mdnr Fishing Report 2024

FANTASTIC 1.5 TRIP WITH CAPT. J.J.!!!! APOLLO recent trip with 24 anglers brought in 26 Yellowtail(ranging 22 lbs to 30 lbs), 78 Lings, & limits of Rockfish. Next available trips will be Feb 2nd & 16th. Book now before it's too late. Call Fisherman's Landing @ (619)221-8500 to get your reservation.

Hello Everyone, We had a great first day of fishing. Full of variety and excitement. Today we mainly caught school sized Yellowfin Tuna and Yellowtail. However there were some Nice Dorado and Grouper mixed in as well. There is a lot of skipjack and small tuna bi catch, but we are able to weed through it for the keeper fish. Tomorrow we will have our sights set on Wahoo and Tuna. Wish us luck, Team Supreme

~~It had been 3 years since my last long range trip. Personal events have kept me away from going fishing. But finally everything worked out and I was able to make this trip on the Polaris Supreme. Having fished with Tommy Rothery and the crew of the Supreme I knew the only worries I would have would be the weather and if the fish were hungry.
The weeks prior I kept track of the fishing. Where each long range boat had fished and what they landed. With two weeks remaining until my trip departed things were looking good but there was still two weeks left. Knowing that it would only take one boat to fish the “Rocks” and my chances for catching wahoo could disappear, I could use a little luck. Then the weather worked in my favor. A hurricane came up from the tropics and kept any boat from fishing the “Rocks”.
Thursday morning I arrived in San Diego and was ready to start my long range trip. It was three years since my last long trip. That was also on the Polaris Supreme and with this same charter. That year I was the new guy”. By the end of that trip I was invited back for the next year’s trip. I told the charter master that this might be my last trip ever. Who knows if I would have caught a few wahoo on that it might have been my last.
I invited Terry Kitahara and his two sons, Byran and Eddie. We were Team ONO. Terry and I really just wanted to catch Wahoo or Ono. Byran had been on several of my trips before and this was Eddie’s first long trip. Terry’s sons are great young men. The four of us fitted in great with the rest of the charter.
 By mid-day we were underway to the bait barge. As we left the bait barge we hadn’t been told where were we would fish first, offshore in US waters or head south. When we cleared Pt. Loma and didn’t turn right I knew the game plan. Skipper Drew had mentioned one of our options was to take our time to get to the Rocks while the winds died down. Well the Rocks are south of the point and we were heading to the south and not west. The rest of the day was spent rigging up tackle, eating the fine cuisine prepare by Chef Mike and catching up on the sleep that I had missed the two previous nights. I did more eating and sleeping than rigging of tackle. The crew and rest of the anglers gave me grief for it. But that’s part of fishing with people you know.
Friday we continued down the coast. Drew gave us an update on the weather at the Rocks, the winds were dying down and his plan was to get there Sunday morning. So its yellowtail fishing today and tomorrow we fished all around Benitos Island on Friday. Most fish were in the 10 to 15 pound size, nice eating size but not much on fight. Toss in a bonito or barracuda here and there and that was our first day. As the sun set we were traveling down the coast.
Saturday we fished the high spots as we continued south more yellowtails and the stray yellowfin tuna. I was at the right place at the right time and hooked one of the yellowfin tuna or YFT for short. Most of fishing is being at the right place at the right time. By the afternoon the winds at the Rocks had dropped down to fishable speeds and Drew pointed the Polaris Supreme to the Rocks. We would be there around 7 or 8 in the morning. Just about the time wahoo are looking for their first meal of the day. As long as no one had fished the Rocks on Saturday the Rocks would be ready for us to enjoy their bounty.

