smith mountain lake Fishing Report 2024

Aug. 18
    We fished today in the local bluefin zone.  We scratched at the yellowfin and picked at the bluefin for 5 hours this morning.  Scratch means we were getting a few here and there and pick means we were getting one here and there.  In the morning the blues were mostly 25-45 pounds and we caught half a dozen or so 60-70 pounders.  Between noon and 5:00 PM we drove around looking for fish with not much luck and we went back to the blue zone for the evening session and had a real good evening.  We picked up 7 more 60-80 pounders and the yellowfin got on us a couple times and we couldn't stop catching it until after dark.  One post it note I made today was BBB.  It's a reminder to tell you about a regular passenger of ours by the name of Bill Byler.  If you don't know Bill he is one of those loud mouth, smart mouth old retired fireman guys and he's awesome.  He is a load of fun.  Anyways he was hooked up onto one of those big Bluefins late today and I heard Gunny tell him his boots were on back wards.  I thought it was just a joke but sure enough, his darn boots were on the wrong feet.  He said he was wondering why his feet hurt so much.  I never seen that before.  He ended up catching 2 of those tonight.

    The last couple days have been choppy out here but today it was very nice.  We get in tomorrow and leave again for 4.  See you then.
                    

 

Nov. 12

Not too much to report today, but we got our lines in the water, and ended up with a few varieties of fish chilling in the refrigerated sea water. We ended up at sort of a one-stop-shop in that we caught the three species that we were targeting all on the anchor. That is not typical fishing, down this way. We usually find the fish one species at a time. Half the boat caught a wahoo today so that's not a bad start and we caught quite a few 15-30 pound yellowtails too with a handfull of call them 25-40 pound tuna as well. Weather continues to be nice, with a bit of wind that popped up later on in the day. It was great to finally use some of that tackle today, that we've spent so much time rigging over the past few days. Now we can get down to the serious business of (hopefully) catching some creatures from the deep blue sea to bring home, and share with our families at the dinner table.All is well aboard the Polaris Supreme, and it's first call for our evening meal consisting of pork chops, apple sauce, and assorted goodies. This is your nameless guest correspondent signing off, until tomorrow...

Captured this nice #25 Halibut today, looked at quite a bit of Yellowtail that was not biting. 

June 26
 Good evening everyone!  This here is just a teaser.  We're out for a  couple days and then we're dockside for a little.  You won't be reading steady emails for another week and a half or so.  I'm going to keep this short until then.  I'll explain all about our new electronics and things later when we have them more figured out.  For example I'd like to figure out how writing these reports can be more comfortable.  Nevermind I just figured it out.  This keyboard is cordless.  So how does it charge?  Good example there.  I wonder if I  can write this in bed?  Anyhow, we fished some today.  We got in the  zone around 5 and it wasn't boring.  We were pretty much always running on something until 7:30. There wasn't much meat to it though. 
 Just few fish spots mostly.  We have a yellowfin to show for it.  First tuna of the year!
We'll be in this zone tomorrow.  Give it all day and see how it goes.  We'll cover more ground tomorrow with 12 more hours to fish that's for sure.  I'll write much more later I promise.  I"m still figuring this computer out.       

Tuesday, October 16th, 2012

Hi friends. Fishing today was just beautiful today on 16-22 lb. yellowtail down here. We had a few of those "premiums" in the mix and a few shakers but for the most part, it was a really nice grade of 'tail. Our key to success today was finding--as Tommy puts it--fresh balls [of yellowtail]. Classic run 'n gun fishing for the morning as the guys on jigs and fly-lined sardines were getting their fill but once our drift was established, the dropper loop guys got in on the action too. Anyways, it was a good morning bite in the "drift zone" but a little after lunch, things shut off and we toured around trying to find another ball without much success. Speaking of lunch, chartermaster Joe Gigliotti did it again. He owns the pizza game and made a really awesome lunch for the guys. Sausage, pepperoni, olives, barbecued chicken, chicken and pesto, and smoked fish, capers, and onions were being devoured by the gang. Joe rocks. I only had a couple bites of each because my nutritionist, Chef Shawn, didn't think I needed the extra carbs and fat. I had salad and a banana. Eyes on the prize, baby. Anywho, it was definitely a morning thing and we'll be here for one more morning to see if we can't connect on some more fresh balls [of yellowtail] and let the weather fade out before we boogie out of here to get in some offshore tuna and dorado action. Oh yeah, we need to make some bait too.

