merrimack river Fishing Report 2025

Aug. 11
    We had a great morning today.  I'd have to check with the big guy but I believe we had around 60 of the 15-25 pound yellowfin and 9 of those big 60-80 pound bluefins on our first drift.  I'd call that a good morning.  It wasn't full speed either.  It was just a nice scratch over a period of a few hours.  Nice drifting along there in beautiful weather once again.  I sure hope this weather lasts a while along with the fishing.
    
    After our first drift we did some others of course.  None producing as well as the first one but throughout the day we scratched at some more yellowfin and a few more of those big bluefins.  It was just what we needed after a day of mostly driving around seing a lot and  not catching much.  Needless to say we'll be hanging around here tonight and trying it again tomorrow.

    On a sad note, one of the greats in the sportfishing industry passed away today.  Most of you reading this wouldn't know who I'm talking about because he was a behind the scenes guy.  I'm talking about the great sardine fisherman Joe Machado, and if you've been fishing in the last 35+ years, you were using bait most likely caught or found by him.  As you all know, no bait no fish, so we'll be throwing some sardines over the side for him tomoorow.  RIP Joe.
                                                        

 

~~Sep. 10
 Holy moly was it hot and humid today.  Starting today early the sweat was on.  My mom brought the little one down and the poor little girl was sweating worse than me.  She probably doesn't care though.    We left on our annual Bogart 2 day trip.  So we fished a little this afternoon and we'll fish tomorrow.  We got a couple tanks of anchovy today with just a few sardine mixed in.  We have a bit of mackerel left over that we'll use.  We fished for yellows this afternoon.  We reached the honey hole at 4:00.  Of course conditions did a complete 180.  Current wise.  The water was still blue and warm but the current was opposite to what the yellers have enjoyed here as of late.  So we saw no sign of yellowtail.  After a couple anchor jobs we gave up on them and anchored in tight to the kelp and we caught some assorted rockfish and bass and such.  Now we're headed out to who knows where.  I have a couple places in mind.  I'm going to wait and here the evening reports from the other boats before deciding.

 There is a few things as of late I wanted to tell y'all about that I forgot to.  I finally saw the green flash!  Kind of cool I guess.  I wasn't looking for it this time.  Maybe that's the ticket.  I just happened to look over and poof, the sun turned green for a flash.  The lightening show the other night was amazing.  Especially the part I missed while I was in bed sleeping.  And we saw a wave cloud I think.  I think it was a wave cloud.  It looked like a wave rolling through.  Or a side ways tornado.  There was 0 wind, and all the sudden that thing came through and it got super windy but just for 30 seconds or less and then it was gone and the wind went back to 0.  Pretty cool I thought.  Done.
     

The fall fishing season is on, as could be seen in the catch brought back from Alijos Rocks and The Ridge by Polaris Supreme owner-skipper Tommy Rothery, who docked his rig at Fisherman's Landing September 16 after an right-day trip. "Wow, what a great day!" wrote Tom on September 13. "We had an awesome morning bite on the Dorado; big bulls and cows. We took a break at lunch and Pedro prepared a Southwestern 10 oz. burger that was delicious. He really nails the menu with his creative spices and herbs. Back out on the deck, we had excellent fishing on the wahoo throughout the whole day. And then to finish up the day we caught some yellowfin tuna. It was just a great, fun day. Dinner tonight was a spicy ginger shrimp curry; another great dish. Our weather all day has been beautiful. I hear it's been crappy up above and hope it lies down before we start up the line." Jeff Theurer of Pismo Beach got the best dorado, a 44-pound whopper that will now be the season's best. "I got it in 15 minutes," he said, "on 40-pound line. This is my best dorado and the best on the boat this trip."
Chris Fitzgerald of Lake Elsinore won first place for a 70.2-pound tuna. He caught it with a sardine, he said, on a 3/0 Mustad hook, 60-pound P-Line on an Avet 5-2 reel and a Seeker Black Steel 6470 rod.
Wayne Campbell of Huntington Beach was second for a 70-pounder, and Bill Vogel of Oceanside won third place for a 62.6-pound Alijos yellowfin tuna. Jeff Camplese of Helena, MT took the best wahoo, a 55.4-pounder, and brought it into the lineup shot.

The Pacifica returned from a 2-Day 976-Tuna sponsored trip.

Final Count:

26 anglers

89 California Yellowtail

5 Yellowfin Tuna

42 Skipjack Tuna

5 Bluefin Tuna

Today we went out with 33 anglers and caught 54 yellowtail. The hot ticket today was a scrambled egg colored yo-yo lure. Make sure you bring fresh 40 or 50 lb mono on your yo-yo rod. The ocean was a little bumpy today but it is forecasted to get better. Overall conditions look very good in the area, don't miss out !

35 bluefin 8 yellowfin. Long “plunker” drifts were the name of the game today. A rubber banded 4-6oz sinker on 40-60lb line got most of our bites.

Another great start today. The Yellowtail are biting extreme well. It was a great couple hours of fishing to start the day. 

After we had enough inshore fishing we decided to head offshore to look for Bluefin. We were able to connect later in the day, with 5 Tuna up to 40 lbs. 

Tough conditions offshore, hoping the tuna will bite better soon.

We will be in tomorrow morning,

Team Supreme

12 bluefin 10 yellowfin. Saw plenty of fish but didn’t connect with the right school. Flylined baits were still the top producer.