st croix river Fishing Report 2024

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.

Hi Anglers,

I have a little web-site update for you. We have put all of our photos from the past years, into albums on the photo page. As you will see they are categorized by year first, then the date of the trip, then the group. In the past they have all been grouped together in one big mess. Hopefully this will help you find the trip you were on in the past years. Also you will be able to more easily create your own photo albums for the trips you were on. If you notice any errors in dates or subjects on the photo page, please let us know by emailing us at [email protected] or a phone call at 619-390-7890. Everything on the Facebook page should be up to date for those of you that follow us on Facebook.

A new update on offshore fishing. Last weekend's 2-day trip was a huge success targeting the big bluefin. Drew and the boys got the anglers into the fish at 150 miles and had a five hour long drift where they hooked over fifty 65-75 pound bluefin! When the dust settled they had 23 of these beauties on deck. They also picked up seven smaller grade bluefin and a few of the small yellows. For those of you going out on upcoming trips you defiantly need the usual 50 lb. 2-speed reel. Some of the guys also had 40 lb. 2-speeds and it was the true money maker for this bigger fish. It was the best of both worlds having lighter line that got bit better and the 2-speed that really let then put the  pressure on the fish after the initial run. So put one in your bag.

Also yesterday fish popped up in good volume closer to home at 70-100 miles. We are watching this to see how this develops for the shorter trips. Hopefully we won't have to make the 120-150 mile run. If you want to view the bluefin on the last two day just click on photos, then click 2012, then click on the photo for 07-06-2012 2 Day Open. Don't forget there are multiple page in the photo albums. This one has two.

The next trip heading out is our Optima Charter on Saturday afternoon, to target this fish. Don't forget to follow us on our report page.

As for openings, we still have spots on Paul Hess's 5-day departing July

23rd, and one spot on July 28th 5-day. Come join us if you can.

Thanks,

Tommy