santee cooper bass Fishing Report 2025

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

33 pass. 23 yellowtail 75 rockfish. Today we saw more yellowtail than we did on Sunday. Unfortunately we also saw acres of bait in the same zone. A couple of brief opportunities is all they would give up today. We will check back tomorrow.

Tax evasion. Today had a slow start but really heated up after noon. It was more of the same when it came to the sharks, but the second half of the day we really got on these fish when we had the opportunity. Pulling hard the whole time and bringing in some nice fish through the sharks. Here we have Aiden with a great Tuna he was able to pull away from the tax man! (aka Shark) Way to get on him Aiden!

31 bass 47 whitefish for our 11 anglers. We spent our day in the shallows trying to stay in position to catch a yellowtail but never connected. Still plenty of action for our light load.

Friday, July 22nd, 2011

Good evening. With all of the life around the boat last night, we never managed to hook a fish this morning so we made a move and relocated the good sign of fish from yesterday. All in all, it was a very slow day up until the afternoon time when we got on a big breezer of smaller fish and had a nice little flurry on that smaller grade of fish. They really responded well, boiling within ten feet of the transom but for whatever reason we only managed to hook and land a handful. That was pretty much our hot action of the day. We saw a couple good spots of fish today but the Bluefin were Bluefin and it was a struggle to get a bite. There's potential for some decent hits in this area but for now, it's only for a couple of lucky boats and today, we were not a lucky boat. Sometimes, that's just how the cards fall.

With a beautiful load of Yellowtail in the fish holds and an annoying load of kelp flies everywhere else, we put a bow on the 2011 Paul Hess five day trip. Our utmost gratitude goes out to Paul for once again putting together a stellar group of folks and continuing to bring them back year after year. No matter what type of economic situation or what type of fish we catch, this group has a great attitude and they come out here to have a good time. Also, thank you to Sandra and Dave Lafferty for bringing some delicious food, especially the Cherry cobbler. We'll see y'all next year. Go Giants...not.

So there you have it. We're enjoying a fine ride as we motor back to port and we're shooting for a 0730 ETA tomorrow morning. We'll be coming back out with the Costello gang for five days of fun with Captain Drew Henderson at the helm. We'll check back with you tomorrow and have a good weekend.

-Team Supreme-

Thursday, July 21st, 2011

Hi friends. We finally made it to the hot Bluefin grounds in the afternoon and as soon as we arrived, the bite shut off. We saw good life and a few schools but we never saw the whites of their eyes. There is potential to scratch out a day here as the few boats that were in the area all day had a few fish to show for their efforts. Based on that, we rigged up and tossed out the sea anchor and will be drifting offshore all night. There is a ton of life around us right now with squid, sauries, and birds all around so hopefully with all of this life, we'll wake up and pick away at some shortfin's. Wish us luck.

-Richie and Team Supreme-

Wednesday, July 20th, 2011

Good evening friends. Yellowtail fishing aboard the Polaris Supreme was outstanding today. From right after breakfast until the late afternoon, we were pulling on 'tails in the 14-20 lb. class. Massive breezers, meter marks, and color spots were repeatedly located and we enjoyed steady catching all day long in beautiful weather. We had a very entertaining day and the evening time found us on the hunt for "premiums" which we managed to boat one right around 35 lbs. Hot rigs today was 30 lb. test, fly-lining a sardine with a J-hook tied on. No fluorocarbon, no designer circle hooks. A Yellowtail's mouth is like sandpaper, so there is no reason to waste the money on more abrasion resistant/expensive line and a hook that is designed to be set in the corner of the mouth so you don't get chewed off by a fish with teeth. With the exception of cow tuna fishing, we see more fish lost on circle hooks than landed. Granted every type of tackle worked today but time after time, we see just a simple 30 lb. rig filled with mono and tied up with a J-hook catching more fish than a rig with fluorocarbon and designer circle hooks. For Yellowtail fishing, it's an unnecessary expense when a so called "cheap rig" will get the job done just as good. Hey, when you step foot on the Supreme, you can fish with whatever type of tackle you wish. But take it from the people who are out here everyday, when it comes to Yellowtail fishing, keep it simple. Outfit yourself with mono and a J-hook and save that money that you would've spent on the fluoro/designer hooks because you're going to need to put it towards your fish processing bill. Get what I'm saying?

So that is all. The gang has had their fill on Yellowtail so the decision was made to venture offshore to focus on tuna fishing for the remainder of the trip. A couple of our community boats had an OK day on the Bluefin grounds so we're looking forward to seeing if we can't track down a few schools and add to our beautiful catch of Yellowtail before trips end. Our weather is a little bumpy but everyone is too tired to notice, they're out and so are we. Wish us luck and we'll chat with you tomorrow.

