oceanana pier Fishing Report 2025

Saturday, September 29th, 2012

Hi friends. Tough day for us down here in the magical kelp paddy zone. The weather gave us fits all day but we did manage to scratch a day together. The weather was workable but not favorable with 18 knots of wind and a short, medium-sized wind chop. I had trouble going any kind of northerly or westerly direction most of the day for fear of soaking our mast-man.

Even with the weather, we managed to catch 60 yellowfin tuna, 19 yellowtail, 17 dorado, and some skipjack off of a few jig strikes and multiple kelp paddies. We saw good water structure and found plenty of beautiful kelps but all we found were either scraps from other boats or the fish we did see, were just reluctant to latch on to our hooks. All in all, I'm happy with our day and I feel that we were right on par for the boats in the area. Guys have been fishing the same kelps for days and days --either in the local zone or this lower zone-- so I felt the need to get on something fresh and get away from the glob of boats in the area. It kind of panned out but like I said, I'm happy with our day --weather considered-- and our group hung tough with the sloppy weather.

So that is all. We'll be returning to the docks tomorrow sometime between 11:00 and noon, and we'll be turning around for another day and a half trip tomorrow evening. The weather is projected to come down and now all we have to worry about is getting a load of bait that doesn't die eighteen hours later. Take care and we'll chat with you tomorrow.

-The Supreme Team

7 yellowfin 47 yellowtail 5 dorado 5 skipjack. Never got a shot at a legitimate school today. Try again tomorrow.

Many of you know Captain Ray Montera who has been involved in sportfishing most of his life. In March, his 32 year old Chris son was severely injured in a C4 blast in Afghanistan. We are holding a fundraiser on October 8th at the Bali Hai on Shelter Island. He is one of our own and we are rallying to support him.

As an Army soldier, Chris Montera was often taken aback when people would thank him for doing the job he loved. On a fateful day in March, he came to face the sacrifice. He was on a dismounted mission and was hit with explosion of C4, which literally blasted and propelled him into a grape field. He suffered major issues with blast lung and severe burns over much of his body. For 9 days he was on ECMO (lung bypass) until he was stable enough to be transported to BAMC in San Antonio for the treatment of his shrapnel wounds and third degree burns. On April 2 a fungal infection set into the wounds on his lower extremities and Chris underwent bilateral AK amputation of his legs. He was further diagnosed with an incomplete spinal cord injury in the thoracic area of the spine at VA Polytrauma Center in Palo Alto.

Through all of this, Chris remains focused and committed to rehabilitation. It is estimated that he will remain in Palo Alto for 3-6 months while he works to regain his upper body strength, which will be necessary for the next stages of rehab in the C5 program at Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego where he will be fitted with prosthetic legs and with determination will learn to walk again. There is no doubt in our minds that Chris will recover to live an independent life. The goal of this fundraiser is to be able to assist Chris with expenses he will no doubt encounter on his journey to independence.

The event will be held at the Bali Hai Restaurant on Shelter Island On October 8th from 6:00-10:00 pm. There will be food stations serving food from many San Diego restaurants along with a no host bar. A raffle, live, and silent auction will take place during the event along with live entertainment by Mango Bay and World Famous Jim Gibson. The outpouring of support of raffle and auction donations from the sportfishing community, tackle, fishing supply manufacturers, and local businesses has been phenomenal. The evening will be great fun for all and will serve to help a young man who put it all on the line.

There are several ways you can help:
First and most important is attend the event.

Tickets are $50 in advance or $450 for a block of 10

Advance ticket purchases will include 3 raffle tickets and assorted swag

Cannot attend but would like to help, make a cash donation in any amount.

Donate an item for the raffle or auction. Anything from fishing items, art, gift certificates, clothing...anything is greatly appreciated.


We look forward to having you at the event. The sport fishing community has come together to take care of a wounded warrior of their own, and it promises to be a fun filled evening for all.