Sunday was here and what I had been waiting for the Rocks and wahoo fishing. I had been there three years earlier but the timing was off. Another vessel had been fishing the Rocks before we arrive. And they hooked just about all the fish that were in the area at that time. But today would be different. The Rocks had not been fished for weeks due to Hurricanes and great tuna fishing in off of San Diego. Drew’s game plan was put into play this morning. We had taken our time to get there, the weather was great, now let’s find out if anyone is home. It didn’t take long to find out. Maybe 10 minutes had passed when one of our four trollers got hooked. I tossed out a chrome candy bar jig and got a slight tap on my first cast. Second cast got a solid hit and just kept grinding on the reel trying to set the hook. The wahoo finally made a short run up the port side of the Supreme and showed itself. It was a small wahoo or skin as some call them. I followed the fish up the portside and then the skin did a head shake and released itself. All I could think was three years and I blew it. Most fall trips you may get one shot at landing a wahoo. Now I just missed mine.
Trollers went back out again. As the crew cleared the deck and put the wahoo in the Raw Sea fish hold, I noticed that all the skins on the first stop were small. They were 20-25 pounds just like the one that I lost. But that is a good sign. Small fish are more aggressive and maybe the larger ones would show up soon. The crew didn’t have much time as a trolling rod was hit again. Again more of the same, a troll fish landed and a couple of fish on casting jigs. No action for me on that stop. I was up on the next troll rotation so I quickly got my trolling outfit and found a corner to fish. I like to troll in close and with a very tight drag. Maybe 5 minutes had passed and my troll rod jumped to attention and the reel was slowing giving line out. I un-hooked the rod from the trolling straps in the stern port corner, followed the fish across the stern and up the starboard side of the boat. Grinding as I walked, the boat slowed and the skin came in with a little muscle on my part. The fish was gaffed and I had ended my drought. It wasn’t a big skin maybe 25 pounds but it was a skin!
Out again went the trollers and again the same thing, one maybe two fish on the troll and a couple of jig fish. I wasn’t getting any more bites on my chrome candy bar jig so I switched to a chrome and red sinker bomb. It’s a little smaller and easier for the small wahoo to hang on to. The change of lures worked to perfection on the next stop not only did I hook another wahoo, but this one had some size to it.
When it was weighed at the landing it went 40 pounds. Nice size for the Rocks. The stops continued until late afternoon. Most stops had 3 to 6 wahoo each and there were a couple of stops where more than 10 fish were landed. As the day progressed I had 3 wahoo in the fish hold, missed two strikes and had three taken by sharks, aka the taxman. This was the first time I experienced sharks eating wahoo at the Rocks. I’ve seen them eat tuna but not wahoo. I was not happy paying the taxman but I did have two fish on the sinker bomb and one on the troll an excellent day by most fall trips. There were a couple of anglers who were “hot”. They fished their butts off but it paid off very well. I wish I could still cast and crank all day long like those guys but I was totally out of wahoo fishing shape.
As the day was ending I was trolling on the starboard stern corner. The angler on the port stern corner had a trolling plug that just would not run straight and second skipper Jed asked me if I would trade places with him. So I reached down to grab the rod and crank in my plug. I had just gotten the safety straps off when a wahoo decided it wanted my plug. All I could do was yell “FRESH ONE”. Jed looked over and said “really”. This wahoo was ripped off line so I knew it was a good one. A few minutes passed and the fish neared the boat. Jed was ready with the gaff and was raking me over the coals for not getting the fish in quickly. I told him this one got some size to it. Jed said “you’re just getting too old”. When we saw the fish at deep color the joking stopped. After a couple of quick dives to try to free itself, the wahoo was gaffed and introduced to the deck of the Polaris Supreme. Finally got a decent wahoo from the Rocks today, it just missed the 50 lb. mark by a few ounces great way to end an amazing day of wahoo fishing.
This was the best day of wahoo fishing I have seen on a fall trip. Everyone on board had many chances of landing wahoo. If you were not good at casting lures you still had plenty of chances getting them trolling or live bait fishing. Everyone was talking about how they missed a few but no one was upset about it. We all had more than enough chances to get some wahoo today. We would stay the night at the Rocks and give it a try in the morning to see if we had missed any wahoo. Second day at the Rocks could be tough. We had hooked most of the “stupid” ones today.
Monday morning at the Rocks was flat calm just a little ripple on the water. You wouldn’t know that you were 160 miles offshore. I knew today was not going to be an amazing as yesterday. You do not get two days back to back of even good wahoo fishing at one spot. This morning the troll stops were farther apart. Yesterday maybe 20 minutes was the longest time between stops. Today 20 minutes was the shortest time. Most anglers were still fishing the trolling plugs they used the day before. By the time my trolling team was up I had switched lures to a chrome jethead with black, clear and purple skirts. I dropped the lure in one of the center positions and placed it far enough back that it was smoking (trailing bubbles) pretty well. I was out numbered 3 to 1 but I knew this lure had proven itself many times when fishing for wahoo was tough. After 20 minutes no strikes but I had to take a “break”. I called over Byran to watch my rod while I disappeared to the head. Well you know what happened. The rod goes off while I’m in the head. When I finally return to the deck there’s my jethead and a 45 lb. wahoo coming over the rail. I joked with Byran that he did a great job landing my wahoo. I took the trolling rod from him and gave him one of my tags for the fish. Byran had a look on his face that was priceless. Eventually we placed his tag on the fish.
Fishing continued to be slow compared by the previous day. I was able to hook one 40 lb. wahoo on a sinker bomb. I think we landed 25 fish by noon. It was time to pull the plug, the Rocks had been good to us and it was time to north.
