rainey lake Fishing Report 2023

Drew Henderson docked Polaris Supreme July 5 after a five-day trip with 23 anglers. His fishermen had plenty of albacore, but bluefin swept the jackpot spots. "What a great day of fishing," wrote Drew July 2. "Just couldn't be better. Everyone has had their fill of albacore so we are heading off to do some Island fishing for some of those big yellowtail. We should be there by daybreak tomorrow. Weather is fantastic."
At the dock, Drew said, "We got limits of albacore. Benitos has a lot of fish, but they're not biting very well, and the seals are. Yesterday afternoon we had a three-hour bite. The cedar plug is getting a lot of troll fish, ans so is my favorite, the ‚Дтscreamin' pink,' skirted jig." Ray Mercieca of Arcadia won first place for a 38-pound bluefin. He said he bagged it with a sardine on a 3/0 Mustad 91450 hook, 30-pound P-Line, a Penn 950 SS spinning reel and a Daiwa seven-foot spinning rod. Greg Culbert of Ojai was second, for a 36-pound bluefin and Bob Norman of Green Valley, AZ was third, for a 32-pound bluefin tuna.

The 21st annual Eric Rogger charter arrived at Fisherman's Landing August 16, after five days with 18 anglers aboard Polaris Supreme. Owner-skipper Tom Rothery was at the helm. "Wow!  What an incredible day," wrote Tom August 12. "This albacore is in the cooler 76-degree water.  It wants to bite wide open. Can't say enough about how much fun today was catching big fat jumbo albacore. They tired our anglers out. By the end of the day only a few fishermen were still standing.  Chef Pedro fixed a spicy teriyaki albacore lunch that was fantastic.  For dinner he served some delicious veal chops. Today was just a great. This is what albacore fishing is supposed to be like." John Lindsey of Newport Beach won first place for a 41.4-pound albacore. He took it with a sardine on a Mustad 2/0 94150 hook on 20-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon leader, 20-pound P-Line, an Accurate 197 reel and a nine-foot rod of unknown make. "He fought hard," said John. "He fought for 20 minutes."
Cole Pearce of Huntington Beach was second, for a 36.4-pound albie, and Brian Harnack of Culver City took third place for a 36-pound albacore.

Here’s the report and photos from Tuesday’s 2 Day trip: 41 Bluefin -28 from 60-90lbs -5 right at 100 -8 from 115-190 lbs 25 Yellowfin 20 from 25-40lbs 5 from 40-100lbs **Long drift all day. This big grade is biting the fin bait well. Bring your heavy tackle 60,80,100,130. The weather is improving so we posted a 1.5 Day trip for Thursday. It’s a DEFINITE RUN!! ***Call @seaforthlanding to book the AZTEC 619.224.3383.

Wow! What a fish. #214 Bluefin. Landed in less than an hour. Accurate Valiant 1000 and Shimano Rail Rod on #100. Dead Flyer. Had a few Yellowtail and a Yellowfin as well. 

Aug. 27-28

Here's a 2 dayer for you all. I forgot to write yesterday's report due to my enthusiasm not being crazy high about it. So we fished in these bluefin grounds all day yesterday and for a few hours in the morning today for not much. Yesterday we were seeing sign of fish around. We didn't see any schools driving around but we'd get a meter mark and stop the boat and after a while we'd see a handful or two sometimes more come under the boat and sometimes we would get a few and other times we wouldn't but at that rate the final tally wasn't anything to write home about so that's probably why I didn't. Today wasn't better. I can't say we ever saw a fish even on the machines. We looked through the traditional area early for nothing then went that way for a while then we turned that way for a while and then we turned that way for a while and then we called it a trip. It means nothing for future trips the way this bluefin is. Tomorrow can be wide open. A hell of a trip anyways if you've been reading you'd know it. The boats clean and everyone on board is stuffed and rested. We'll be getting in at 6:00 in the am tomorrow and then we're departing on the 9 day! I'm really looking forward to it. Getting out of this cool August offshore weather and into the warm wahooey weather. As Joe Beck would say, "yeah baby". Thanks to everyone on board and shame on those who were thinking about making it but didn't. You missed the best bluefin bite you've probably ever seen. Drew

Today we are making turns to the island. We are looking like a late afternoon arrival. Bent rods and big fish are on everyone's mind.

Saturday April 13

(report from the office)

We arrived at Hurricane Bank at 4pm and started fishing. The seven anglers on board landed 29 wahoo by dusk. After dinner they went back out for an evening bite that lasted until 3am and picked up 27 tuna ranging from 90 - 198 lbs. Three that were estimated over 200 lbs were lost. There is lots of life around here and our weather is really great. Richie is keeping a detailed daily log and will post it when we start back home.

Thanks for checking in!

The Polaris Supreme Crew

Aug. 17
    Today almost went as planned except for the lack of yellowfin.  We were supposed to scratch pretty good at the yellowfin in the morning, like 40 or so and then get on that big bluefin, and then scratch out another 30 or so yellowfin in the evening.  Well we did the middle part but the numbers were lower on the sides.  We saw plenty of that yellowfin, it just didn't bite well.  On with the cool part.  We found a mega school of that 70-100+ pound bluefin mid morning.  It's been a long time since I've seen a mega school and every time I do I forget about the time before and I think it's the biggest school I've ever seen and that's how today was.  Of course it didn't bite, but for me up in the wheel house where I can see it well it was incredible.  Just the area of fish was monstrous, and when you add in all the shiners and thousands of black backs swimming through, it's amazing.  We fished it for 4 hours on different attempts.  On the first, the youngster Brendan hooked up and landed about an 80 pounder.  On the second, his dad Scott hooked up and lost it and we hooked and lost another one.  On the third, Scott hooked up again but this time he landed his 107 pounder. So far it's looking like we'll have a father- son jack pot.  On the next few tries we got no reaction so we let it regroup for a while and a couple hours later we found it again and we hooked two more and lost them both and we missed a bite on the kite.  We tried it one more time after that for no reaction before we left it for good.  We're going to fish again tomorrow.  We'll make a small move and relocate but as things are right now, we don't need much more yellowfin so we'll concentrate on the other kind of tuna.