As I type this, the time is 0245 hours in the morning and it's starting to rain, Gunny is all slicked up downstairs braving the elements, and I'm up here in the cozy wheelhouse contemplating typing a report for another hour and fifteen minutes until we have to wake up Tommy and Mark. Nah, I can't do Gunny like that. Anyhow, bait-making isn't all that great as Gunny has made a couple pieces and a couple of flying fish for next trip and I've made one lizard fish. Pumped.

Speaking of pumped, the gym here on the Polaris Supreme is overloaded with muscle right now. Last night before dinner, Tommy was in the wheelhouse gettin' his leg and core workouts in while I was out back in the "gun zone" getting my diesel on with some upper body workouts. Tommy was rockin' out a few sets of crunches, squats, and toe raises, I was in the gun zone jackin' out sets of chin-ups, tricep dips, push-ups, and leg lifts. It was on. So my fellow pump brother, Riddler the Ripped One, and I were getting all swollen and admiring each others work, and here's Gunny taking a shower. He doesn't have a membership to the gym yet but we'll find a way to get him one, don't you worry, Tommie. If you're nickname is "Gunny", you'd better be shredded to the max and not applying cocoa butter moisturizer when Riddles and I are getting wrenched. I'm proud of you, Riddler, I'll be your spotter anytime. If only we could get him bronzing...

Staying with the last topic, Drew and I took what might be the best photo ever this evening. A rainbow showed itself in the distance and what a beautiful rainbow it was. Instinctively, Drew leaped into my arms and I held him like a baby lamb in my toned arms and Mark snapped a photo of the exchange. The picture is just fabulous, Drew being held up by "Richie Gun Racks", his smile ear-to-ear, and a beautiful rainbow in the background. Just lovely.

So that's all. Life on the Supreme is grand right now and I've got to go and make some bait. Like I said, we'll be here tomorrow trying for some more 'tails. Hopefully, the action is a real fat burner and we're just going crazy all day. We'll see. Okay, I gotta go. Bait, bait, bait!

-The Supreme Team

53 pass. 250 yellowtail on bait, surface iron and yo-yo. Trips are selling out fast. Grab your passport or passport card and call Seaforth at 619-224-3383.

Today we departed on Joe Beck and Mal Wagstaf's annual six day trip, which is our first post-boat work excursion! We left the bay around 11am with a great load of mixed sized sardine and mackerel. Shortly after departing the bay, chef Mike prepared the guys bratwursts with a broccoli salad. We are now working our way south to the yellowfin grounds. We will be in that yellowfin zone by morning, but for the time being we are keeping our eyes out for those giant bluefin. The area we are in there are about 30 or so live bluefin tuna pen boats that are each towing two pens each. We have also seen a couple big blue whales that were heading north-bound. Chef Mike is making 30lbs of beautiful prime-rib tonight served with salad and a baked potato. Written by Kyle of the Polaris Supreme

Sept. 21

Well we never saw a bluefin today. Or a dorado for that matter. We were ready for them too. I had my lucky bluefin cap on, Gunny had his bluefin pants on and Mark is fat. Nope. Never saw a one. We did once again see some yellowfin tuna of all sizes. One kelp we looked at had an incredable school on it. We just sat there and watched the tuna boil around in fury. It was really cool. We just watched because for one, we already had our limits and for two they were the smaller grade. We called it a little earlier then we planned on due to the weather. Oh man. It was really nice weather in the morning. Then suddenly after lunch time it got really windy out and we started to really roll around alot. I'm currently standing with my legs as far spread apart as I can get them just to be able to type this report and I am misspelling every other werd.

We are headed to the barn now and we get 2 nights in to spend with our wives, fiances, girlfriends, friends, pets and family depending on which crew member we're talking about. We come back out Tuesday night on a 1.5 day trip. This was definately a memorable trip and I mean that in a good way even when it was bad it was good. Cool group and myself and the crew are glad we got to spend this 8 day with them. Thank you.