As we left the Rocks and headed back up the line towards San Diego I knew that I was just part of an amazing wahoo bite. Usually if you get 2 wahoo on a fall trip you’ve have a great catch. Well the last day and a half at the Rocks I landed 5 wahoo and I was near the bottom of wahoo landed on the boat. In years past I’ve caught more than my fair share of the wahoo catch. This year I wanted to enjoy the fishing more and not worry about being the hot stik on the boat.
A couple of other factors have to be mentioned here. First of I don’t like to see fish go to waste. So I only kept what I needed for my personal use and my friends. I gave 2 fish to Terry and the final one was for Tommy and Susan Rothery. I told them if fishing was good I would get them one. I know that those fish were going to “good homes”. Secondly I would have to pay for the fish to be cleaned, filleted and then air shipped to my home. So I really didn’t want to catch a lot of wahoo. When I landed the two 40 lb. plus fish that was all I needed for my needs.
The rest of Monday was a travel day. That gave us plenty of time to re-load our reels with fresh line and repair any reels. I re-loaded by 50 lb. jig reel and then went below for a nap. I woke up our afternoon snack and then took another nap, woke up for dinner, played some cards and then went to sleep for the night a nice and relaxing day.
Tuesday and Wednesday, we were fishing for yellowtails as we traveled up the line. Drew hit various spots and we had some success, but I don’t think many of us had your hearts into it. After catching wahoo, catching yellows was “boring”. LOL… I spent the days trying to hook yellows on lures that I hadn’t used in years. Old school lures that many had heard of but never used. The one that worked the best was a 4 oz. green mackerel painted Crocodile. The best thing about fishing a Crocodile you don’t have to crank it fast. I’d catch one take a break, when we got to the next spot I’d try the Croc again. If it didn’t work there I’d wait for the next spot and try again. By late afternoon I called it a day. Really didn’t need any more yellows and was completely stuffed from the breakfast, lunch and afternoon snacks.  By 5 PM I didn't have any room for dinner so off to my bunk I went.
Wednesday we were further up the line and yellowtail fishing again. Most of today for me was a rest day. Eat a little, nap a little, eat a little, play some cards, nap a little. Didn’t fish much as we still had two more days left to hit the US tuna grounds and I wanted to be ready for that. I did mention that I wasn’t in fishing shape. Getting old and not fishing regularly, I was dragging on Wednesday. The crew did give me grief again but that’s to be expected.
For the past week now I had been eating like a king on the Polaris Supreme. Breakfast to order, wonderful hearty lunches, afternoon snacks to die for and dinners that any restaurant would be proud to serve. The Supreme only carries 24 passengers. Yet there food bill is equal to boats that carry 30 passengers, so you get the best on the Supreme. It not often that you have baby lamb chops for afternoon snacks. All I can say is the food was 5 stars.
Thursday, we are now at Cortez Bank making bait at sunrise. First time all trip were are making bait. The small mackerel were biting full speed as the sun came up. Four hook rig four mackerel, eight hook rig eight mackerel every hook had a mackerel in less than an hour we filled the tanks. Now off to the tuna grounds nearby. The hunt for tuna begins but not much action this morning. A jig strike here and there, then were finally hit a school of YFT’s. These are decent size 18 lbs. and up. Better than what they were catching last week. We continue to fish this area and are rewarded with more stops on YFT. Most of the fish are biting the live mackerel but I am using my old standby jig. Salas 6X Jr. in blue and white. For me it’s more fun to catch them on iron. When the bite slows you can always toss live bait and still get bit. I get a couple of fish on the jig, take a break and then get a couple of bait. Then its first call for lunch. Chef Mike is serving monster burgers for lunch. They look more like steaks than burgers. I know once I sit down I’ll be there for a while, but I got YFTs already and I want that “burger”.
Thursday was great for those who wanted to catch tuna.  Even a few Bluefin tuna were landed and we still had another day to go.
Our final day on the tuna grounds was similar to the day before.  Very good Yellowfin tuna strikes on meter marks.  At times there were even biting on 50 lb. mono.  I landed a couple very quickly on 50 lb.; Sashimi grade yellowfin tuna in the RSW.
As Friday ended, I was feeling blessed to have taken this trip.  Anyone who wanted to caught, tuna (Yellowfin or Bluefin), Yellowtail and Wahoo had more than ample chances to catch their fill of these fish.  The only fish that did not want to find the Polaris Supreme this trip was Dorado or Mahi Mahi.  But the amazing wahoo fishing more than made up for the absence of Dorado
Now all the hard work would begin: Tearing down of fishing outfits, stowing fishing tackle, packing up clothes and planning what to do with all those fish when we arrive back in San Diego on Saturday.
My main concern was making it to the airport in time for my Saturday flight.  I really didn’t want to fly out the same day we returned but I knew if I stay around in San Diego too long I wouldn’t want to go home.
Saturday morning the unloading of tackle, gear and fish when smoothly.  I dropped of 2 wahoo and 2 Yellowfin tuna to 5 Star Fish Processing. On my last trip they handled all of my fish and air shipped them to me without any problems.   I highly recommend their services when you return from your long range trip.
I would like to say it was a joy to fish with my fellow anglers on this trip.  We had various skill levels on this trip. From hot stiks to novices, we all fished together without any problems or drama.  That is something that is rare on these trips.
Final words are for the great folks of the Polaris Supreme.  Susan and Tommy always treat me like family.  Drew, Jed and the crew were always ready to lend a hand, a gaff or a verbal jab when needed.  I know I said it before but the food was amazing.  Thanks Chef Mike and Gringo.
If I could find the time every year this would be the trip I would take every year.  And if you are thinking about going on a long range trip give the Polaris Supreme a try.

