santee cooper lake Fishing Report 2024

The hours and hours of driving are quickly forgot as soon as your struck by mahi madness. Limits of mahi mahi and 20 yellowtail.

~~Oct.16-20
 So for the last few days, I was either too busy to write a report or just too tired.  I knew these blogs wouldn't be making it out here until tomorrow anyway so I figured I would just do a 4 day report to explain the remainder of our trip down below so here it goes.

 When I left off, the sharks backed off and allowed us to have a great afternoon and we were hoping the sharks would do the same thing they did last year after the first couple of days which is leave.  That didn't happen.  It was a sharky trip for sure.  Brown Reef Sharks were in the picture for the remainder of the time we were down there.  Sometimes they were relentless and we'd have to pull anchor and go trolling for wahoo and other times they would back off just enough to allow us to scratch at the tunas and then other times they would back off completely.  They weren't tuna eaters though.  They let us wind in what we hooked, but they loved our kite baits.

 Anyways, we still had an excellent trip down there sharks or no sharks.  There were a lot of windows of opportunity and there were some slow windows as well.  There was almost always a window where we would get at least two cows before sunrise, and after that it never stayed consistent.  If we didn't need to sleep it would've been convenient.  I know we missed plenty of tuna bites in the dark hours through out the night but that's when we would sleep.  Like I said though we had an excellent trip and here are the numbers to prove it.

 130 yellowfin tuna and 60 wahoo for 8 guys for 6 days.  54 tuna kept.  11 over 200 lb's, 5 that may go when we weigh them on the dock scale, 6 between 170-180 and the rest were 100-150 pounds with much fish being in the 120-130 pound class.  We also released 76 of those too!  One release estimated to be around 200 pounds and several in the 150 pound range and like I said, many in the 120-130 pound range.  Our largest was 240 and next in line was a 234 pounder kept.

 Here are the team jackpot totals: 1st place goes to Charlie and Craig with 2 fish totaling 453 pounds.  2nd went to George and Scott with 2 totaling 414.  George also had 5 tuna over 200 pounds by the way.  One per day besides the last day.  3rd place went to the Jer-bear and JC with 399 pounds, and Brian and Bernie finished just behind them with 396 pounds.  None of this is official.  We still need to weigh them oin land.

 And that's basically how fishing was down there.  Here are some things that stand out to me while we were down there.  First of all I'd like to talk about KC.  I'm not saying he was scared, he just didn't seem too pumped on fighting one of these fish we call cows.  He wasn't the first or fifth for that matter to jump on a spot on the kite for example when one was available.  On the third day it couldn't be avoided.  He got up on that kite and when he did this particular time he hooked a big one and he handled it as well as anyone.  I mean he kicked that fishes @$$.  He came to battle and he won.  It taped out as a 193 pounder.  After that it wasn't hard to get KC up on the kite when a spot was presented.  It went from where the heck is KC, to him not leaving the rail at all.

 I let Mark know the Raiders lost.  I did it in a mean way too.  His birthday was the 16th I believe, and Chef Mike baked him a cake and we all sang happy birthday and when it was over, I gave him my birthday present which is spilling the beans on lying about the Raiders beating the Chargers.  Ha ha Mark.

 The weather was a lot less steamy the last few days down there.  It was still hot, but once the clouds went away it didn't feel like a sauna there anymore.  Although myself and a few others got the worse case of burnt lips we ever had.  I did it in a dumb way too.  I knew I should go get my chap stick from my room on the first day down there but my lips did;t feel like they were getting chapped so I thought, because of the humidity my lips weren't drying out and I didn't need protection.  Dumb, stupid and idiotic.  My lips may not have dried out but they still got as burnt as ever.

  So that's it.  We now travel for a few days.  The crew has plenty to do.  Clean, clean clean and sleep.  The passengers will be sleeping and celebrating a wonderful trip.  We'll be trying to break up the ride on our last day of travel by looking for a dorado kelp but that's still not for a couple more days.
      

 

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

Ryan Bostian checked in with a report from the San Diego out of Seaforth Sportfishing in Mission Bay, CA. Today we had 15 anglers catch 9 Bluefin Tuna (60-80 lbs) 1 Yellowfin Tuna (25 lbs). Capt Cameron and the boys had a fine day.

Captain Ryan Bostian called in late last night with an update from the San Diego out of Seaforth Sportfishing in San Diego, CA. We have been fishing offshore the last four trips. Four days ago we had 44 Yellowfin Tuna Then we had 27 Yellowfin Tuna Yesterday we had 7 Yellowfin Tuna Then today we had 44 Yellowfin Tuna Decent fishing. There is a lot of fish around. What is working 20 pound mono with 20 fluro. We also recommend having a a 30 or 40 pound outfit ready to go also. We are using size one or two live bait hooks, small poppers and flat fall jigs are also working. We are scheduled fishing Offshore tomorrow and Wednesday. Then we have 3 charters in a row but will be back OPEN PARTY .

Captain Ryan Bostian called in to report the totals for today's trip to the Coronado Islands. We had 45 nice sized yellowtail. Please bring your 40 or 50 pound outfits. You can book online at Seaforth Sportfishing. The boat is departing again tomorrow at 5:30 AM. Let's go fishing!

Hello Everyone, We just departed on our annual AHI charter. Defiantly a great group of anglers who know how to have a little fun with each as well as put some fish on the boat. At the moment we have the outdoor speaker system hooked up and secure, a beautiful load of bait aboard, and the Supreme pointed south eagerly steaming to our destination. Will report again tomorrow, Team Supreme

Skipper Drew Henderson docked the Polaris Supreme June 17 after a five-day trip to the mid-Baja islands, on the Pacific side, of course.

"It was windy until the day we came home," he remarked. His 18 anglers managed a good catch of yellowtail and rockfish, however.

George Farnsworth of Kenwood won first place for a 27.6-pound yellowtail. He said it bit on a sardine pin ned to a 3/0 Gamakatsu hook. He used 30-pound Yo-Zuri line on a Saltiga 30 reel and a Calstar 870 M rod to beat the fish in 12 minutes.

"We had a great crew," he stated. "And that made a great trip."

Regular long ranger Joe Beck of San Pedro won second place, for a 27-pound yellow. Michael Robbins of Santa Cruz, one of three generations of family members on the trip, won third place, for a 25.4-pound yellowtail.