sierra drifters Fishing Report 2024

Nov. 6

Well today wasn't at all what we expected. Last week it had been great yellowtail fishing in the zone we were in but for whatever reason most that fish wasn't around today. Famous words of Steve Loomis, "only one things for sure and that's that things will change". So true in life but especially true in fishing. Things will always change whether it be for better or for worse. Unfortunately today it was for worse. That's why you can't base your booking a trip on last year or even 2 weeks ago. Oh well. We caught a few nice yellows today and lots of other species we saved for meals later on in the trip because they'll be tasty. We're now heading south. We're going to start fishing first thing tomorrow fishing for D, all of the above.

Passenger Mike Payne brought a whole bunch of crab with him. I'm not sure exactly what kind of crab they were. They weren't king crab but the next best thing. Basically it was all you can eat because when I had all I could take down there was a lot of it still available. Delicious. Talk to you tomorrow.

Drew

We departed today on Don Fischbeck's annual 5-day charter, but without our charter head Don! Don we will miss you at the rail but we will bring some fish home for you. Don't be working too hard! Today the reports off shore are slow but there is some action at a few of the islands. So we loaded up with some good looking bait and are hoping for a possitive change for the albacore. Pedro is in the galley getting ready for dinner tonight which is going to be grilled tenderloin of beef with a red wine sauce. So we will update again tomorrow. Thanks for checking in. Tommy and crew

Sep. 17

Our morning started off at 4:30. There was some good meter life on the first spot we looked at so we woke everyone up to try it and we had it figured out in the first 45 minutes. A few good grade yellows and a whole lot of smaller ones so we brought the lines in and continued down. An hour later we tried another spot for some more nice yellows but not enough so we continued down. The next spot a couple hours later was a disappointment. Not much yellowtail and not much wahoo. We got one wahoo almost to gaff before it spit the hook and swam away. So we continued down. The next spot we tried produced one beautiful wahoo and showed pretty decent sign of good grade yellowtails that didn't bite like you'd think. We caught some but it didn't keep us anchored up till sunset so we continued down. 1:30 hours later we were anchored up on our last spot of the evening and again it showed pretty good sign of yellows that bit pretty good for us up until dark. It was good enough to stay put and try it in the morning. We might of caught 1 million dorado today. I lost track at around one hundred and three but it might have been around 1 million. Unfortunately most of these dorado weren't much bigger then a neck tie and we let most go to fight another day. The weather was windy today. Wind and swell but for some reason it wasn't bad fishing weather. Maybe because our usual direction we worked was down but even when we would slide on a jig strike we never took any mean snaps. The wind came down after the sun went down so we're hoping it stays down.

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~~Sep 13
 Thank goodness for slow speed.  Even though we got a really good jump yesterday, we weren't going to be getting anywhere down below till late tomorrow.  Our speed was horrible.  1.5 knots below average.  But we sped up this morning.  Yup.  This morning we were only making .75 knots below average.  That all costs a whole lot of time when you're traveling great distances so we decided we'd have to be stopping short.  So that's what we did this afternoon, arriving at 4:30.

 Wow!  It didn't take long before everyone had a tuna on.  And they weren't those 8-14 pounders either.  There were some of those, but the majority of them were those 20-30 pounders.  I say again, "wow".  It bit steady the whole time we which is a couple of hours.  During the stop, I had tied a few hooks and cast a few baits out, you know , like we do, and quite a few times the hook would fall off and I would scratch my head and ask myself, " are my knots failing"?  They weren't.  It took crew member Justin to spot a wahoo flying out of the water to figure it out.

 So we wound them in and threw back the marauders.  Before dark, which wasn't long, we had a little binger for 5 and then one for 1 50 pounder.  Say it with me now.  "Wow"!  We aren't going anywhere tonight.  We'l just kick back and see what the day has to offer.

 My buddy Glen caught the 50 pound wahoo today.  Every year for a while now he has been the last member of the little troll team that I like to call, " the troll of shame"  That's the last few people on board who have not yet caught a wahoo.  He will not be joining that team this year.  Nope.  This year he can join the heckling party.  He get's to see what it's like from the other side.  Way to go Glen.
       

 

After a couple of slow days for the fleet we decided to go out on a search mission. Our morning was spent chasing 30 lb bluefin that we’re very difficult to hook. Around 12:30 our sonar lit up with the sweet sound of shallow, spread out yellowfin tuna. After 3 1/2 hours and ten short stops. Our 30 anglers were able to drop 123 yellowfin and 1 bluefin into the refrigerated Sea Water. Best success came on flyline bait on 25-40 lb, colt snipers and poppers. We will continue to fish offshore and target whatever we see.

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

37 yellowtail. A few decent shots made our day.

We departed today on Lon Mikkleson's annual, limited load 10-day charter. We loaded up some great looking bait while Pedro prepared a delicious pork tenderloin for lunch. The weather is slick, flat calm and the our anglers and crew both are excited about the upcoming prospects. The passengers are preparing their gear and for dinner Pedro put out a yummy lobster and rack of lamb dinner. We will keep you posted.

Fresh and Fast! Recently we have been doing a lot of quick turnarounds to try and maximize fishing time for our clients. Recently we had a beautiful 200 lb Bluefin Tuna donated to the boat. Thanks to Sean and the people of Fishermans Processing we were able to have the Tuna filleted, packaged, and returned to the the boat in time for an early departure. Because of this our passengers were able to enjoy fresh Bluefin Tuna sushi on our way down the following trip. Thank YOU for going the extra mile for us so WE could go the extra mile for our customers!