 

Rolf Johnson  

aka Mr. Ono
 

Captain Ryan Bostian called in with an audio update from the San Diego out of Seaforth Sportfishing in Mission Bay, CA. Today we had excellent offshore fishing for Yellowtail. We ended the day with 131 Yellowtail and 1 Bonito. A 25 pound bait rod was doing the trick today. We did have some surface iron action too. Please be prepared with for the Bluefin Tuna. You will need a 30 pound bait rod for the small fish. But you should also have a heavier outfit fish fishing flat fall jigs.

14 yellowtail 62 calico bass 3 barracuda. Nice weather and steady picking.

Good evening everyone, Today we spent the day, crimping, cutting, wiring, and simply enjoying the ride down the line. Sun in the sky, low winds, and great company. What more can you ask for! We have Wahoo in our sights for tomorrow morning and are making great speed traveling down. We should arrive early tomorrow morning to begin trying for these fish. We are all anxious and excited to begin fishing! Wish us luck tomorrow, Team Supreme

POLARIS SUPREME TRIP UPDATE 09-27-2020 We spent the day looking for Tuna and Wahoo without much luck. We did however get some great wide open Dorado fishing. As usual we only kept a small portion of them. The weather is a little bumpy but OK. Going to try a little nite fishing. The Polaris Supreme Crew!

Saturday, December 10th, 2011

Hi friends. Don't worry, Susan, this report won't be all "slicked" up. Anyways, final day of travel here this day and once again, the weather is gorgeous. A very small swell with hardly any wind on it. Except for the occasional afternoon breeze, we haven't had more than ten knots of breeze for any of these travel days. Simply amazing how beautiful the weather has been and we feel truly blessed. No shortage of nothing to do today, crewmembers did an extreme clean on their bathrooms and showers and the passengers played the usual Cribbage and Skip-Bo games. After Schooler's chicken enchilada lunch, the gang popped in "Comanche Moon". That should take them all the way up until first call for dinner from what Drew says, it's a long one. With that, everybody is antsy to finally arrive back to the docks and our ETA is looking like 0530 hours in the morning. We're all looking forward to getting off the boat, admiring our catch, and seeing if any of our fish are pushing the magic number of 200 lbs. Joe Beck, Mike Grella, Dan Burns, John Seymour, and Pete Balwan are all right there on the cusp. Tomorrow will tell the story.

So that is all. We're looking forward to good evenings meal, a good evenings rest, and a good morning as we put the Supreme in the slip for the winter. We'd like to thank everyone for joining us for our 2011 fishing season and we hope to see a bunch of new faces joining our familiar faces next year. Check out our schedule on the website to see if a trip fits into your schedule. We'll update you all on our big fish weigh-ins sometime in the next couple of days and there will be periodic updates and mailers while we're in. The next time you'll see us will be at the Fred Hall Show in Long Beach in the Spring, so until then, take care and we'll see you next year. From all of Team Supreme: Tommy (Riddler) and Susan (Ma), Drew (Dirty), Jed (Zeb), Mark (Hillbilly), Chef Schooler (Shabba), Jamie (Iceman), and myself; have happy times during the holidays and have a fantastic new year. Good night and farewell!

-Richie and Team Supreme-

Friday, December 9th, 2011

Hi friends. The good keeps getting better. Our weather is A+ and has remained that way for the past three days so we're looking for just one more day of flat calm, whitecap-less seas. If our weather turns sour, we'll be most thankful for the past three days and accept our fate. Anyhow, the crew completed various maintenance chores which saw Drew and Jed fresh-water and oil rails and breakdown and clean tackle. Mark and myself completed the last of the engine room clean-up and it's looking pretty good in there. Once again, another morning of "Deadwood" episodes along with eating and napping. As I type this, Terry and Drew have just made their way to the Cribbage "Octagon" for another epic battle. Terry is up on Drew six games to five and we'll fill you on the final developments of this tournament. Speaking of developments, in the wake of severe boredom and the realization that we still have one more full day of travel, I shaved my beard off that I had been working on since November 1st. I'm sorry, Layni, but I am sportin' a pretty sweet goatee -- very nineteen nineties-esque. I hope I don't get too much spaghetti in it for dinner this evening.

