vero beach Fishing Report 2024

The spring Season is nearly upon us and we will be taking the Apollo to Santa Barbara for the rockfish opener and hopefully a productive seabass season. We have an unusual amount of open weekend dates for this spring, between March 1rst and May 15th. Take a look at our calendar at apollocharters.com. Take advantage of these rare openings and book your own charter with me and my excelent crew today. Come fish with us out of Santa Barbara and experience the easiest and shortest ride to Santa Rosa and San Miguel Islands. This means more fishing time and easier access to those harder to reach destinations. I hope to hear from you soon. Thank you, J.J. Gerritsen.

July 5
    Good evening everyone.  It's evening where I am right now anyway.  It may not be when you read this.  We left on a 6 day this morning.  We stopped to get bait and yes, there is still a shortage of sardine.  We got about 30 scoops of jumbo sardine mixed with all size mackerel.  Then we took a couple scoops of beautiful looking anchovy.  We skipped the sardine seminar and concentrated on an anchovy seminar.  The lost art.  20# test, # 2 hook.  Finess fishing.  When you find out how good of a fisherman you really are.  That's what the tuna are feeding on around here so they'll hit them fine if it's presented right.

    We'll be hunting tuna tomorrow first thing and we'll take it from there.  The weather now is stellar but they're forecasting some wind tomorrow afternoon.  We hope they're wrong.
                                    

 

Weather took a turn for the worse. Today it was darn right sloppy looking for tuna. Although there was fair signs of 25-35 lb tuna, it wasn't what we were looking for. We were on what little sign there was of 200 lb tuna most of the morning, but it didn't want to bite. Scott caught and released a 110 pounder and Tom lost one well over 200 lbs. One other boat picked up two over 200 lbs., otherwise that was the only sign of cows seven boats had for the day. The water has cooled off quite a bit. Otherwise there is still plenty of bait around. We are going to bust a move tonight. We will be traveling two more days. Oh yea, lunch was bar-b-que beef, hors d'oeuvres more sushi and sashimi and dinner was Chilean sea bass in a mango salsa with fresh jalapenos and cilantro. Man that was good. I had two helpings myself! Thanks!

Friday, May 11, 2012

Hi friends. Our week consisted of us mainly preparing for the final major painting projects to be completed. We completed the necessary steps for the bait tank and bus stop to receive a new paint job. Tomorrow, Jamie and myself will be down at the boat to scuff up the first coat of gloss, wipe down, and hang out as the painters finish up the final coat. We'll have Sunday off and then on Monday, it'll be time to hustle up and get the boat back in the water. A few other chores on the list before we say farewell to Knight & Carver Yacht Center include sanding the rails to be refinished at another time, put the liferafts back on the boat, install all the new zincs and pray the we're back in the water Tuesday or Wednesday. Drew, Tommie, Mark, Jamie and myself are really looking forward to getting the boat back in the water and once back at the docks, our dirtiest chores are pretty much over and all the remains are little "knick knack" cosmetic things, putting the new freezer box on the upper deck, painting the deck, refinishing the rails and a few mechanical repairs. We're starting to see light at the end of the tunnel and it's a beautiful sight.

In other news, Jed went under the knife on Thursday to have his tendon repaired in his thumb and all went well and from what he said, it will be six to eight weeks of recovery time followed by some physical therapy. Jed's doing just fine and here's to a speedy recovery to have him back on the boat sometime in August.

With that, our weekend is looking good for some relaxation, Clippers/Lakers game sevens, Kings/Coyotes hockey and the Gator By the Bay festival at Spanish Landing in San Diego Bay. We hope you all enjoy your weekend as well. Take care everyone!

Captain Ryan Bostian called in with a Coronado Islands update! We are wrapping up our trip at the Islands. We have 16 anglers and we have LIMITS of Yellowtail. The water temp have come up 4 degrees. Very good surface iron fishing and fly-lined bait too. If you are going to join us please bring a Passport. If you do not have a passport please call the San Diego Passport Agency and they can get you a passport in 24 hours. Come on down and join us!

Aug 12
    Today was awesome.  We woke up drifting catching fish and that's about what we did until dark.  I'm not kidding you.  We moved the boat just a handful of times but never for more then 10 minutes.  It was drifting with always at least one on the hook.  In the morning until after lunch it was mostly bluefin in the 30-45 pound range with the occasional 60-80 pounder.  I have to tell you that that's a much more manageable grade.  It's a much better fish to start off on than those 60-80 pounders.  Don't get me wrong, you know I love catching those beauts but they make a much better cherry than ice cream if you know what I mean.  We had that kind of day where if we catch them tomorrow it will be the cherry on top.  The rest of the day we got into yellowfin tuna mode and it was game on for those fish.  Tommy decided to save our sardine on board it being they were feeding on the anchovy that went over the side so that's what we used.  Chovy baby.  I can't ever remember fishing anchovy for tuna on this boat.  I have to go back to my mission bay days to remember that but I didn't forget how to do it.  I wrote this in the beginning of the season and I'll write about it again.  If you're coming on a future trip, please remember to bring the lost art of anchovy fishing skills.  A big part of that is an anchovy rod and reel.  Something light that's meant for 20-25 pound test with a nice free spool to help you toss those anchovies away from the boat.  I hate to say it but if that means you need to bring your coffee grinder so be it.  
    The weather is still good!  Man I hope this can hold up for at least my buds on the upcoming Heil 5 day trip leaving the day after tomorrow.  We're staying put right here for our last day fishing tomorrow.  We're hoping we can get more of the 60-80 pounders tomorrow but we will be stoked with the 30-45's as well.
                                    

 

We have a 2-day trip coming up and need some people to help fill it. This could be a great opportunity to get in on some sea bass action. There were already a few 40# sea bass caught at the channel islands last weekend Here is the info for the trip. I hope to see you there.

2 Day trip on the Apollo
Departs: Friday April 29, 2011, (8:00 p.m.)
Fish: Saturday, April 30, 2011 and Sunday May 1st, 2011
Returns: Sunday, May 1, 2011 (evening)
Landing: Sea Landing, Santa Barbara, CA
Targeted Species: Seabass, Halibut and Rockfish
Meals: Has not been included
Drinks: Have not been included
Fish Cleaning, Jack pot, and Gratuity are extra
Price: $320( paypal: [email protected])
Reserving a spot: In order to reserve your spot, I will need a 50%
deposit ($160.00). The balance shall be due one month prior to
departure.
Cancellation Policy: No refunds can be issued; it is your
responsibility to find a replacement. In the event the boat is cancelled
due to inclement weather the trip will be re-scheduled.
Contact Info: Steph Franklin, 35 W. Main Street Suite B124, Ventura,CA 93001;
phone #805.708.5276 or [email protected]

Yesterday morning we had some good fishing and the albacore and some great fishing on the yellowtail. Midday we got a nice round on the bluefin and late in the day we were back with the albacore biting full speed. It was a fantastic day. Weather was good and is still nice today. This morning we had a nice hit on the albacore. We have had some requests in the office to post the meals we serve on board, so we'll start putting some of that information on as well. Last night Chef Pedro served a wonderful duck breast fillet served in natural pan sauce. It was excellent. The night before we dined on salmon with a lemon, butter caper sauce. Also very tasty.

Some of our lunches on this trip were pork carnitas, with all the toppings and sides, and one day we had chicken marinara with pasta. Food and fishing is excellent! Paul Hess's group has also been excellent.

We will be into the dock tomorrow morning at 6am.

Thanks for checking in! Tommy and crew