merrill creek reservoir Fishing Report 2024

~~Sep. 21
 Well, as promised we left on another trip today.  This one being an LA Rod and Reel Club long range 2 day trip.  We got a nice jump on things.  We were done getting bait and leaving the harbor by 11:00 this morning which allowed us to get to the tuna grounds by 5:00 this evening which allowed us to find a school of yellowfin before dark which allowed for most of the anglers on board to catch at least one which allowed me to feel satisfied about our day today.  Catching fish on a departure day.  Those fish were free.  Tomorrows the true day.  That's when we get real nasty.  So right now we're anchored up in the cove of an island and I couldn't be happier about it.  For the last week at night this boat has been running.  We've always been traveling somewhere so it feels real nice to be on anchor with the engines off.  It's even better that we're in a protected cove.  It's like being in the bay.  I can't speak for everyone on board but I'm pretty sure I'll be sleeping with my thumb in my mouth tonight.  Until tomorrow....
        
 

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

 

Ryan Bostian called in from the San Diego with this report. "We've been fishing offshore & the Yellowtail fishing has been excellent. We have been fishing kelp paddys 20 to 40 miles from home. The Yellowtail fishing is starting to slow down a little bit. The body of fish we have been fishing is starting to move on out to the northwest. However, today Capt Ray went out with 31 passengers. We caught 12 Yellowtail, 1 Skipjack, 7 Dorado and 40 Bluefin tuna. It was an excellent, excellent day. There were some very nice schools of tuna out there. It's getting to be that time of year that is going to turn more into tuna time. We should start to see more Yellowfin tuna in the counts, or more Bluefin.

"If you want to go out with us we have trips everyday. We leave the dock at 5:30 AM. The ticket price is $130.00. That includes your Mexican Fishing License. It's just a great time of year, there are a lot of fish within 40 miles of San Diego

We just had a recent spot open up on our 10 day leaving November 4th! The Wahoo fishing is really starting to heat up! Get in on the action! 

The beat goes on at the Coronado Islands ! Today we caught 38 yellowtail 22 barracuda and 3 kelp bass. Fly lined sardines and surface lures were the best today.

Again another scratch fishing day with the usual mix of yellowtail, yellowfin, bluefin, albacore and dorado. No big numbers, we just scratched away. We spent the morning in the tuna area and mid morning to the end of the day we went looking for kelps and caught and released a lot of small dorado. The weather again has been excellent.

The most interesting thing is that everybody is getting albacore strikes anywhere they go. We are hoping the water will cool off in the next week and the albacore will start to group up and bite. Chef Jeff is still serving up some great food. An open faced steak sandwich for lunch and dinner was a superb cajun yellowtail filet and shrimp grilled with bell peppers and onions, served with fresh yellow squash, zuchinni and mushrooms and wild rice. It was really good. It looks like Alijos and the Ridge are starting off good. The crew and I are anxious to get down on a longer trip for some of those bigger yellowfin and wahoo. We still have a couple open spots on our 9-day departing August 28. And if your looking more into the future, Larry Brown still has some openings on his 10 day on October 25th. So come out and join me and the crew.

We'd love to have you on board.

Thanks, Tommy

Wow, what a frustrating day. Great signs, many schools, but not one that wanted to bite real good. A couple of the boats did ok, so there are still some fish that wanted to bite. Just not the ones under us. On an up note, Jim landed one that is right on the fence at 199 lbs. Our weather is still beautiful, and Pedro is still putting out great food like the veal shank we had tonight. We are optimistic that our luck will change tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed.

Aug. 4
 Here we go again.  This time for 4 days.  Tough decision for me today.  Do i make a left or a right?  As always, they both have there advantages and disadvantages, but in the end, one outweighed the other.  So I made a left.  I hope I made the right decision  Good timing is everything.  We're bombing her down below.  We've been flying down all day and night and we"ll be fishing after lunch tomorrow.  One of the boats caught some tuna down this way today and we're going to try and get in on some of that.  We should have good weather for the trip as long as the forecast holds true.  We're hoping for lots of fish the next couple days.  I could use the pressure release.