Well, we'll be traveling around Isla San Martin/Colonett area tomorrow as we make our final approach to San Diego Bay and the conclusion of our 2011 fishing season. Looking back on it, it was a season full of surprises; good and bad. Our Albacore season was pretty much nonexistent as we managed to snag sixteen of those beautiful longfins for the entire year. I don't really know what to say about their location or why we didn't have a very good season for them, so I won't even try. All we can do is hope that next year will be a better year.

For the time being, we could always travel to Cedros, Benitos, the "Gap", and pretty much anywhere along the coast, including San Martin Island. For a few weeks in the early Summer, the only thing going was San Martin as the island kicked out some Cedros-grade Yellowtail, nice Calicos, huge Whitefish and Sheepshead, and a variety of other tasty treats. Ourselves, along with much of the local fleet were very lucky to have that place as an option this year. Cedros and Benitos were, well Cedros and Benitos. Good Yellowtail fishing on most of our trips and I honestly can't think back to a trip where we were struggling to put a catch together on the 'tails. The only disappointment, in my mind, was the lack of a consistent fishery on "Cow Yella". We had a few trips where we picked at them but it wasn't like last years "cow" fishing that we enjoyed on the lee side. Other than that, Yellowtail fishing was very good and it was fun hooking and handing fish on "The Big Banana" to anyone who wanted to have some fun on the long rod. Before we get off on the Yellowtail subject, I'll say this; the Yellowtail fishery is one of the healthiest stocks of fish that we have. Like I said, we could pretty much toss a dart to anywhere along the coast and make a day of it Yellowtail fishing. That is no problem to us, we here on the Polaris Supreme enjoy us some Hamachi, Ceviche, Yellowtail tacos, and Yellowtail with Lemon-Butter Caper sauce so catching Yellowtail is always on our minds.

Going in order for our season, the Bluefin fishery was extremely inconsistent, but that's Bluefin fishing, except for the exception of August and September. We had ourselves some of the better Bluefin fishing that I can remember in my ten years working aboard sportfishing vessels and throw in the Yellowfin tuna that hung around until November, and our tuna season wasn't all for lost. The fish weren't record-breakers by any means with most of the fish being in the 12-22 lb. range but when they're in between a pair of chop-sticks, we don't care. It was fun fishing for the few trips that we did connect on some Bluefin and Yellowfin and we were very fortunate to have the good fishing that we did.

Getting around to our Alijos Rocks and Ridge trips, we ask one question; what the heck was up with Alijos this year? Down year for sure. The lack of Wahoo was one thing, but the tuna thing was kind of bizarre. We saw good amounts of fish but getting them to bite was an entirely different story. We honestly don't know what to say about that place but we're looking for a better year at that place next year. The Ridge was full of surprises this year. The usual fishing for school-sized Yellowfin tuna, Yellowtail, big and beautiful Dorado, some lunker Wahoo, and my favorite surprise of the year -- Bluefin tuna. We also had one of the better Pargo bites in recent memory on our 9-day Garry Roberts trip and the passengers still can't stop talking about what awesome tablefare that Pargo is. I can see most of the group trying for Pargo on every trip but we realize that that was a very rare occurrence that we can only hope the our lucky stars are gracious enough to bestow another Pargo bite in the future.

Finishing up with our last two trips, both of them targeting large Yellowfin tuna, was very good fishing on a beautiful grade of Yellowfin. Both our OTR 10-day and this 12-day trip caught fish in two different locations but for the most part, we're the exact same grade. Most of the fish were in the 75-150 lb. range with a handful of 190+ lb. fish. We didn't connect with any real "cows" this year but if I'm correct, the recent trend is that next year will see us catching some real brutes. Our only cow of the season belongs to Doug Pineo but we have a few from this trip that might see Doug getting some company in that regard. We'll see what next years cow fishery brings us and the only way that you can find out is to just be there.

I wrote a column about this very subject earlier this Summer and I'm going to repeat myself for a minute. The whole mindset of "I'm going to book a trip when the fish start biting" is ludicrous.That's pretty much like saying " I want a billion dollars but I don't want to do any work for it". Once again, just go fishing. Just book a trip to go fishing and enjoy yourself. If something great happens, awesome. If the fish don't bite or the weather is bad, understand that that's part of the game. If epic fishing and flat-calm weather was guaranteed, the price of a trip would surely be outrageous and what's the fun in that? Is there no thrill-of-the-hunt anymore? Have we gotten to a point that if we don't fill a trip limit on a couple species that the trip is considered a failure? I sure hope not because that doesn't make a good fishermen. A good fishermen has seen the best and worst of days and knows to expect the unexpected when riding a trip. For every awesome fishing story that we can tell someone, we can surely counter with a lot of bad days, that's just how it is. But those bad days builds character and experience and we've got plenty of both. So do yourself a favor and just book a trip if you're on the fence. You never know what might happen once you step foot on a boat.

