watauga lake Fishing Report 2025

Today we went out on a hunt for the “catchable” grade bluefin. After a couple hours of searching our efforts were rewarded as we landed 13 (50-80 lb) bluefin. Be prepared to fly line with 40 lb as well as fish a sinker rig on 50 or 60 lb. size 1/0 circle hooks on your fly line rod. Size 2/0 or 3/0 on your sinker rig. Always a good idea to bring a 25lb rod just in case we get a yellowfin stop.

Hello everyone, Today we were able to put together a great day out here. Lots of life just not entirely the life we were looking for. We were able to fly line up some nice Wahoo and some good quality Dorado. A welcome addition to the collection of fish we have on board. Among the fish landed today we were able to get some of the guys their very first/ personal best Wahoo. The first Hoo is always the hardest! We are headed up the line tonight to be in position for a shot at yellowtail tomorrow morning. Wish us luck, Team Supreme

We departed today on Bob Vance's annual five day. After we picked up a cruddy load of bait we dined on a delicious pork tenderloin for lunch and headed for the albacore grounds. This is a great group of anglers. Many have been on this trip with Bob for years. We are really looking forward to some good fishing. Weather is still good. Wish us luck.

Hello fishing friends,

We now have the Apollo in beautiful Santa Barbara for the rest of the spring. We are running two Berkley sponsored limited load overnight trips to the Channel Islands. The first trip will depart on Thursday night April 19th at 9 pm to fish on Friday April 20th. The second trip will depart at 9 pm on Thursday night May 17th to fish Friday May 18th. These trips will target Quality Rockfish, ling cod with the chance for some early season halibut or sea bass. Please come join us on the Apollo in Santa Barbara for some fun spring time fishing. Berkley will sponsor this trip and will be giving away swag on board. These ntrips are limited to 20 people and the cost is $185 per person. Please call Sea Landing at (805) 963-3564.

Thank you,

J.J.

Captain Ryan Bostian checked in this evening with an update from “The San Diego” out of Seaforth Sportfishing in Mission Bay! Today we had 34 passengers catch 7 Bluefin Tuna (20 to 55 pounds) and 12 Yellowtail. We had several heartbreaks on 75 to 120 pounders. Please bring a 25 to 30 pound rod as well as a 50 pound rod. A Talica 16 is perfect for the larger grade fish. The San Diego is online everyday at 5:30 AM. Call (619) 224-3383 or BOOK ONLINE at www.thesandiego.com.

Polaris Supreme arrived August 2 under skipper Drew Henderson's hand. Drew docked at Fisherman's Landing and offloaded his fish and 21 anglers, following a five-day trip. "We fished offshore and at Cedros Island," he said, "and the water at Cedros was clean green and back up to 69 degrees. The yellowtail are huge at the island, and a lot of these guys had their best ever. Albacore fishing is still tough, but the water's gorgeous." Scott Oberg of El Centro won first place for a 44-pound yellowtail he bagged with sardine on a 2/0 ringed Mutu hook on 40-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon, 40-pound P-Line, a Trinidad 20 reel and a Calstar 760 rod. Russell Ortez of Garden Grove won second place for a 43-pounder, and Don Carson of San Diego won third for a 32-pound yellowtail.

July 23
  Today was an enjoyable day out here in the old west.  We didn't catch much fish, but we still had a good time.  I take that back, we didn't keep much fish.  We started this morning in a little zone, and it was full speed jiggin um up.  Stop and go, stop and go, stop and go.  Mostly small yellowfin unfortunately..  There was a sprinkling of good ones in the mix along with some nice yellowtaiil, and it sort of felt like any minute we'd find that school of good ones, but it also kind of felt like we were in the wrong zone at the same time.  Funny how that works.

  By mid morning we were out of there.  We made a move up to the next break.  The fishing wasn't very good for us up there, but the weather all day was excellent, and when you have a boat full of friends aboard, you can't miss.  We did see some cool wild life.  There was a pod of, must of been 10 not sure what kind of whales that swam across the bow.  Nobody else saw, but I saw all of them at once breeching when they were about a mile or so off.  We also ran across a couple pods of Orcas too.  With these we cruised for a while along side of them and checked out the Shamus of the wild.  It was some good viewing let me tell you.

  About an hour before dark, only 7 miles away, a boat got on a school of the better grade tuna and caught a bunch.  Unfortunately for us, we didn't connect before dark more than a half dozen of these but we know where to be tomorrow and we're confident we'll get a bunch.
          

Captain Ray Montera took out 39 anglers today. Final fish count for the day was 6 lingcod 4 sheephead 80 red rockcod and full Mexican limits of rockfish. If you enjoy bottom fishing this is definitely the time for you. As soon as the yellowtail show up the rock fishing will take a back seat.