluefin, and also took over first place for that species on Bill Roecker's big fish list for the season.

Dick said he cranked that baby aboard in only 15 minutes on his single-speed Accurate 665 reel. The tuna took a sardine on a 5/0 Eagle Claw hook, on 60-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon leader and 50-pound Big Game line. Emerson used a Fenwick 665 rod, he added. Tom Donnelly of San Clemente got second place for a 126-pounder, which will make second on the big fish list. His fish fought for 40 minutes on 60-pound Seaguar Fluoro leader and 60-pound P-Line. Bill Byler of Covina made it a trio of 60-pound Fluoro users, and won third place for his 105.6-pound bluefin, which came on a small Accurate 870 reel.
The escolar came to Jason Severn of Petaluma. The 31-pound, strange-looking critter (some scientists think the escolar may be a progenitor for tuna) bit on a squid that Severn was fishing in the dark.
Skipper Henderson said his anglers were treated to a show of jumping bluefin, many of which were larger than the fish his anglers caught. They didn't want to bite, however, and it didn't take long for a fleet of seiners to show up with their spotter aircraft.

I apologize but we are having problems sending out emails from the boat so I couldn't give a daily report. It should soon be taken care of. Our first day was mostly a travel day due to the lack of fish offshore. We were in great looking water most of the day but could not find any fish to work with. That seems to be the trend offshore lately. The next two days we fished for yellowtail at the beautiful island of Cedros. Our first day there we scratched most of the day on anchor doing well on the great great quality fish. They are averaging close to 30 pounds this year again. In the late afternoon we took a tour and found big balls of the yellows at the surface feeding on krill. They were being very stubborn and didn't care to much about us but were very interested in the krill they were eating. Jerks. After a great nights sleep in the calm of the island we began our next day. We had very good fishing. The grade was a bit smaller averaging 15-20 pounds but that is still quality fish. They were hitting good for most of the morning. Just after lunch it sizzled out so we went in search of some more trophies. We found them but again they sure didn't bite like you would have thought. We had 30 more of the trophies before taking off up the line to put us in position to fish offshore for tuna our last day. We found an area of jumping bluefin late morning and fished two hours there before we had to head home. We tried quite a few different spots and they laid under the boat each time for as long as we sat there but were reluctant to bite. We caught two bluefin from 25-35 pounds and lost a nice albacore. I'm pretty excited about what I saw offshore today. It looked much better than it has in the past week. The water is warmer and cleaner and there is fish in it. The offshore season is here. Thank you once again Mr. Larry Brown and to all the kids and dads aboard this trip. Me and my crew had a blast. Drew and the greatest crew around.

Today we departed on Joe Beck and Mal Wagstaf's annual six day trip, which is our first post-boat work excursion! We left the bay around 11am with a great load of mixed sized sardine and mackerel. Shortly after departing the bay, chef Mike prepared the guys bratwursts with a broccoli salad. We are now working our way south to the yellowfin grounds. We will be in that yellowfin zone by morning, but for the time being we are keeping our eyes out for those giant bluefin. The area we are in there are about 30 or so live bluefin tuna pen boats that are each towing two pens each. We have also seen a couple big blue whales that were heading north-bound. Chef Mike is making 30lbs of beautiful prime-rib tonight served with salad and a baked potato. Written by Kyle of the Polaris Supreme

Polaris Supreme arrived June 10 after a five-day trip. Owner-skipper Tom Rothery docked the boat at Fisherman's Landing and weighed the best of the catch. "We fished open water and found a new albacore area," he said at the scales. "We fished our first night out, and got a few. The albacore bit good, and we also got some nice yellowtail off kelps. On our first half-day of fishing we had an excellent bite on albies of 30 to 40 pounds." Chartermaster Paul Hess of Napa won first place for his 42.4-pound albacore, which set a new high mark for the species this season. He said he bagged it with a sardine on a 3/0 Eagle Claw hook tied to 30-pound Yo-Zuri line on a Trinidad 16 reel and a Calstar 800 M rod. Brian Schwartz of Napa won second place for a 40.8-pounder, and Casey Weaver of Woodland took third for a 40.6-pound albacore. "He came in after 15 minutes," said Hess. "It was a standard albacore deal."

Unbelievable visuals today as 30-80 lb bluefin devoured everything in their path ! A well placed popper or surface iron was the bait of the day. 21 bluefin Tuna 2 yellowtail.

The Tribute out of Seaforth Landing in San Diego, CA checked in with us today.

Good kelp patty fishing today along with plenty of poki bowl goodness. Limits of Skipjack (165), 58 Yellowtail, 20 Yellowfin and 16 quality Dorado.

PLUN•KER (Adjective) A stop that takes up most or all of your day. Not wide open, however 1-10 fish are always hooked. *A PLUN•KER would be impossible without the best live bait operation in the world. **Anglers that succeed in a PLUN•KER usually listen and take advice well. ***A PLUN•KER is also impossible without an amazing crew. Today’s PLUN•KER produced 123 yellowfin 18 bluefin.