southwest michigan Fishing Report 2025

~~Aug. 28
 It was a busy morning for us today but a kick back afternoon. For the second time this year we are not fishing on our departure day. We did the usual turn around throwing in an oil and fuel filter change. We offloaded, then onloaded and then we took off before lunch. The bait was OK. It looked great but lost some scales putting it in our tanks. We'll see how it likes 80+ degree water in a couple of days. I decided to skip this 30 mile yellowfin zone today and get down below while we have a window of good hurricaneless weather. There will be some wind the next couple of days everywhere but should come down nicely for a week or so everywhere if the forecast holds true. I'm still not sure where we're starting yet this trip. We'll either head straight to the rocks or drag our feet for a day and wait for the weather to get pristine. For now there is some napping going on and just some old fashioned kicking back. Something we haven't seen a whole lot of this year as it has been straight to fishing out of the gates.
 

Hello Apollo Anglers:

We have a two day trip that has some spots available. The trip departs Sunday the 9th of September at 9 p.m. fishing the 10th and 11th. and returns on the evening of the 11th. This two day is limited to 20 people. Cost is $510 per person and includes food and permits.

Contact Baron for more info or to sign up.

Baron Spafford
1815 Gillespie St.
Santa Barbara CA 93101

805-569-9939
805-452=1562 (cell)

Aug. 25

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Bluefin are the most unpredictable fish out there that we fish for. If you would have told me yesterday that we were going to have a day like we had today, I would have laughed in your face. Never again though. I will never trust this fish. For the last several days the bluefin fishing was very poor. I really thought that it was over for the year. I was wrong. Today we experienced the best bluefin tuna fishing I have ever seen. This is on a quantity to quality ratio that I'm talking about here. In my 13 years of long ranging, today was the best for the Bluefins.

Just after 6:00 this morning we stopped on a single fish mark under the boat. Just after 6:00 tonight we left them. The whole time we drifted it was pretty much wide open. The fish were from 25 up to 75 pounds. Most of them being in the 30-40 pound range. Once again we went into battle and we won. Oh yeah, we fished in the rain. At around 11:00 it started raining and it never stopped. Everyone on board was absolutely drenched all day and it was awesome. By the end of our stop no one was fishing so Mark and I grabbed a couple of rods and boated 3 of them ourselves. It was only Mark and I fishing and I was bringing one in and wouldn't you know it, when the fish was at gaff, there was Mark's spectra tangled all over my fish. 2 anglers fishing and he manages to make a big tangle. MAAAARK!!! I would have made him put on the dunce helmet but he was already wearing it. Heres why. There was a 2 fish tangle and Mark grabbed 1 of the rods to unwrap it and he dropped it right in the water. MAAARK!!!. Unbelievably another person fishing managed to hook one of the guides on the rod and we got it back. Fish and all. I immediately tossed Mark the yellow dunce helmet and he wore it all day.

Needless to say everyone on board is beat tired and we will not have any trouble sleeping through the night tonight. We're headed for the yellowtail grounds now and will be there first thing in the morning.

Mike Pritchard called in with this report for the Tribute. "We are wrapping up our 2 Day Western Outdoor News trip. We had absolutely fabulous fishing. We ended up with limits of Yellowtail, 151 Yellowfin tuna, 7 Bluefin tuna, a dozen Dorado and some Skipjack. The fishing was good the wether was flat and calm.

"It's a good time to get on a boat. We are departing tomorrow on a 3.5 Day trip that is sold out. There is space available on other trips give Seaforth Sportfishing a call at 619-224-3383."

Happy Halloween! We fished for tuna today and had a tough time. They were all around the boat but didn't bite. We got a few in the 60-70 pound range. Signs look positive for tomorrow. The weather has really kicked up and it is rough, but at least the company and the food is great!

29 Yellowfin Tuna, 38 Dorado, 33 Skipjack and 77 Yellowtail. Ernie Escalante with one of our nice Dorado from today.

Good evening everyone, This morning started early with most anglers fishing a dropper loop before grey light. Fishing was slow with a handful of quality 20 pound class yellowtail being caught with a few nice sized grouper coming over the rail. As the morning progressed, fishing started to pick up with anglers hooking fish on flylined baits, the dropper loop, as well as the sliding sinker rig. A couple of these fish were unwilling to leave their rock homes, and were able to wrap the lines in some of the jagged bottom structure before breaking off. As the sun rose in the sky, we were able to pick off a couple more of these fish before we found the right school. A little before noon, we settled into a school of fish that wanted too bite a little bit better. We were able to keep these fish around the boat for the rest of the day, and would hook a handful at a time as they bit in flurries from 2-7 fish at once. Majority of these yellowtail were in the 20-25 pound class and came off the flylined sardine or mackerel. One 50lb class grouper made its way over the rail which fell victim to a sardine flylined on 30 pound test. With the day winding down, we decided to point the boat toward the kelp zone in order to give ourselves an early shot at some more fish in the morning. Hopefully we will be able to capitalize on what has already been a great trip with an awesome group of fishermen and women. Will Report again tomorrow, Team Supreme

Captain RJ Hudson checked in this evening with an update from the New Seaforth out of Seaforth Sportfishing in Mission Bay. Today on our afternoon trip we had 17 anglers catch 1 Halibut (up to 25 pounds), 1 Whitefish, 17 Rockfish, and 75 Vermilion Rockfish. Pictured here is angler Jessica Cano with a beautiful 25 pound San Diego Halibut.