michigan weekly Fishing Report 2023

Friday, May 11, 2012

Hi friends. Our week consisted of us mainly preparing for the final major painting projects to be completed. We completed the necessary steps for the bait tank and bus stop to receive a new paint job. Tomorrow, Jamie and myself will be down at the boat to scuff up the first coat of gloss, wipe down, and hang out as the painters finish up the final coat. We'll have Sunday off and then on Monday, it'll be time to hustle up and get the boat back in the water. A few other chores on the list before we say farewell to Knight & Carver Yacht Center include sanding the rails to be refinished at another time, put the liferafts back on the boat, install all the new zincs and pray the we're back in the water Tuesday or Wednesday. Drew, Tommie, Mark, Jamie and myself are really looking forward to getting the boat back in the water and once back at the docks, our dirtiest chores are pretty much over and all the remains are little "knick knack" cosmetic things, putting the new freezer box on the upper deck, painting the deck, refinishing the rails and a few mechanical repairs. We're starting to see light at the end of the tunnel and it's a beautiful sight.

In other news, Jed went under the knife on Thursday to have his tendon repaired in his thumb and all went well and from what he said, it will be six to eight weeks of recovery time followed by some physical therapy. Jed's doing just fine and here's to a speedy recovery to have him back on the boat sometime in August.

With that, our weekend is looking good for some relaxation, Clippers/Lakers game sevens, Kings/Coyotes hockey and the Gator By the Bay festival at Spanish Landing in San Diego Bay. We hope you all enjoy your weekend as well. Take care everyone!

Limits of dorado 62 yellowtail. One kelp can make or break your day.

Capt Mike Pritchard called in from the Tribute with an awesome early morning fish report, it is 9 am and we already have 47 Bluefin Tuna from 40 to just over 100lbs, and a few Yellowfin Tuna. What a way to start the day, if you coming out to fish, make sure your tackle is in good working order, this will prevent some heartbreaks. We recommend that you have at least a 40 lb set up, also, a special thanks to SAC for assisting in getting the Bluefin Tuna issue resolved with Mexican authorities. Hope to see you out here soon.

We don’t ever take for granted just how lucky we are to have perfect weather and phenomenal fishing in the end of October. 177 yellowfin tuna.

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.

We departed today on Larry Brown's annual 10-day trip with 22 fine anglers. Most are repeats as they join Larry each year, but we are delighted to have a couple of new comers. We are in good weather and are happy to be driving out of the sooty smoky air. The group is excited after seeing Drew's great catch from the last trip. He had Dorado, Wahoo, those big cow Yellowtail and some Yellowfin with the jackpot weighing in at 160 lbs.! We are also getting reports that fish are moving in a new area and want to bite. This is all good news. So I will close for now as we get ready for dinner of filet and lobster with vegetables and a baked potato. Thanks for checking in and we'll update again tomorrow.

~~Sep. 11
 Hello all and welcome back.  Or welcome me back or... you know what I mean.  I'm back.  5 days off and I'm back on the water and reporting to you.  I met the boat at the dock at 6:30 in the morning and was pleased to see the stern deck loaded up with tuna.  A good catch they had.  Well we off loaded everything and everyone, went and changed oil and put enough fuel on board to last us a while and left on our Bogart construction 2 day charter.  We got a good enough jump to fish a few hours before dark in the latest hot tuna zone but hot it was not.  The fishing there in the morning was good but it took a dump late morning and on.  We wound up catching 3 tuna before dark.  Obviously we're hoping for a good morning tomorrow and we're also hoping the bite stays on for longer then it did today.
       
 

Aug. 8
    I  was told second hand today that my reports make it sound like fishing was less good than it actually was and I have to say that I totaly agree.  I have sat at home in the past and reminessed by reading some of my past reports and have thought to myself how much better that perticular day actually was than I was reading so I will try and be more accurate with my reports starting with today.  As I write this we have just departed from a 2+ hour drift on the bigguns so I'm still pumped.  Take a journey with me.

    We started off our morning drifting in flat calm conditions which it remained for the rest of the day.  We fired up after daylight and didn't find much to work with for a few hours but mid morning we started stringing some stops together on the yellowfin tunas for a couple of hours before they went down for pretty much the rest of the day minus a couple stops mid afternoon.  In between that after lunch we bumped into a couple big balls of dorado.  That's something we haven't seen yet this year.  They were a bit on the smaller size for the most part but they were still fun to watch and catch.  Most of them were the size that's to big to bounce over the rail without a gaff but small enough to make it very difficult to gaff so we lost our fair share.  Mostly guys grabbing the line trying to swing it over on there own.

    After around 4 oclock we were getting low on bait and decided to use the remainder of it trying to catch bluefin tuna.  Things were looking grim for us after a couple hours driving around in the zone without seeing much but around 6:30 things got nasty.  My sonar made that beautiful sound the says fish fish fish with every pulse and then it was drifting for a few hours and hooking for 2.  I'm not sure how many of the 60-90 pound maybe a few over 100 pound beasts we hooked but I can tell you we landed 13 of them and when you land that many you usually lose that many too. I watched one gentleman get spooled instantly on 50 pound test.  Instantly.  I watched that same angler later land one on 60 pound test. Everyone on board had their chance at a biggun this evening and half the boat did get one.  

    We're headed for the dock now and we'll be there tomorrow around the 0700 hour.  We'll have a busy little turn around but we'll get the job done.  We always do.  See you later from the wheel house of the Polaris Supreme.