Anyways, a couple personal highlights for myself was the Bluefin fishing in the Summer, the Cow fishing in the fall, and running my first trips as skipper. I look forward to getting the opportunity to hopefully running more trips in the future and other than that, just seeing all the awesome people who keep coming back trip after trip and year after year. It's a joy for all of us here on the Supreme to make people feel welcome in our home (the boat) and getting to know everyone over the past years has been a great experience. We hope to see everyone and some new faces real soon. With that, we'll chat with you tomorrow for our final day on the boat. Good night.

-Team Supreme-

Thursday, December 8th, 2011

Hello there. More of the same today. Excellent weather, good food, and good napping. This morning at breakfast, Tommy and Jed presented the slide-show of photos from the trip. Everybody always gets a kick out of that, especially when we have good fishing and plenty of photo opportunities. Jed tries his best to get a good shot of everyone with their catch or hanging out or rigging tackle but sometimes the action just gets hot and hectic and it's a struggle to find a free moment to take a quick photo. Jed does a fantastic job at finding a proper balance and taking some very good photos. From there, he puts them on Tommy's laptop, Tommy OK's or doesn't OK some photos and from there, it's down to the galley for the slide-show on our 60" Flatscreen TV. Also, Tommy hangs out in the wheelhouse and transfers the photos to SD cards for anyone who wishes to go home with them on their card. Today, the line was long as Tommy was a busy dude. We didn't slouch around too much either. We scrubbed the boat, TSP'd the rails, and did some tackle cleaning all before Schooler's famous carnitas lunch. From that point on, you know what we all did; napped. The boat is a dead zone after lunch as it's usually a captain at the wheel, Jamie cleaning the galley and watching the deck, and a few passengers lounging around while everyone else bails out. Within the next few hours, everybody will awake from the slumber and that usually is when the start of movie time begins. Who knows what we'll watch today but with "Deadwood" as our morning feature, I can't help but to think "3:10 to Yuma" will be the afternoon feature. We'll see.

Other than that, excellent travel weather with a mild swell, an 5-10 knot breeze, and a little bit of cloud cover. We're hoping for more of the same for the next two and a half days of travel. We'll report to you tomorrow.

-Team Supreme-

P.S. Jed would like to say hello to his and Drew's dog "Domino". Rooo-roo-roo, barf-bark, grrrrrrrr, rooo-roo-roo, ruff-ruff.

Wednesday, December 7th, 2011

Hi friends. Easy traveling for the gang today. Our weather has backed off considerably and it is turning out to be a gorgeous ride. Today was a great day of rest as well. After fishing for about 18-20 hours a day for the past four days, it gave everybody a great opportunity to catch on some rest. Jed slept in until about 1100 hours this morning. Yeah, he was a tired little creature but he wasn't the only one. Most everyone woke up around 0800 hours for breakfast and then took a healthy nap in the afternoon. Movies of the day were "The Aviator" starring Leo DiCaprio and "The Fighter" starring Marky Mark without the Funky Bunch. Both were excellent features and other than a few Cribbage tournaments and Skip-Bo games, movies, food, and naps were all we did today. Chef Schooler prepared his fresh, sesame crusted seared Ahi dinner and the gang sacked out for the evening.

That is all for now. Good weather and good relaxation. We'll chat with you tomorrow as we might have some work to tell you about. Until then, we'll chat with you tomorrow.

-Team Supreme-

P.S. Terry would like to tell Kathy to get lots of jars for canning.

Tuesday, December 6th, 2011

Hi friends. For the four days that we've been down here, our scenario for the days have played out all the same. We wake up at 0400 hours, catch some smaller grade tuna from 50-75 lbs. and then we might catch a nice fish here or there for our morning bite. From mid-morning until around 1400 hours, we would go through a lull that saw us either pull anchor and do some Wahoo trolling or we would stay on the pick and scratch away at a couple-few fish in the 75-150 lb. range every hour. From 1400 until around 1900 hours, we would see the fish start to get with it and we'd scratch with better consistency and at a better quality too. Today was no different other than the fact that the weather laid down considerably and was gorgeous for most of the day. A few people, myself included, decided to get our last bronze of the season on and we were rewarded. Speaking of rewarded, Mike Grella took big fish honors today with a 193 pounder that was snatched up on the kite. Kite fishing was really tough for the guys in the afternoon. Not only with the large swell that we experienced for most of the trip, but the wind blew our kites right into the glare of the sun. It was really frustrating at times, but the guys did a great job of pushing through it and were rewarded with a nice fish. We would kite fish all the way until dinner time and we would have ourselves some moonlight madness all the way until dinner time when the fish shut off. So our days were very busy and long down here. Up at 0400 and fishing hard all the way until dinner time. Big game, long range tuna fishing at it's finest.