To purchase tickets for Island Nights at the Bali Hai, please visit our website at http://christophermonterasupport.com/island-nights-at-the-bali-hai

To donate items for our raffle/auction please visit our website and complete the donor form http://christophermonterasupport.com/sponsors-anddonors-supporters/donor-form

I have always felt that it takes 3 full days to give the Coronado Islands a thorough check. Today was day # 1 and we caught 31 bonito and 100 rockfish. Spent a lot of time looking for yellowtail and never found anything substantial. Saturday is a definite go with a light load at this time.

~~Aug 5
 The pressure is off.  We never made it down to any Island today like we planned.  At about 9 am or so the sonar went clunk, clunk and we went sideways for an hour.  It wasn't the best grade but it definitely wasn't the worst.  It was this years middle grade. 8-14 pounds with a sprinkling of 16-22 pounders in the mix.  Like I said, not the best but not the 2-6 pounders either.  But for a stressed out 4 day captain, it was lovely.  They bit good for about an hour and then they backed off.  After that we dedicated ourselves to that zone.  We figured that school of 14-25 pounders was just right over there.  It wasn't.  We didn't see another school of tuna.  However, we did find a nice kelp loaded up with big yellowtail.  They bit really well for a while too.  In fact , they were on the corner like tuna get on the corner for a good 20 minutes and when they backed off the corner, they still bit good for a while.  Other then that though we didn't see much other then the occasional small tuna on the trolling jigs but we're stoked for what we got today.  The pressure is off.

 We're going to stick with the plan and spend tomorrow at an Island hopefully drifting for hours.  The weather has finally backed off after a couple weeks of blowing.  Hopefully we get some descent weather for a nice long stretch and can get back to fishing where we please when we please.
     

"Fishing today was absolutely excellent!" wrote Polaris Supreme skipper Tom Rothery August 23. "The albacore bit all day and the weather has laid down and is good. All the albies were in the 25 to 30-pound range. For lunch we had swordfish in a butter, lemon, and caper cream sauce. For dinner we had a rack of lamb with a blue cheese port wine sauce. Yummy! A couple of boats headed to Guadalupe to no avail. We still have a spot here and there on some of our upcoming trips. Give Susan a call in the office if you can get away and come fish."
Rothery docked his boat at Fisherman's Landing August 24. He spent his fishing time on the four-day trip on the albacore grounds, with a half-day at Cortes Bank, where second skipper Drew Henderson reported big numbes of large bonito biting. The bones were eight to 12 pounds, he said. John Windling of Portland, OR won first place for a 41.4-pound albacore. He said he bagged it with a sardine on a 3/0 Mutu hook tied to 40-pound fluorocarbon leader and 60-pound Line One Spectra. He used an Avet JX reel and a Calstar 765 XL rod. David Schulz of Yorba Linda was second, for a 38.6-pounder, and John Thompson of Phoenix, AZ won third place for a 37-pound albacore.

Our 80 yellowfin and 34 skipjack did not come easy today. 15 stops on schools that were big enough to catch 500 if they were in the right mood. Beautiful weather and amazing sign of fish.

Oct. 10

Another travel day today so another day with nothing to report. I enjoyed a nice sleeping in this morning, then ate some cereal, then cleaned an engine room along with Mark and Jed. I noticed there were some movies being played and naps being had. We're going to try our hands at some squid in the early a.m. hours to give us a little more to fish with tomorrow. We're getting in the bluefin mode tomorrow for our last day before we return to San Diego.

Mr. Joe G. Yes you Joe. I am truly sad to say that tomorrow is our last chance to catch an albacore before we square up our bet. Unfortunately even if there was a miracle and we did find a biting school I don't think we could get a hundred to make you a winner in our bet so make sure you have that bill clean and crisp. I know you know but I would have loved to lose that bet. Thankfully we had the bluefin this year covering for the albacore so we were still in good shape for the summer. Fall is here and they're still biting. Timing is everything.