Happy Hump Day,

-Team Supreme-

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

Hello friends. We began the hunt for Bluefin tuna early this morning by shutting down in the gray light on a school of tuna and just as soon as everyone woke up to begin fishing, they vanished. So we followed suit and the hunt for greener pastures commenced. It took us a little while to get a school located but when we got it located, it was a good one. We immediately saw fish boiling up good all around the boat and we hooked a few right off the bat. We landed a handful and we lost a handful but what we did land were a beautiful grade of Bluefin in the 25-35 lb. range. With the massive surface show 360 degrees around the boat we decided to get the kite out. Multiple fish attacked the baits but missed the hooks and after that, all we could do was watch them boil within ten feet of the baits and turn their nose away from our double sardine rigs. We watched the show for a couple of hours before they bailed and it was a slow day from that point on. We did pull a couple of nice Yellowtail from a kelp paddy and we even trolled up a smaller grade Bluefin tuna later in the day. Not too shabby considering a lot of boats in the prior weeks have been calling in zero's for fish counts, so we're very happy with what we caught and we'll be back on the tuna grounds after we do some Yellowtail fishing. A couple of boats in our long range community had a pretty steady day on smaller grade Bluefin in another area so we'll keep our ears open to that developing situation. Like I said, we're going to go do some Yellowtail fishing as the bite has been hot and we're looking forward to finding out for ourselves just how hot the bite is.

So that's it. Our weather is fair and we're in excellent company with Paul Hess and his good friends. We'll be in the zone first thing tomorrow morning and we'll report back to you tomorrow. Take care now.

-Richie and Team Supreme-

P.S. Te amo, Anna. From: Mark.

Monday, July 18th, 2011

Hello friends. We're back in business as we departed on our annual Paul Hess five day trip this morning. Paul has been putting together a great group of anglers for the better part of a decade on the Supreme and we're happy to see all the familiar faces that he's brought aboard this year. Our bait loading went smoothly and we've been traveling in calm weather ever since leaving the harbor around lunch time. With boats spread out in different areas along the coast and offshore, we're taking our time in deciding what our game plan is. Part one of our journey will be on the hunt for Bluefin tuna tomorrow morning as one of our companions in the long range fleet saw good sign and had an OK day on the shortfins today. We'll begin looking around in the morning and we'll see if we can't boat a couple of tuna fish tomorrow before we worry about part two. Wish us luck and we'll report back to you tomorrow.

Happy Monday,

-Richie and Team Supreme-

151 yellowfin 7 skipjack. Nice weather, steady action, and lots of laughs. Please remember that fishing is supposed to be fun. Egos are best left at the dock.

Captain Andrew Viola checked in this morning at 8:59 PM with an audio update from the Pacifica out of Seaforth Sportfishing in Mission Bay, CA.  We have been drifting for an hour and have put together a good score so far.  We have 62 Yellowfin Tuna and 4 Bluefin Tuna.  We are still drifting with fish around the boat.

We have a 1.5 day trip departing on Wednesday night.  We also have a full day trip on Sunday.  Come out fishing on the Pacifica!!!!

Drew Henderson brought Polaris Supreme home July 5 after a five-day trip with 24 anglers.

"We fished Cedros again a half day," wrote Drew July 3, "and had a nice drift in the morning but then the fish went down quick which has been the routine. We put our anchor down and had a nice pick on the yellows and all the other fish you could catch. We had to bail out at 11:00 a.m. and made a couple stops on the way up the line then we had to go full cruise to get ourselves to the tuna grounds.

"The next day started off painfully slow but right around 1:30 we had our first school and shortly there after we got on another one that we drifted on until dark."

At the dock, Drew summed up his last day of fishing, the 4th of July: "We spent the day looking offshore. We got about 75 fish, and mostly we had three or four going for several hours."

Bob Morehouse of La Crescenta won first place for a 54-pound yellowfin he bagged with a sardine on a 2/0 Mustad hook, with 30-pound Big Game line, a TLD 1`5 reel and a Calstar six-foot rod.

Chris Stavaridis of Venice was second, for a 48-pound tuna, and Tony Sabatino won third place for a 46-pound yellowfin tuna.

Sunday, June 3rd, 2012

Good evening, friends. Sorry for the lack of reports. Not a whole lot of excitement going on the with us on the Supreme but around the fleet, is an entirely different story. More on that later.

For us, it's been a lot of work down in the guts of the vessel, ensuring that the Polaris Supreme is running at tip-top performance. On Friday, the day finally arrived: Coast Guard "top side" inspections. At times, the thought of Coast Guard can be somewhat daunting for some boats. For us, it's no big thing. With our weekly maintenance schedules that we perform throughout the year and quality of care that Tommy has given to his beautiful ninety-two foot sportfishing yacht, Coast Guard is no big thing. We appreciate what these people do for us, which is make sure that the vessel operates properly and continues to take our passengers time and time again and return safely. On this day, they also made sure that our crew could properly handle a man overboard situation. In short, we passed with flying colors and as for the operation of the vessel, all is fine for the exception of a couple "minor" things, we passed. We're pumped. This next week Drew, Tommie, Mark, Jamie, our electrician guru Greg Hibbs, master carpenter Steve Russo and myself will take care of the few items that we need cross off the list before our follow-up appointment with the USCG. Our fishing season is nearing and things are starting to get very interesting on the water.

I'm sure most of you read the reports from the boats our on trips right now. Bluefin tuna in the 25-40 lb. class as well as some beauties in the 60-100 lb. category are biting, the Royal Star has captured the first Albacore of the season, a couple Bluefin have also been captured in the day and a half range and spotter planes have been flying around some of the local waters and have seen a few fish as well as some tasty looking conditions. Bottom line, it's time. It's time to get yourself on a trip. Call Susan ASAP, ask what trips have openings and get on a trip now. This crew is ready to go. Let's make it happen. It's just around the corner and you aren't going to want to miss a shot at what is shaping up to be a tasty summer season.

Take care everyone. We'll report back in a few days.

-Richie & Team Supreme