neely henry lake Fishing Report 2025

We stopped the boat once today and didn’t move until it was time to go home. We ended up with 123 yellowfin 53 bluefin. Live bait has been best but we had our fair share of bites on the Shimano colt sniper. 100 gram was the best size.

From 8:00 am till 4:00 pm we were either stopped on bluefin or driving towards jumping bluefin. When we pumped out the RSW we had 17 bluefin and 2 yellowtail. Flylined sardines on 25-40 lb with a size 2-2/0 bait hook was the top producer.

Our very light load charter of 11 people had some fun finesse fishing. They were able to trick 18 bluefin 3 yellowfin 10 yellowtail and 1 bonito.

Fishing was excellent today. Most of the tuna were 70-125 lbs. they started biting in the gray and continued just until dark. We released all of them except Al kept a 197 lb. tuna and Craig kept one that was 187 lbs. We also had a few wahoo mixed in. Weather is gorgeous. We are going to give it a try again tomorrow. Lunch was Chili Colorado, hors d'oeuvres were shrimp, crab claws and sashimi. Dinner was tuna Baja (that's a tuna fillet split and stuffed with avocado and crab meat with a sweet teriyaki ginger sauce to top it off).

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

36 yellowtail 1 calico bass. Did a lot of driving to get a few good shots. Conditions seemed to be improving today, hoping for a big hit in the near future.

Mike Pritchard called in this morning with this report for the Tribute. "We've had a very nice start here this moring. A couple of kelps have been absolutely fantastic. Great Yellowtail fishing to go along with some Yellowfin and Dorado. We caught 160 Yellowtail out of 2 drifts. A lot of the fish were caught on surface irons, swimbait and even poppers.

"We are now targeting some tuna or maybe some Dorado. We'll keep you informed."

~~Aug 20
 It was a slow day out here today for us.  It was a slow day for many.  But of course it depends on who you talk to, some might say it was a great day.  It all depended on which school you found.  Just like it's been, most schools don't produce, but the few lucky ones do.  We didn't find the lucky one.  Our best school was for 20.  But no matter who you ask, it was a slow afternoon today. After lunch, we didn't find a school till after 6:00.  We're due.

 The weather today was awesome.  Again.  We're going to drift out here tonight and try it again tomorrow.  I thought about doing something different, like hunting bluefin, but it hasn't been very good and our plan B., that being San Clemente island is closed tomorrow darnit.  Plus these yellowfin we're catching are just too beautiful.  Such a nice grade.

 One more day.  We're due.  It won't take much more to get 200 of these things for the trip.  200 of these things would be nice.
        

Tom Rothery brought his Polaris Supreme home to Fisherman's Landing January 11 after a 16-day trip to the Hurricane Bank and the Southern Banks of Baja. There were seven anglers on the annual George Davis expedition, and they produced ten more cows for the record.

In his report from the boat on Friday January 2, Tom reported a good day of fishing.

"Yes, now this is what I'm talking about," he wrote. "We finally got a break in the weather. It is beautiful and we have left Hurricane Bank. We are now heading to the upper banks. We will be there tomorrow night. Yesterday was an ok day of fishing. George kept a 219 and released a 185. Jeremy released a 140.

"Craig kept a 205 and by the way that was a mistake yesterday. Craig kept a 210 pounder. Al kept a 100 for his buddies that are going to Ennis hunting. They are going to open pit barbeque it on a spit like a pig. Now, that sounds interesting. ‚Д®

"Charlie released a 125 and Scott released a 140. Each day we also had five to 12 fish that we caught that were under 100 pounds and were not mentioned. These all were released.

"Yesterday we also had good wahoo fishing. Jeremy and Craig both caught 4 and Gunnar and Al got 3. Everybody else had a couple a piece. Overall the trip to Hurricane Bank has been very good with eight tuna over 200 pounds, and excellent wahoo fishing."

Chartermaster George Davis of San Dimas won the jackpot while catching four cows. His tuna weighed 241.8, 219.8, 213.6 and 208 pounds. The big one came on squid on the kite, he said.

George fished with 7/0 Mustad 7691 hooks, 130-pound Momoi line and 130-pound Line One Spectra on a Penn 70 VSW reel and a Calstar 655 XXH rod. He said the big one came to gaff in just 20 minutes.

Allen Tokunaga of North Hollywood won second place for a 224.6-pounder.

"These Hurricane Bank fish seemed a little tougher than the ones on the inside," he remarked. "This one took me 40 minutes. He went around the boat a couple of times, and then came up on the port side of the stern."

Al fished a sardine on an 8/0 Eagle Claw hook, on 130-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon leader, 100-pound P-Line and 130-pound Izorline Spectra. He used a Penn 50 reel modified by Cal Sheets and a Calstar 6465 XXH rod.

Scott Brown of Costa mesa won third place for his 213.2-pounder. He also got a 202.6-pounder. He fished a small jack under the kite on a 9/0 Mustad 7691 hook. He used 130-pound Momoi line and 130-pound Izorline Spectra on a Penn 70 VSW reel and a Calstar 655 XXH rod.

"The big one was a 20-minute fish," he remarked. "He came to the boat pretty good."

One big tuna was eaten by the passengers and crew while the boat was still fishing. It was a 215-pounder caught by Craig Johnston of Costa Mesa, who also got a 204-pounder. Craig said he got them on the kite, on double sardine baits pinned to 7/0 Mustad 7691 hooks. He fished with a 130-pound Momoi topshot on 130-pound Izorline Spectra, with a Penn 70 VSW reel and a Calstar 655 XXH rod.

"It took about 30 minutes," he said. "We had rough seas then; it was a fun fight."

Jeremy Chandler of San Dimas got a 203.6-pounder on a jack under the kite on a 7/0 Mustad 7691 hook and the boat's kite rig.