Maybe we're late on the whole short topshot thing, but we saw evidence that most of the hook-ups when fishing was scratchy was by the anglers who were using a short 25' top shot crimped to a 6/0 circle hook. It's one thing to keep in mind when rigging up for a trip of this nature. We had very few tackle failures this trip but a few were because of bad connections; whether it be from the guys making leaders themselves or tackle shop purchased leaders. It pays to shop around and find yourself a very reputable tackle shop who employs the proper methods of leader-making. So in closing, it was just an observation by us that a 25' to 50' topshot of 100 and 130 lb. fluorocarbon is the hot ticket to this type of fishing. Other than that, it's taking your time at the bait wells and choosing the best bait that you can find.

So that is all. We are now back into travel mode for the next four days and if all goes according to plan (weather and speed) we'll arrive to San Diego on the 11th on-time. Our weather is a little bit sloppy but it's nothing too outrageous. On our way home, fat and full on tuna, and we'll fill you in on our travel activities. Cribbage anyone?

-Team Supreme-

P.S. Pete would like to tell Mary Jo to make sure the freezer is up and running. He's coming home with a beautiful load of fish.

Monday, December 5th, 2011

Good evening. Same old song and dance for us here on the Supreme. Good fishing again on the Yellowfin tuna today with the added bonus of our weather coming down quite a bit. Throw in the super bonus of some good quality bronzing conditions and we had all the necessary components for a fantastic day. Nothing really changed for better or for worse, it's been just plain old good fishing. Our grade of fish was a rather weak to start our day but from just before lunch until the end of the day, we had flurries throughout the day on some better grade fish where we would hook a few, land those, and then go dry for an hour, and then hook a few again. Our big fish honors go to Dan "Re-ride" Burns for his 195 pounder and also a personal best of 190 lbs. for John "Gentleman's Club" Seymour. Tomorrow, we're looking for everybody to get a few of that 175+ lb. grade and maybe a few cows to go along with them. Tomorrow is our final day down here and we're looking to finish off with a big bang.

So that is all. Like I said, our weather is OK and we'll be starting off the day tomorrow morning at oh-dark-thirty once again. Oh yeah, how could I forget? Today was Drew Henderson's birthday! Yaaaay!! He turned 57 years old. Happy Birthday, Drew!

-Team Supreme-

Sunday, December 4th, 2011

Hi friends. Well, our day was kind of how we expected things to go. We were busy from the dark of morning until it dried up around lunch time, had a slack time until the mid-afternoon when some Wahoo decided to bite a little bit, and then the evening time brought us home and ended like we started, with a dark bite. Today, for whatever reason, didn't seem as hectic as yesterday. Maybe it was because after the lengthy travel time, finally getting down here had everyone a little out of sorts but we ended up having a nice, action-packed day today. Our fish of the day goes to Pete "Who's Pete?" Balwan with his estimated 198 lb. Yellowfin tuna that he caught on a fly-lined sardine and Joe Beck nabbed himself a beautiful chunk fish that looks to be around 170 lbs. Charles Schmid had himself a battle with a squirrelly tuna this evening but finally, the hook pulled just out of visual range for us to get a good look at it. Heart-breakers are just apart of the big tuna game but we'll be looking for some retribution tomorrow. Other than that, it was another fine day here aboard the Polaris Supreme and we'll be up once again 0330 hours to start our day off. Our hope is to start connecting with some cows and we're encouraged by the Wahoo sign that we see. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

For now, it's time to rest up. Everybody is sore and seeking a little rest before our third day gets started. We have two more days down here and we'll inform you of our progress tomorrow evening. Wish us luck and have a fine evening.

-Team Supreme-

Saturday, December 3rd, 2011

Hi friends. Standing here trying to not to roll out the wheelhouse window (the seas are a bit rolly, even on the anchor) and as I'm doing so, I'm trying to also find the proper words to describe our day, but I don't know which ones I could use to properly paint you a picture of how our day went. At times, it was kind of chaotic. Not real mayhem like everyone was running around screaming at each other, not knowing what to do, but more of a zone that everybody, especially us crewmembers get into when big tuna fishing is hot and heavy. One of my favorite writers once talked about this very subject; the real challenge in our occupation that separates the weak from the wicked, and the satisfaction you gain after you're pouring sweat, your voice is hoarse, and your adrenaline is pumping, and when the smoke clears, the only thing that you can do is smile, laugh, and find the nearest person to high-five. We had a full-days worth of action packed into a half-days worth of fishing and the only thing we're left seeking for is more.

