Picture a Day

[AtTheWall]

Baja Mexico Yellowtail - 8 Day Long Range aboard Polaris Supreme - MUY BUENO!

Hammered a 4 ounce TADY in Scrambled Egg color around 200ft down on a swinging YoYo presentation using the current to cover bow to stern.

[AtTheWall]

Another Yellowfin - hard fighters

[AtTheWall]

The Tax Man

[AtTheWall]

Starry Rockfish - Mexican Baja

Tipped one barb with a pink shrimp fishbite for scent and color/movement. Working near the bottom - Starry Rockfish went for the fishbite.

[AtTheWall]

Mexican Barracuda

[AtTheWall]

California Sheepshead - 16lb for my first fish. Crew stated they have never decked one this big. Been wanting one for years, only found from Central California to Central Mexican Baja. Deep drop setup - rigged Grouper style - banged fresh cut bonito

Wikipedia info on this particular fish

"All California sheephead are born female and morph into their male form at various stages in their lifecycle, determined by environmental conditions and pressures. Because of this, they are considered to be protogynous hermaphrodites which have planktonic larvae. Their coral and kelp-heavy habitat provides protection from predators, which is important as this species is diurnal, foraging during the day and seeking shelter at night.

[Speedgoat]

[ATTACH]927913[/ATTACH]

[AtTheWall]

So word on the boat was, Cali Sheepshead is "poor man's lobster."

So using some fresh fillets, non-frozen and iced from the Pacific to home, I jump on the opportunity to eat this fish for the first time.

After frying in peanut oil with a Panko crust - the meat was so moist inside, it literally dripped out onto my plate. The taste was - OVER THE DARN TOP!

Better than flounder and halibut - never thought I would say this from any other form of fish I've tasted.

[AtTheWall]

0500 AM - about 3ft deep and smothering the stern deck - the unload begins in San Diego.

[AtTheWall]

Casting a Wahoo bomb - after the trolled baits get nailed, I pick up a following wahoo casting a purple/chrome skirted jig. The hookup at speed is unreal - tossing lures at fish that swim 60 mph is a flat explosion when the lure is picked up.

[AtTheWall]

The old trusty Rasta custom 30 class trolling rod rigged to drag a black/purple Braid Marauder was the ticket. Hurricane Rosa blowing just west of us about 130 miles away, seas running 15ft and skies dark - the Purple/Black Marauder was my call for the day's wahoo prime setup. Leaning on what we've learned fishing the Gulf chasing Hoo - this was the ticket on the Left Coast. The Cali boys adjusted and followed the Team Texas lead.

Three Texans - we schooled them in their own backyard and now many of them are coming to Texas, to fish with us out of Port Aransas! Funny how that works out

[AtTheWall]

The main galley - fine offshore living, ate like kings with a Chef and his assistant working the meals.

[AtTheWall]

Our long range ride - Polaris Supreme. The load up - Fisherman's Landing San Diego.



The Owner / Captain of Polaris Supreme - a San Diego long range legend - Tommy Rothery. Earned his 100 ton license at 19 years old - 1979. Assumed ownership and skipper duties of Polaris Supreme in 1987. Featured on numerous outdoor shows through those early years.







The live bait tanks were tons upon tons of seawater with thousands of live sardines. The size of these holding tanks coupled with a chill water system to store fresh caught fish, in a hyper brine solution without using ice for cold storage - had caught fish as fresh as the day it was dropped into cold storage. This boat was designed to fish for weeks with a fuel load to run from San Diego to Hawaii and return. A serious sport fishing platform.

The above deck tanks, are used netting and hooking live baits during the bite.


The below deck tanks - are massive holding tons of fish and water.

[AtTheWall]

The Team Texas spread. Trolling is setup with 4 man teams, Team 1, Team 2 etc. Our little 3 man Texas team, had rotation 4 which allowed us to run 4 rods. So the spread was made with 30 and 50 class trolling custom rod builds of my own design.

Far left is my wahoo 30 class trolling stick. Running 100lb Momoi Diamond braid with a 100 lb JAK Kona associates wind-on leader. Dragging a small Braid Maurader lure - my setup scored 6 or 7 wahoo and ended up becoming the BORROWED stick on the transom for the troll.

Light with NADS - perfect for what it was built for

[AtTheWall]

One of the California Boys borrowing my Rasta 30 wahoo Special - another wahoo on the deck