southern illinois Fishing Report 2024

~~Nov.11
 The fishing was very slow for us this morning.  We caught nothing.  Of course that was due to us not fishing at all.  We were in full travel mode trying to make our destination shortly after lunch which we did and from here on out for the foreseeable future we're fishing baby.  So we were hoping to have a hit on wahoo.  The last boat that was in here caught 20 or 30 in a couple days and we thought they were moving in.  Maybe they were.  When we got here there were two boats already trolling it up.  Bad sign for wahooing.  We ended up getting one on the marauder and another 4 drifting.  Nice ones too.  5 lucky anglers.

 The tuna fishing was good.  Not wide open.  It looked really good on the machines but we could only scratch at them.  It was still plenty good to start off our trip and get us going. We tagged about 4 per rod this afternoon so definitely good fishing. No yellowtail though unfortunately.  We were hoping for some of that but we never saw one.  So we're making a move to look for more yellowtail to go along with the tuna we're catching.  We're going to do at least one more day here if not two before moseying on down to look for cows.

 The weather has been great so far.  Rolly this morning with offshore wind but that straightened out.  We had an action packed afternoon which is just what we needed.  See you tomorrow.
      

Tommy Rothery returned Polaris Supreme to Fisherman's Landing November 18 after a ten-day Ocean Tackle Research charter. The boat had 13 anglers aboard. Chartermaster Lon Mikkelsen of Hood River, OR saw his father, Bill Mikkelsen of Olympia, WA land the season's first super cow; a tuna over 300 pounds.
"It was full-speed fishing," said Chartermaster Lon Mikkelsen. Bill Mikkelsen's big fish won first place after it weighed in at 308.8-pounds, caught on a fly-lined sardine. Bill used the boats gear, including a 6/0 Mustad 7691 hook, 100-pound P-Line, and a Shimano rod and reel.
"Tommy said it was tail-wrapped from the beginning," said the elder Mikkelsen. "And he was, but he got lose and went on another run. He took me around the boat twice." "We started with yellowtail fishing on the ridge that turned out to be a real good bite," said Rothery. "We easily could have got limits on yellowtail and dorado, but these guys normally release most of their fish. We had one day of awesome marlin fishing, which this group enjoyed quite a bit." "I think we had maybe 200 hookups on marlin," said John Esler of Portland. "But our yellowfin bite was pretty amazing. Once Tommy would find them, he'd shut the motors off and just drift. They didn't need a lot of chum either, they were boiling all around the boat." Esler landed a 206.7-pound yellowfin.
Matt Kiesse of Cederville, CA was second place with a 279.8-pound yellowfin.
"The trip was just spectacular," said Kiesse. "We got everything." Lon Mikkelsen was third with a 277.9-pound tuna. The trip scored five tuna over 200 pounds.

Polaris Supreme Trip Update 08-08-2012 Jack pot.

Well here we are back at the dock from Tom Chaparro's annual 6-day trip. And what a fantastic trip it was. From the anglers, weather, fishing, good times were definitely had by all. Tom's going to do his 6-day in the same spot next year but limited to only 18 anglers.

It was a beautiful catch to see all laid out on the deck. The tuna were in absolutely gorgeous condition, vibrant and glowing in the early morning sunshine as we arrived into San Diego Bay. The first place jackpot weighed up at the scale was Rich Vande Noord with a 48.2 lb.

yellowfin tuna. He also had a 47.9 pounder. Second place was one of those guys you just love to love, Herb Yamanaka. Herb, thank you for your heartfelt homespun wooden treasures. We all, passengers and crew, will cherish them. You're the man! Herb's fish was a 46 lb. yellowfin tuna. Third place went to Kyle Krajewski with a 44.3 lb. yellowfin tuna. I'll see you on the road tomorrow Kyle. Thanks again Tom for bringing out a couple ladies instead of all stinky guys. It was a blast to have Mary and Taylor on board. Hope you all made it home safe and sound.

Tommy and the Polaris Supreme crew

P.S The next report coming out will be from Captain Drew and his second Captain words-smith Richie. Also....ONE SPOT left on this Saturday's trip with Eric Rogger on August 11th, 5-day. Come get into this fish while you can.

Our first YFT of the year. Let's hope he is a scout for many to come!!

Hello everyone, Today we spent the day targeting Wahoo, Yellowtail, and what ever else we were able to find. We were able to scratch up some nice Wahoo and yellowtail, just not the numbers we would have liked. However the Wahoo we were able to find were quite large, some close to 60 lbs! Some truly great fish! We are going for big numbers tomorrow, wish us luck! Team Supreme

Hello everyone, Today we had our sights set on better grade Yellowtail. We had to do some prospecting and searching around the Baja coast. We managed to tag some great quality Yellows in the mid 20 lb class. Great grade fish but we would have liked more of them. We will be trying again tomorrow up the coast. Wish us luck, Team Supreme

Great fishing happening right now at the Coronado Islands aboard the San Diego fishing out of Seaforth Landing. Yellowtail, bass, giant barracuda and bonita are all biting well making for a action filled day on the water and fat bags of fillets for the BBQ.  Head out during the week to beat the crowds as there is plenty of room on the boat all week. 

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.