It didn't take us long to forget about four days worth of travel as not too long from the time we put in the jigs, we were on some Wahoo. Not great fishing by any means but we did catch a few handfuls of "skin". From the time the 'Hoo thing dried up, we shifted gears into tuna mode and it didn't take long for those critters to find us either. The good thing about this fishing is that it's not one of those days where it's only a kite fishing thing. We hooked fish on all types of methods today and steady. Towards the end of the day, the intensity kicked up a couple of notches as we had multiple fish hooked up and they weren't the most cooperative creatures, that is a fact. It took patience on behalf of the anglers as well as the crew to get things straightened out and when the dust had settled, when nightfall was already a couple hours in (kite-fish biting into the dark is so cool), we finally had that chance to take a breath and do some high-fivin'. Today was a solid start to our trip and if it's any indication of what lies ahead, wowza, it's going to be a bonanza. All we can do is hope that this is just the beginning of things and take this one day at a time because we know far too well that things can change in a heartbeat from good, to bad. Speaking of good, Joe Beck's 195 lb. tuna was our best fish of this day. Congrats to Joe. It's been a long time since Joe has been on a big tuna expedition and he was welcomed back by a not-so-nice fish, but the more things change, the more they stay the same and Joe knew exactly how to tame this wild animal. Now, we have a few other people who are on the wish-list to get their butts handed to them by a big tuna. No pain, no gain.

So that is all. We'll be up at oh-dark-thirty to try and start our first full day of tuna fishing with some cows. We'll see what happens. Wish us luck and have a great night.

-Team Supreme-

Friday, December 2nd, 2011

Good evening, friends. Final travel day before we reach our intended fishing destination was spent putting the finishing touches on all of our tackle rigging and relaxing before we get into full-on fishing mode around mid-day. Our day was also spent in beautiful offshore bronzing weather and around dinner time, we passed into the Tropical Convergence Zone. That's right, we are now tropical although, I have yet to receive a Mai Tai with a little Pineapple slice as part of the garnish. I guess it's just the weather that is tropical which also means, tropical bronzing. That's a whole different type of bronze. We're pumped. Anyhow, our destination is soon approaching and you can feel the anticipation gaining in the group. Charlie Middleton aka "Charlie Murphy!!" admitted today that he's so bored that he might snap. I'm sure you're not the only one, Charlie.

So that is all. Tomorrow, we arrive to the promise land and we'll be giving it our all for four days of hopefully, hot fishing. We'll see. The fleets' satellite communications at these southerly latitudes, for whatever reason, has only been working in the morning time, so to everyone at home; don't be alarmed if you don't receive a call from lunch-time until the following morning and don't be alarmed if our daily reports are inconsistent. We'll chat with you tomorrow, hopefully.

-Team Supreme-

P.S. Mal Wagstaff would like to send his love and say hello to Beth and Breck from the Tropical Convergence Zone. We're not in Wyoming anymore...

Thursday, December 1st, 2011

Good evening, folks. Not a whole lot to report on our end of things. Our second full day of travel was filled with more light rigging, engine room chores, and relaxing. Towards the afternoon time, Joe Beck and Kub Ito decided to get crazy and teach me how to play an old school card game called "Skip-bo" which apparently has been outlawed on the boat for quite some time. Kub thoroughly outplayed Joe and myself but I did pick up on the game, so we'll see what tomorrow brings. The movie of the day was "Righteous Kill" starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro so some of the gang attended the viewing while most napped. Towards the end of the night, right before dinner, Joe Beck, Drew, and Jed had a little Cribbage tournament and that was our day. Our weather was a little windy and an annoying roll for most of the day but began to subside around the afternoon time and it's currently very nice. Like I said, not a whole lot to report and the reporting for the next couple of days will be the same type of reports.

So we're half-way there. Two more full days of travel to our destination so we're all going to attempt to maintain our sanity and try not to gain too much weight. Usually, Charlie Middleton does laps around the boat for most of the day but today, he gained a couple of friends to walk with him. I'm thinking by Saturday afternoon, he'll have himself a nice little train of people making the rounds with him. Anyhow, we'll report back with you tomorrow.

-Team Supreme-

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011

Hi folks. Hopefully you're all fat and happy on Thanksgiving feasts and what-not. We departed this morning on our final voyage of the 2011 season; a 12-day trip that will be targeting large Yellowfin tuna, Wahoo, and whatever else happens to jump on our hooks. Our load of bait looks very good and we'll see how they hold up in the warmer waters that we will be traveling through, but for now, it's all good. Chef Schooler and Jamie kicked out a gut-buster of a cheeseburger lunch with all the fixings along with baked beans and onion rings, so we're all fat and happy at the moment. For todays traveling report, it was absolutely glass-calm sea conditions with a little bit of a chilly breeze and that was it. Perfect traveling weather and we're hoping for more in the future.

As for fishing, we still have plenty of time to decide on where to go. We could be fishing the lower banks on Friday or we can take our 100-ton licenses down to more southerly latitudes, we'll see how things shape up but like I said, we've got some time to decide on where we wish to start fishing for cow Yellowfin tunas. For now, we're just chuggin' on down and we'll report to you each night to fill you in on our activities. Good to be back, it's time to hit the sack. Good night.

-Team Supreme-